News Ancient Mauryan technology brings water, hope to dry Magadh in Bihar

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A check dam built by villagers along with Maghadh Jal Jamaat near Sijuaghati in Imamganj-Dumaria area. (HT Photo)

Ancient Mauryan engineering has brought water back to the undulating and rocky terrain of Magadh, the grain bowl of Bihar that had turned almost entirely arid because of abortive modern irrigation policies.

The Magadh region, comprising 10 districts in south-central Bihar, was reeling from its worst water crisis over a decade ago, forcing farmers to board trains to distant cities such as New Delhi and Chandigarh and work there as migrant labourers.

Rainfall was scant, people had long abandoned traditional reservoirs that caught and stored rainwater run-off, the water table in aquifers had depleted from overuse, and modern irrigation canals covered only a small area.

Gaya itself was a modern nightmare as most of its ponds overflowed with garbage. The water table had dipped below 200 feet, and taps and tube wells had gone dry. The water crisis was so acute that people sold their houses in posh localities at throwaway prices. The government promised to build a 100km canal from the Ganga, but the project failed.

The crisis looked irreversible but Rabindra Pathak, who taught Pali and Sanskrit at a college in Arwal, was certain that the answer lay in the long-forgotten and crumbling aqueducts and water reservoirs that irrigated the fields and fed ancient India’s most glorious empire.

He pored through old books and scriptures, and found that reviving the dilapidated network of pynes and ahars was the lone solution.

Pynes are channels carrying water from rivers. Ahars are low-lying fields with embankments that act as water reservoirs. This combined irrigation and water conservation system dates back to the Mauryan era that flourished in Magadh 2,000 years ago.

Easing farm distress

The restored pyne-ahar system brought water to the remote countryside and helps farmers in Gaya
Mauryan_gfx1.jpg

Major pynes in district
Barki Pyne, Jamune Dasain Pyne, Moratal Pyne, Ninsar Pyne, Ninsar-Shakurabad Pyne, Bansi Nala-Karamdih-Pale Pyne and Bargawan Pyne

Grounwater depletion over the years in Gaya

Mauryan_gfx2.jpg

Pathak founded the Magadh Jal Jamaat (MJJ) in 2006, a network of individuals working to revive the neglected pynes and ahars. “There was no other way to solve the recurring water crisis threatening to turn the region arid. Reckless use of tube wells for irrigation without adequate recharge complicated the scenario,” he said.

Convincing people to participate was not easy in a fragmented society, where nobody was willing to part with an inch of land.

“Villagers shrugged off the idea of collective participation initially, as they couldn’t fathom its impact,” said Kanchan Mistri at Khaneta-Pali village. “When the government with all its resources failed, how could a group (like ours) do it? That was the common refrain.”

Besides, the local mafia interested in contracts for government projects posed a big threat to the voluntary initiative. A years before MJJ’s formation, in 2004, social activists Sarita and Mahesh, working on an irrigation system in Gaya, were murdered by the mafia.

But Pathak was determined to do the unthinkable — bring water to the area. He got ample help from his professor-wife, Pramila, and trader Prabhat Pandey.

They persuaded villagers to form committees and donate anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000, depending on the size of agricultural plots they owned, and revived the 125-km Jamune Dasain pyne and 159-km Barki pyne. These two complex channels, rebuilt with help from social worker Chandra Bhushan, brought water from Falgu, a tributary of the Ganga.

The impact was instantaneous and miraculous. About 150 villages along the Jamune-Dasain pyne and around 250 villages along the Barki canal have been able to irrigate their fields for the kharif and rabi (monsoon and winter) crops, and grow vegetables, pulses and oilseeds as well.

The farm distress eased significantly. Life changed for marginal farmer Jairam Bhagat, who wanted to kill himself when his paddy crop failed in 2007, after he met volunteers of the Magadh Jal Jamaat. He joined the group, discarded plans to return to Chandigarh where he worked as a plumber, and contributed his mite for the irrigation system.

