Captioning sponsored by annenberg cpb the region of south asia stretches from soaring himalayan peaks to scattered indian oceanslands. At its heart is india, a nation experiencing explosive population growth. By midcentury, india will surpass china as the worlds most populated country. We begin in indias capital, the historic city of delhi. This everexpanding metropolis lures millions of indians away from the hardships of the rural countryside. Here we see the effects of ruraltourban migration and the development of informal settlements. Indias capital, delhi, has a population of between 13 and 14 million. Commuters, camels, rickshas, buses, motorcycles delhi is a smorgasbord of sights and sounds. People of many different ethnic, religious and linguistic groups make the capital the city that it is today. But amid this cultural mosaic, this swelling city faces some serious challenges. Delhi sits on the banks of two large rivers, the ganges and the yamuna. Capital city for a long succession of dynasties, delhi has for many, many years drawn people to itself like a magnet. Its long history shows itself in the many faces of the city. Various peoples have left their mark on delhi. For instance, remnants of the islamic domination that started in the 12th century can be seen in old delhi. New delhi was built in the British Colonial period at the end of the 19th century. Its tidy gridline streets and Office Buildings offer a sharp contrast to the narrow, bustling streets of old delhi. Today the power that is shaping delhi is economics. Beginning in the early 1900s, india made a strong push toward liberalizing its economy. With its Strong International ties, delhi has been quick in keeping pace with the changing environment. Products are coming in from abroad, and on their shirttails come elements oforeign culture. Delhis lifestyle is changing at a rapid pace. bus horn blaring drawn by the appeal of the city and the liberalized economy, more and more people are moving to delhi from the countryside. However, moving to the city does not necessarily mean that you can find work there. Woman they come to delhi expecting to earn money and find employment because theyve heard that theres more opportunities there and its a growing, booming metropolitan area. And when, in fact, they get there, theres massive unemployment in the city already. And unless theyre very lucky, or extremely well connected in terms of the social networks theyve set up, theyre out of luck, at least for a number of. An extended period of time until they can find something. If people can no longer really earn a livelihood in agriculture because you go into a form of agriculture thats exportoriented, thats big farms, thats mechanized just like the rest of the world and they come to the city as their next option but theres no employment for them in the city, what is going to happen to them . And thats really delhis problem is how to house and employ all the people who come there. Narrator ten days ago this plasterer traveled 200 kilometers in search of work. speaking hindi translator its hard. I had hoped to work at least eight days. Even two days work would have been okay. But no work. Narrator from Early Morning to late evening, people wait here and hope for work. Some of the people who come to delhi have nowhere but the streets to live; many live in squatters towns. Most of the people who live in delhis squatters camps have come from agricultural villages in search of a cash income. If they are lucky, they hold down many types of jobs and send money home to their relatives in the village. The problem is the sheer volume of immigration, which is overpowering the citys ability to cope. More than onethird of the population of delhi live in squatters camps or slums. The land area covered by informal settlements in delhi has exploded in the last 20 years, and theres nobody that ive spoken with or anyone whos done research on it who has made the case that this is slowing down in any way and that people are being moved to more stable or legal areas. So, its at least a third of the population at this point and it may very well be slightly more. Municipal governments are never thrilled, in general, with increases in informal settlements because theyre always problematic from a governing point of view. When a third of your city of 13 Million People are living in informal settlements, it really doesnt make any sense to believe that youre going to somehow discourage them or move them by simply denying them services. People in squatter settlements in india as in other places are extremely resourceful and are often able to borrow if i can use that word to describe how they get their services; but get access to water, get access to. Arrange access to, uh. Garbage collection or collect the garbage themselves and put it at a dump site where they know it will be collected eventually or get illegal connections to electrical wires. That over time ameliorate the kinds of conditions that theyre in and actually give them hope and allow them to stay in their localities for long periods of time. Like in many places, the squatters in delhi, many of them have been there for a decade or more. Narrator continual population pressures have also led to an explosion in the number of cars on the road, degrading air quality and bringing traffic to a virtual standstill. At the same time, factories are spewing tons of pollutants into the air. I think nothing has frightened me more than the change in air quality that you experience nowadays when you travel to delhi. When you land in the city, the first thing that you are aware of as you exit your airplane is the thickness of the air that surrounds you. It almost has a physical presence in terms of its quality because theres so much dust and particulate matter fumes from cars, industrial emissions and manufacturing emissions that the quality of the air is. Is and feels very dangerous. Its not uncommon to go for a walk in delhi for half an hour and to come back with black coating around the outside of your nostrils or on your clothes. And its really been assessed by the World Health Organization as one of the ten most polluted cities in terms of its air quality in the world, and that is a very recent phenomenon. I would say in the last 15 years air quality has become devastating in terms of what its doing to peoples health. Man . Delhi and the delhi metropolitan area are down. Narrator the National Capital region plan board is attempting to solve some of these problems. It has formulated a comprehensive plan for the entire Capital Region. In order to provide a congenial living environment, delhi cannot be planned in isolation, individually. It has to be