Bhagat, 45, from Shabaazpur village in Gaya was among thousands of people from about 700 villages who used to migrate for work — not by choice, but by compulsion. He now stays home and reaps a good harvest from his amply irrigated farm.

People began to say the water system’s revival was the second-best thing to have happened to Gaya after the Buddha’s enlightenment. In Gaya, residents, officials, military and police personnel joined the mission to build check dams and clear ponds of encroachment and debris.

“Recurring protests over water crises are now a thing of past in the district. Hand pumps and wells that were abandoned are now working,” said Rajesh Kshitij, a lawyer in Gaya.

The social organisation’s initiative drew accolades from environmentalists Anupam Mishra and Magsaysay winner Rajendra Singh.

In 2011, chief minister Nitish Kumar asked the irrigation, public health and engineering, and the revenue and land reforms departments to replicate the Magadh Jal Jamaat model.

The Magadh region has four medium and major irrigation projects, including the Sone canal. But these irrigate only 30,000 hectares in parts of Gaya, Arwal, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Nalanda and Nawada districts.

The North Koel reservoir scheme in Jharkhand’s Palamau and Punpun barrage in Gaya were launched in 1972 and 2006 respectively. But they never took off.

The Gaya circle irrigation department’s executive engineer, Ashok Kumar Choudhary, said the existing canal system works only for the kharif season, or monsoon crop.

But the restored pyne-ahar system helps farmers grow paddy in 150,000 hectares, wheat in 100,000 hectares and pulses and oilseeds in about 30,000 hectares in Gaya alone.

The Mauryan network brings water to the remote countryside, which seldom got any help from government agencies because of Maoist insurgents active in those areas.

The Magadh Jal Jamaat responded positively when at least seven villages in the Maoist heartland of Imamganj- Dumaria requested for a check dam to be built to conserve rainwater. The area is about 22km off GT Road, but barely accessible.

“Our volunteers worked two months, built a check dam and rejuvenated a pyne, which is now irrigating farms of over a dozen of villages and recharging ahars and ponds,” said 60-year-old Kameshwar Yadav of Pachman, ploughing his field after a decade.

The move encouraged a farm turnaround and migrant youth working in Delhi returned home to sow oilseeds.

“We built the dam with Rs 44,000 in 2014 when the state would have spent Rs 50 lakh and taken a year. This year, we hope to grow fish and reap a bumper rabi crop,” said Niranjan Yadav, a 30-year-old who worked at a retail shop in Delhi.

Source : Ancient Mauryan technology brings water, hope to dry Magadh in Bihar
 
_e9239452-f0a0-11e7-a734-adae4971e2ad.jpg


A check dam built by villagers along with Maghadh Jal Jamaat near Sijuaghati in Imamganj-Dumaria area. (HT Photo)

Ancient Mauryan engineering has brought water back to the undulating and rocky terrain of Magadh, the grain bowl of Bihar that had turned almost entirely arid because of abortive modern irrigation policies.

The Magadh region, comprising 10 districts in south-central Bihar, was reeling from its worst water crisis over a decade ago, forcing farmers to board trains to distant cities such as New Delhi and Chandigarh and work there as migrant labourers.

Rainfall was scant, people had long abandoned traditional reservoirs that caught and stored rainwater run-off, the water table in aquifers had depleted from overuse, and modern irrigation canals covered only a small area.

Gaya itself was a modern nightmare as most of its ponds overflowed with garbage. The water table had dipped below 200 feet, and taps and tube wells had gone dry. The water crisis was so acute that people sold their houses in posh localities at throwaway prices. The government promised to build a 100km canal from the Ganga, but the project failed.

The crisis looked irreversible but Rabindra Pathak, who taught Pali and Sanskrit at a college in Arwal, was certain that the answer lay in the long-forgotten and crumbling aqueducts and water reservoirs that irrigated the fields and fed ancient India’s most glorious empire.

He pored through old books and scriptures, and found that reviving the dilapidated network of pynes and ahars was the lone solution.

Pynes are channels carrying water from rivers. Ahars are low-lying fields with embankments that act as water reservoirs. This combined irrigation and water conservation system dates back to the Mauryan era that flourished in Magadh 2,000 years ago.

Easing farm distress

The restored pyne-ahar system brought water to the remote countryside and helps farmers in Gaya
Mauryan_gfx1.jpg

Major pynes in district
Barki Pyne, Jamune Dasain Pyne, Moratal Pyne, Ninsar Pyne, Ninsar-Shakurabad Pyne, Bansi Nala-Karamdih-Pale Pyne and Bargawan Pyne

Grounwater depletion over the years in Gaya

Mauryan_gfx2.jpg

Pathak founded the Magadh Jal Jamaat (MJJ) in 2006, a network of individuals working to revive the neglected pynes and ahars. “There was no other way to solve the recurring water crisis threatening to turn the region arid. Reckless use of tube wells for irrigation without adequate recharge complicated the scenario,” he said.

Convincing people to participate was not easy in a fragmented society, where nobody was willing to part with an inch of land.

“Villagers shrugged off the idea of collective participation initially, as they couldn’t fathom its impact,” said Kanchan Mistri at Khaneta-Pali village. “When the government with all its resources failed, how could a group (like ours) do it? That was the common refrain.”

Besides, the local mafia interested in contracts for government projects posed a big threat to the voluntary initiative. A years before MJJ’s formation, in 2004, social activists Sarita and Mahesh, working on an irrigation system in Gaya, were murdered by the mafia.

But Pathak was determined to do the unthinkable — bring water to the area. He got ample help from his professor-wife, Pramila, and trader Prabhat Pandey.

They persuaded villagers to form committees and donate anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000, depending on the size of agricultural plots they owned, and revived the 125-km Jamune Dasain pyne and 159-km Barki pyne. These two complex channels, rebuilt with help from social worker Chandra Bhushan, brought water from Falgu, a tributary of the Ganga.

The impact was instantaneous and miraculous. About 150 villages along the Jamune-Dasain pyne and around 250 villages along the Barki canal have been able to irrigate their fields for the kharif and rabi (monsoon and winter) crops, and grow vegetables, pulses and oilseeds as well.

The farm distress eased significantly. Life changed for marginal farmer Jairam Bhagat, who wanted to kill himself when his paddy crop failed in 2007, after he met volunteers of the Magadh Jal Jamaat. He joined the group, discarded plans to return to Chandigarh where he worked as a plumber, and contributed his mite for the irrigation system.

Bhagat, 45, from Shabaazpur village in Gaya was among thousands of people from about 700 villages who used to migrate for work — not by choice, but by compulsion. He now stays home and reaps a good harvest from his amply irrigated farm.

People began to say the water system’s revival was the second-best thing to have happened to Gaya after the Buddha’s enlightenment. In Gaya, residents, officials, military and police personnel joined the mission to build check dams and clear ponds of encroachment and debris.

“Recurring protests over water crises are now a thing of past in the district. Hand pumps and wells that were abandoned are now working,” said Rajesh Kshitij, a lawyer in Gaya.

The social organisation’s initiative drew accolades from environmentalists Anupam Mishra and Magsaysay winner Rajendra Singh.

In 2011, chief minister Nitish Kumar asked the irrigation, public health and engineering, and the revenue and land reforms departments to replicate the Magadh Jal Jamaat model.

The Magadh region has four medium and major irrigation projects, including the Sone canal. But these irrigate only 30,000 hectares in parts of Gaya, Arwal, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Nalanda and Nawada districts.

The North Koel reservoir scheme in Jharkhand’s Palamau and Punpun barrage in Gaya were launched in 1972 and 2006 respectively. But they never took off.

The Gaya circle irrigation department’s executive engineer, Ashok Kumar Choudhary, said the existing canal system works only for the kharif season, or monsoon crop.