planned in the context of a much larger area, which is the National Capital region. Narrator the plan will work to extend the Capital Region to 20 times the current size of metropolitan delhi. Within the new Capital Region, it is hoped that newly created satellite cities might help delhis overburdened infrastructure. New arrivals could settle in these cities rather than add to the squatter camps on delhis outskirts. These satellite cities are supposed to be connected by an expanded rail and highway system, but so far theres been little progress. Daniere most places in the world have been extremely unsuccessful at diverting growth from the main urban centers because they dont accompany or are not able to accompany those attempts with the same kinds of opportunities both economically but also politically and culturally, and education, in terms of Education Opportunities that these primary centers have. So while there was a plan to try to diffuse growth out of delhi to a variety of smaller cities around delhi, as far as i know, that has not been particularly successful. And whats happening is the delhi boundary is moving out and out and out into the surrounding provinces. Narrator some 20 miles south of delhi is the city of gurgaon. Its development was a crucial part of the plan and holds hope for the future. Today, gurgaon city has many factories and housing complexes. One of these factories manufactures automobiles and is a japaneseindian joint venture. Automobile production became an important part of indias economy, particularly in the 1990s. Multinational manufacturers such as general motors, hyundai, volvo, mitsubishi and volkswagen all have Assembly Plants in india. Lack of a stable power supply has been one impediment to indias development. This plant generates its own power. machinery humming one advantage of urban life, and an important reason for ruraltourban migration, is that Caste Discrimination is much less in the cities. Daniere once people leave their rural villages, its much more difficult to enforce the caste system upon their arrival in a big city. It becomes a much less potentially exploitive barrier because people arent sure of your caste, one, and many of the people who employ lowercaste employees are already educated to a certain extent themselves about the kind of cruelty and exploitation and negative aspects of castes and dont necessarily enforce it themselves in their lives, even if theyre sure about the relative castes of people. Narrator chauhan was born in an agricultural village and came to the company as an apprentice 11 years ago. He currently works as the assistant line manager on the assembly line. There are two shifts a day at the factory. Chauhan worked the morning shift and is just now getting home at 4 30. Chauhan graduated from a Technical School near his village and migrated to delhi, where he married and started a family. He purchased his home with a loan from his employer. As a new member of indias growing middle class, chauhans migration to the city had a positive outcome. speaking hindi translator you couldnt get a lot of things back home. Today, some people in the villages have televisions and radios, but when i left, no one in my village had any of those things. You can buy all sorts of things here in delhi. You can buy everything you need. Narrator however, people sharing chauhans dream continue to pour into the city daily, adding to the already burgeoning urban population. Japanese geographer minamino takeshi puts the dilemma this way. takeshi speaking japanese translator as to what is causing the problems of indias cities . Basically, its easier to live in the city than it is to live in the countryside. So what needs to be done is to make it easier to live in the countryside. If its easier to live in the countryside, then i believe that india will develop and prosper, and it can achieve some sort of harmony and balance between its urban and rural development. Narrator but for now, informal settlements continue to sprout on delhis fringes. Unless it can slow its population growth and curb ruraltourban migration, delhi faces ever greater difficulty maintaining a stable infrastructure. As for the rest of the country, indias population is already one billion the second largest in the world, not far behind china. People they fuel both the hopes and fears of delhis future. In the region of south asia, nearly 70 of indias population remains rural, tied to the land through subsistence and lowincome agriculture. Here, the vagaries of the monsoon climate still determine harvest outcomes. In recent decades, government reforms have introduced modern agricultural techniques. In the village of dikhatpura, we will explore efforts to improve Water Management through irrigation; agricultural reforms liketh; and how the hun geography of gender equity will be critical to achievin truly sustainabldevelopment in india. Narrator it is october. The monsoons that have brought welcome rain to the Madhya Pradesh state in central india, have finished. After four months of rain, the long dry season will begin; little rain will fall between now and next june. Life in indias farming villages has always revolved around the southwest monsoons. Since rain is so scarce during the dry season, the villagers must depend on well water and the rain that falls each summer. Some years the rains come, but it isnt enough. Onethird of the total land mass of india is frequently subject to serious droughts. Always worrying about the next dught, the indian governmenbegan a major irrigation project in 1947. One of the first to benefit was the Madhya Pradesh state. Under it, the Chambal RiverDevelopment Plan the kota barrage was completed in 1960. Two main canals branch off here to bring their blessings to the agricultural villages downstream. The village of dikhatpura lies about 200 miles to the northeast of the barrage. Water first flowed into the village in 1971. Minamino takeshi, a japanese geographer, visits dikhatpura. He is researching how irrigation and Water Management have affected lifestyles in indias farming villages. This year, water began coursing down the irrigation canals in early october. The farmers quickly move into high gear as they prepare their land for winter crops. One of the farmers in the village is heeralal. He is preparing to grow mustard. Translator we used to grow crops only during the summer. Now, with the irrigation canals, we can plant two crops a year. Narrator water means that farmers can plant winter crops, which has led to more cultivation of wheat and mustard. Earlyharvest mustard can be seen all around the village. The seeds are harvested and sold to a factory where the oil is extracted. In 