But the restored pyne-ahar system helps farmers grow paddy in 150,000 hectares, wheat in 100,000 hectares and pulses and oilseeds in about 30,000 hectares in Gaya alone.

The Mauryan network brings water to the remote countryside, which seldom got any help from government agencies because of Maoist insurgents active in those areas.

The Magadh Jal Jamaat responded positively when at least seven villages in the Maoist heartland of Imamganj- Dumaria requested for a check dam to be built to conserve rainwater. The area is about 22km off GT Road, but barely accessible.

“Our volunteers worked two months, built a check dam and rejuvenated a pyne, which is now irrigating farms of over a dozen of villages and recharging ahars and ponds,” said 60-year-old Kameshwar Yadav of Pachman, ploughing his field after a decade.

The move encouraged a farm turnaround and migrant youth working in Delhi returned home to sow oilseeds.

“We built the dam with Rs 44,000 in 2014 when the state would have spent Rs 50 lakh and taken a year. This year, we hope to grow fish and reap a bumper rabi crop,” said Niranjan Yadav, a 30-year-old who worked at a retail shop in Delhi.

Source : Ancient Mauryan technology brings water, hope to dry Magadh in Bihar


Impossible . This is a Hindutva conspiracy . Gaumata ambulance to the fore.

@Guynextdoor @Aravind
 
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oh man, they just keeping lamer....ashoka was a buddhist einstein . I'm actually about to post a documentary series on ancient india, watch it to learn.

Actually he was Piyadassi devanampiya - beloved of the Gods. I don't know where did Einstein come into the pic. In fact the analogy didn't even make sense when I read your post doing a head stand .

Really look forward to your series on ancient India especially if there's immaculate conception involved. ;)
 
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Reactions: Aravind
_e9239452-f0a0-11e7-a734-adae4971e2ad.jpg


A check dam built by villagers along with Maghadh Jal Jamaat near Sijuaghati in Imamganj-Dumaria area. (HT Photo)

Ancient Mauryan engineering has brought water back to the undulating and rocky terrain of Magadh, the grain bowl of Bihar that had turned almost entirely arid because of abortive modern irrigation policies.

The Magadh region, comprising 10 districts in south-central Bihar, was reeling from its worst water crisis over a decade ago, forcing farmers to board trains to distant cities such as New Delhi and Chandigarh and work there as migrant labourers.

Rainfall was scant, people had long abandoned traditional reservoirs that caught and stored rainwater run-off, the water table in aquifers had depleted from overuse, and modern irrigation canals covered only a small area.

Gaya itself was a modern nightmare as most of its ponds overflowed with garbage. The water table had dipped below 200 feet, and taps and tube wells had gone dry. The water crisis was so acute that people sold their houses in posh localities at throwaway prices. The government promised to build a 100km canal from the Ganga, but the project failed.

The crisis looked irreversible but Rabindra Pathak, who taught Pali and Sanskrit at a college in Arwal, was certain that the answer lay in the long-forgotten and crumbling aqueducts and water reservoirs that irrigated the fields and fed ancient India’s most glorious empire.

He pored through old books and scriptures, and found that reviving the dilapidated network of pynes and ahars was the lone solution.

Pynes are channels carrying water from rivers. Ahars are low-lying fields with embankments that act as water reservoirs. This combined irrigation and water conservation system dates back to the Mauryan era that flourished in Magadh 2,000 years ago.

Easing farm distress

The restored pyne-ahar system brought water to the remote countryside and helps farmers in Gaya
Mauryan_gfx1.jpg

Major pynes in district
Barki Pyne, Jamune Dasain Pyne, Moratal Pyne, Ninsar Pyne, Ninsar-Shakurabad Pyne, Bansi Nala-Karamdih-Pale Pyne and Bargawan Pyne

Grounwater depletion over the years in Gaya

Mauryan_gfx2.jpg

Pathak founded the Magadh Jal Jamaat (MJJ) in 2006, a network of individuals working to revive the neglected pynes and ahars. “There was no other way to solve the recurring water crisis threatening to turn the region arid. Reckless use of tube wells for irrigation without adequate recharge complicated the scenario,” he said.

Convincing people to participate was not easy in a fragmented society, where nobody was willing to part with an inch of land.

“Villagers shrugged off the idea of collective participation initially, as they couldn’t fathom its impact,” said Kanchan Mistri at Khaneta-Pali village. “When the government with all its resources failed, how could a group (like ours) do it? That was the common refrain.”

Besides, the local mafia interested in contracts for government projects posed a big threat to the voluntary initiative. A years before MJJ’s formation, in 2004, social activists Sarita and Mahesh, working on an irrigation system in Gaya, were murdered by the mafia.

But Pathak was determined to do the unthinkable — bring water to the area. He got ample help from his professor-wife, Pramila, and trader Prabhat Pandey.

They persuaded villagers to form committees and donate anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000, depending on the size of agricultural plots they owned, and revived the 125-km Jamune Dasain pyne and 159-km Barki pyne. These two complex channels, rebuilt with help from social worker Chandra Bhushan, brought water from Falgu, a tributary of the Ganga.

The impact was instantaneous and miraculous. About 150 villages along the Jamune-Dasain pyne and around 250 villages along the Barki canal have been able to irrigate their fields for the kharif and rabi (monsoon and winter) crops, and grow vegetables, pulses and oilseeds as well.

The farm distress eased significantly. Life changed for marginal farmer Jairam Bhagat, who wanted to kill himself when his paddy crop failed in 2007, after he met volunteers of the Magadh Jal Jamaat. He joined the group, discarded plans to return to Chandigarh where he worked as a plumber, and contributed his mite for the irrigation system.

Bhagat, 45, from Shabaazpur village in Gaya was among thousands of people from about 700 villages who used to migrate for work — not by choice, but by compulsion. He now stays home and reaps a good harvest from his amply irrigated farm.

People began to say the water system’s revival was the second-best thing to have happened to Gaya after the Buddha’s enlightenment. In Gaya, residents, officials, military and police personnel joined the mission to build check dams and clear ponds of encroachment and debris.

“Recurring protests over water crises are now a thing of past in the district. Hand pumps and wells that were abandoned are now working,” said Rajesh Kshitij, a lawyer in Gaya.

The social organisation’s initiative drew accolades from environmentalists Anupam Mishra and Magsaysay winner Rajendra Singh.

In 2011, chief minister Nitish Kumar asked the irrigation, public health and engineering, and the revenue and land reforms departments to replicate the Magadh Jal Jamaat model.

The Magadh region has four medium and major irrigation projects, including the Sone canal. But these irrigate only 30,000 hectares in parts of Gaya, Arwal, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Nalanda and Nawada districts.

The North Koel reservoir scheme in Jharkhand’s Palamau and Punpun barrage in Gaya were launched in 1972 and 2006 respectively. But they never took off.

The Gaya circle irrigation department’s executive engineer, Ashok Kumar Choudhary, said the existing canal system works only for the kharif season, or monsoon crop.

But the restored pyne-ahar system helps farmers grow paddy in 150,000 hectares, wheat in 100,000 hectares and pulses and oilseeds in about 30,000 hectares in Gaya alone.

The Mauryan network brings water to the remote countryside, which seldom got any help from government agencies because of Maoist insurgents active in those areas.

The Magadh Jal Jamaat responded positively when at least seven villages in the Maoist heartland of Imamganj- Dumaria requested for a check dam to be built to conserve rainwater. The area is about 22km off GT Road, but barely accessible.

“Our volunteers worked two months, built a check dam and rejuvenated a pyne, which is now irrigating farms of over a dozen of villages and recharging ahars and ponds,” said 60-year-old Kameshwar Yadav of Pachman, ploughing his field after a decade.

The move encouraged a farm turnaround and migrant youth working in Delhi returned home to sow oilseeds.