1966, the government promoted an agricultural plan called the green revolution. It emphasized the introduction of highyielding grains. Many farmers moved away from subsistence agriculture and into cash crops such as wheat or mustard. Heeralal used the money earned from these crops to purchase a water buffalo. It will soon be giving birth, and he hopes that the baby will be a cow, so that he will have more milk to sell. Actually, most of heeralals neighbors also raise water buffalo. Their number in this village has tripled in the last 30 years. They have plenty of milk, which is a ready source of income. The government and Agricultural Ministry have been aggressively promoting water buffalo husbandry as a means of conquering poverty. Milk collected by the villagers is sold to a milk broker. It is then taken to the nearest city, morena, which is ten miles away. Produce comes to morena from all of the villages in the area. whistle blowing calling out narrator residents are always eager to see the milkman. Consumption of milk in the city has increased. This, of course, has spurred even greater emphasis on water buffalo in the farming villages. The scene is being repeated all over india and is sometimes called the white revolution. Narrator Irrigation Water is the lifeline of the village. The main canal here is the main artery of that lifeline. Management of the canals is mainly the responsibility of the irrigation bureau. However, the smaller distributaries are managed by the village itself. Water is regulated by inserting or removing weirs. conversing heatedly narrator disputes frequently erupt over the use of the water. This young boy needs water in his field downstream. But the elderly farmer, whose farm is upstream, has put up a weir so that he can water his own field. A major contributor to disputes over water rights is a lack of set rules over, and controls on, water use. Unfortunately, the canals are often not properly managed. Water should be flowing through this canal. Another major problem is the amount of water lost to leaks in the system. In one village near dikhatpura, the water table has risen due to seeping water out of the canals. This village, formerly subject to droughts, now has problems with boggy soil. A third problem which has accompanied the rise of the water table is salinization. Once salt deposits build up, fields become all but useless for farming. This kind of damage can be seen in villages all over india. Geographer takeshi stresses how critical Water Management is to indias future. takeshi speaking japanese translator while the development of a stable supply of water is critical for the development of agriculture, it also plays a crucial role in the development of any region and the lives of the people who live there. I believe that how dikhatpura and its neighboring villages develop will depend largely on how they manage their water. I think that the importance of Water Management will eventually outstrip even indias problems with population pressure and its food supply. Rrator Sustainable Development development that does not deplete resources for the future is a challenging proposition for any nation. Although irrigation has certainly improved many indian lives, poor management makes it a mixed blessing. And, despite initial gains from the green and white revolutions, the benefits of these reforms have not been evenly distributed. Areas already enjoying good irrigation, roads and electricity did well. Areas lacking irrigation saw little if any improvement. Small farmers face the expense areaof highyieldingtion smiracle seeds, herbicides,. And other inputs. Many went into debt or lost their land. Geographer jayati ghosh. Ghosh for a smallscale farmer, if they cannot afford to buy that water or to have oil in order to pump those irrigation pumps, then it puts them at a disadvantage. If they dont have the money to buy fertilizers or pesticides and herbicides, they cannot use those technology, because for Green Revolution Technology to succeed, you need all the inputs. You cannot just have, maybe, adequate amount of water, and without the fertilizer, it is not going to be successful. Narrator women, too, have not always shared the benefits of the green revolution. Ghosh the men have benefited through the mechanization process. However, women are still doing the backbreaking jobs of the weeding and the transplanting stages. And so, theres a certain gender bias with this technology. Narrator another critique of the green revolution is its emphasis on monoculture the reliance on a single commercial crop. Farmers sell, rather than eat, what they raise. The diversity of local diets is reduced and can lead to malnutrition for those too poor to purchase food from outside the village. Dependence on highyielding miracle seeds means farmers do not engage in their own crossbreeding. The loss of genetic variety leaves crops more vulnerable to disease and pests. Even the gains of the white revolution are not without longterm consequences. There are concerns that more productive land will be used to cultivate cattle feed than for feeding indias growing human population. And rural population Growth Continues to be a barrier to Sustainable Development in india. Migrants from rural areas put increasing stress on indias already overcrowded cities. Those left behind often remain impoverished. One crucial key to Sustainable Development is gender equity for women. Better education for women is directly correlated with decreased birth rates and increased economic development. In the 1980s and 1990s, greater effectiveness of Family Planning was built on rising levels of literacy and improvements in the status of women. One Success Story is the Southern State of kerala. There the birth rate is now comparable to many northwest europeancount. Education of women has been critical in kerala; 80 to 90 of the women have some level of education. And education, of course, is the best contraceptive, or main tool to control population growth. Gender and development is so closely tied women and development. If we want to control population growth and promote development of rural india, rural Literacy Rate is something that has to be addressed. Narrator for true Sustainable Development to take place, rural population growth must be controlled, anthat rres increased gender equity for women. Through better Water Management and agricultural reforms like the green and white revolutions, some of indias rural population have been able to increase their living standards. However, balancing development with Sustainable Agricultural practices will test india far into the 21st century. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org