“We built the dam with Rs 44,000 in 2014 when the state would have spent Rs 50 lakh and taken a year. This year, we hope to grow fish and reap a bumper rabi crop,” said Niranjan Yadav, a 30-year-old who worked at a retail shop in Delhi.

Source : Ancient Mauryan technology brings water, hope to dry Magadh in Bihar
Its a crying shame that neither government bodies nor the government can think out of the box and prefer run of the mill solutions which apart from being capital intensive usually don't meet the desired goals . That's just one part of the story . Add corruption , nepotism and the ever present nexus of politicians , local Mafia , police and the bureaucracy and you've got an endemic failure on your hands which is what typically happens in most parts of India .
The death of social activists in the case above makes for alarming reading but also renders the success achieved by this determined group all the more commendable and deserving of the highest accolades . Its only hoped that the rest of our nation doesn't wait for the situation to reach such desperation before the local populace begin to act for not all regions make have the necessary ingredients to make a success story as illustrated above .
 
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Its a crying shame that neither government bodies nor the government can think out of the box and prefer run of the mill solutions which apart from being capital intensive usually don't meet the desired goals . That's just one part of the story . Add corruption , nepotism and the ever present nexus of politicians , local Mafia , police and the bureaucracy and you've got an endemic failure on your hands which is what typically happens in most parts of India .
The death of social activists in the case above makes for alarming reading but also renders the success achieved by this determined group all the more commendable and deserving of the highest accolades . Its only hoped that the rest of our nation doesn't wait for the situation to reach such desperation before the local populace begin to act for not all regions make have the necessary ingredients to make a success story as illustrated above .
They should use guys like this for Water conservation etc. his ideas are great.
The Man Who Creates Artificial Glaciers To Meet The Water Needs Of Ladakh

The Man Who Creates Artificial Glaciers To Meet The Water Needs Of Ladakh
by Shreya PareekNovember 6, 2014, 2:16 pm

Ladakh’s beautiful mountains might be a paradise for tourists, but ask the locals who have to struggle to meet their basic water needs every year. Chewang Norphel put his engineering skills to a better use and created artificial glaciers to provide water in this cold and dry mountainous region. Know more about his remarkably innovative technology and how it works.

Chewang Norphel, a 79-year old retired civil engineer, has always been a solution provider. The story goes back to 1966 when he was posted in Zanskar, one of the most backward and remote areas in Ladakh, as Sub Divisional Officer. He, along with his team, had to construct school buildings, bridges, canals, roads etc. in that area. The task was very difficult to execute due to lack of skilled labour.

So he started doing the masonry work himself and trained a few villagers to help him. After some years, when he went back to that village, he found out that the villagers he had trained had become perfect mistry and were earning handsome salaries.

Chewang Norphel. Photo Courtesy: Athar Parvaiz
“It gave me a great pleasure. I was happy to see that a little support from my side had changed their lives,” Norphel says. This was just the beginning of the wonders he was destined to do.

Today, he is called the “Ice Man of India” and has created 10 artificial glaciers in Ladakh to help people deal with water scarcity in this cold, mountainous region.

Ladakh, a beautiful location with magnificent scenery around and exquisite beauty, takes everyone’s breath away. But, it is not the same with the people of Ladakh as the cold, dry and infertile land makes their lives harder than we could imagine.

Fortunately, the situation is slowly changing as Ladakh now has artificial glaciers to meet their needs and people have Norphel to thank for his amazing contribution.

The important thing is to control the velocity of the water.
Born in 1936, Norphel comes from a farming background and has served in the government service for more than 36 years before he had to take an early retirement due to his bad health. Being at home was not something Norphel enjoyed doing, and at the same time, the poor living conditions in Ladakh constantly troubled him. He thought of putting his engineering skills to a better use.

“Almost all the villages in Ladakh have roads, culverts, bridges, buildings or irrigation systems made by me,” says Norphel. But his biggest contribution came in the form of artificial glaciers.

Being a cold mountain desert, Ladakh sees a low average rainfall of 50 mm annually making people dependent upon glaciers as their primary water source.

Graphical representation of how an artificial glacier works.
80 percent of the population depends on farming, and their main source of irrigation water is the water that comes from the melting of snow and glaciers. Because of global warming, the glaciers are receding quickly and as a result, farmers face a lot of difficulty in getting adequate water. On the other hand, a lot of water gets wasted during the winter months as, due to the severe cold climate, farmers cannot grow any crops in that season.

“So I thought that if we could conserve this water in the form of ice, it can be of help to farmers to some extent during the irrigation period, particularly during the sowing season. The artificial glaciers, being quite close to the villages, melt earlier than the natural glaciers. Also, getting water during the sowing period is the most crucial concern of the farmers because the natural glaciers start melting in the month of June and sowing starts in April and May,” he says.​
The idea first came to him when he saw water dripping from a tap which was kept open so as to avoid the water from freezing in winter and bursting the tap. The water gradually froze into the shape of an ice sheet as it came in touch with the ground and made a pool.

It struck him that the water that melts from natural glaciers due to high temperatures in summer goes to waste as it flows into the river. Instead, if this water can be stored in summer and autumn so that it can form a glacier in winter, then this artificial glacier would melt in spring and provide water to the villagers at the right time.

It was now time for action, and he put all his engineering knowledge, field experience and passion to work. He started his first experiment in Phutse village. He made canals to divert the water from the main stream to small catchment areas located four kms away from the village. He also created a shaded area to keep the water frozen in winters.

These glaciers are constructed in a shade to prevent them from melting quickly.
And, as these glaciers are located at a lower altitude of 13,000 feet as compared to the original glaciers which are located at 18,000 feet, they start melting earlier than the mainstream ones and provide water to the villagers when they need it the most in April.

“The main technique used to create artificial glaciers is to control the velocity of water as much as possible. The region is a hilly area and that is why the gradient of streams is very steep. As a result, in the main streams the water usually does not freeze. So what we have done is we have diverted the water to a shadow area by constructing a diversion channel with a mild grade. When it reaches the site, the water is released downward of the hill, distributing it in a small quantity so that the velocity can be minimized, and side by side we have constructed ice retaining walls in series to store the frozen water. This is the entire methodology of the artificial glacier,” he explains.​
Retaining walls are built to contain the frozen water.
His first project cost him Rs.90,000. The width of the glacier ranges generally from 50 to 200 feet and the depth from 2 to 7 feet. This low cost model used only locally sourced material and help from the local community. Norphel has successfully built 10 glaciers so far. The smallest one is 500 feet long in Umla and the largest is 2 km long in Phutse.

His efforts have increased the agricultural production, thereby increasing the income of the locals. This has also reduced the migration to cities. His simple technique has brought water closer to the villages, and most importantly, made it available when the villagers need it the most.

In the future, he wants to continue making the glaciers and plans to build in other areas like Lahol, Spiti, Zangskar, etc. The only thing that comes as a challenge is lack of adequate funds.

“As you sow, so you reap. There is no doubt that if one has strong determination and dedication, there is nothing impossible in the world. That is what I believe,” Norphel says.​
His simple idea has received acclaim across the globe and he has proved that if man is the one responsible for disturbing nature, he also has the capacity to save it. You just need the right intention to do so.
 
Ashoka even gave one Pann for converting a Brahmin to Buddhism. He should not be remembered as a Hindu King but as an enemy of Hindus. He killed his own 100 brothers to become the king. If Mongols were called Barbaric, Ashoka was their Forefather and exceeded them in brutalities. Think of the original population of SriLanka. The Buddhists led by His son and his followers killed and converted the original Tamil population of SriLanka and converted them to Buddhism. The Children of these migrants from Magadh had Lion as their national Emblem and so the Children of these Magadh migrants called themselves Sinhala. Now only North SriLanka has Tamil population as majority are these North Indians who call themselves Sinhala.