Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part V

So what did you expect? That I will be diligent and post the entire trip in consecutive days? I took 4 years to finish a 2 years M.A. Program on education from TISS (www.tiss.edu). This rate of blog output is far better than the assignment submissions that I did for the course. In any case, here goes the part V...

May 5^th Tadapani (2630m) to Sinuwa (2360m)

Summary – Crazy ups and downs. Killer steps. German bakery in Chomrong. Fresh apple pies. Death after Chomrong. Body brought to Sinuwa.

For those readers who don't want to hear one long monotonous groan you may skip this day altogether.

Skies were clear again this morning and we had good views of Annapurna South and Hiyun Chuli from Tadapani. The trail starts to descend almost immediately from Tadapani. It passes through a forest and quickly reaches a slope and descends steeply on switch backs and steps. We drop to Chuile (2309m) and walk down further to cross the stream Kimron Khola at probably 2000m. So we lose more than 630m and all in one steep downhill. My left knee was hurting badly and I was struggling to maintain any pace at all. I was really thankful that I had carried a Leki walking stick. I tried to shift all my weight to the stick when I was using my left leg but it didn't really help. I had to figure out how to use the stick correctly to keep pressure of my knees, but that I did only the next day. So it was an agonizing day for me.

When we climbed down we lost the view of the mountains and instead it was valley views. This part is not really wild and most of the hill sides are prepared for cultivation. There was barley, corn and vegetables and potatoes being grown here.

After crossing Kimron Khola we had to climb again. We passed Ghurnung (2060m) and the walk was easier, almost flat along the hillside towards Taulung. But I found it very difficult to walk even on flat ground, my knees was giving me lot of trouble. My knee protection and pain relief gel was all in my backpack which Narayan had carried far ahead. I was walking very slowly and gingerly. We reached Chomrong (2170) by 11:30 and stopped at the first restaurant for lunch. It took us a very long time to get our food, but I was happy to get my knees attended to. I rubbed Volini gel on it and put my knee caps on. We also saw some Himalayn Griffons soaring up the valley riding the thermals. It was around 1 when we finished our lunch and thunder clouds had already taken over the sky. When we started to walk and it started to pour. We took shelter in a water purifying station in Chomrong. Beyond Chomrong ACAP does not allow plastic water bottles to be sold. After a heavy downpour the rain abated and we started to walk quickly. We reached Chomrong downtown which is an happening place. We found snooker clubs and bakeries in Chomrong. The smell of freshly baked apple pies wafted through the clean mountain air. But we were full and it was threatening to rain, so we had to move on. From Chomrong there is again a steep descent to Chomrong Khola. It was painful walking down the steps, may be 1000 or more. After crossing the stream we had to climb up to Sinuwa. We were now walking along Modi Khola which would take us all the way up to Machapuchare Base Camp. The exhaustion due to the steep climbs, up and down, and the constant threat of rain forced us to stop at lower Sinuwa. I had a hot shower and felt much better. We had got tired of eating inane food from the menu designed to appeal to the taste of western tourists. We decided to make kichadi and aalu fry for dinner. 2 German girls were the only other trekkers who had stopped in lower Sinuwa, the rest had plodded up to Sinuwa. The Germans were lucky to have a share of our kichadi, or so we thought. They politely said it tasted very good. They offered some rum in return which I gladly accepted. In that cold, rainy evening a thimble of rum in hot water made me feel good. I ignored Jayesh's frowns. He is completely against any alchohol on a trek and for good reason. I think for most Indians drinking alchohol is linked directly with getting drunk and that is a good generalization. Getting drunk on a trek is a nuisance and in high altitude it could be dangerous. It is difficult to distinguish the symptoms between Acute Mountain Sickness and a hangover. But I have never been drunk in my life, but Jayesh does not know that. In any case the rum did wonders to my aching bones and muscles and I slept well.

Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part IV

Apologies

I have to first apologize for the delay in continuing the blog. I had jammed a finger of my right hand in the car door and it was badly injured. I was also away from Bangalore for 3 days. I was in Timbaktu (www.timbaktu.org) conducting training. Timbaktu has organized thrift cooperatives for women in the 3 blocks that it operates in Anantapur district of AP. These cooperatives have a turnover of more than a crore of rupees. A good part of this turnover goes as loans for borrowers who are attempting to run small businesses like milk production and trading, sheep rearing, poultry, small grocery and vegetable shops etc. Timbaktu thought it would be a good idea for the “loan officers” of these cooperatives to have a better idea of what it takes to run a viable business so that they can counsel their borrowers. This would have two benefits at least. The thrift cooperatives would have better repayments and the business persons would have a better livelihood. These “loan officers” are mostly women with very basic education and some of them are not even literate. We (www.tree-society.org) are trying to teach them “Business Viability Analysis” over a course of 10 days spread over 3 months. It has been an interesting experience. But let us get back to more important stuff of the ABC trek....

May 4^th – Ghorepani (2860m) to Tadapani (2630m)

Summary – Climb Poon Hill (3150m), sunrise views of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna Range, back to Ghorepani. Climb from Ghorepani to Deurali pass at 3090m, have the same views of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna, walk through thick rhododendron forests to Ban Thanti (3180m). Climb down to meet Bhurungdi Khola again and then a steep climb to Tadapani.

We got up at 4. I was hoping that it would be cloudy and I can snuggle back into my sleeping bag, but it turned out to be a clear sky. Damn. From our guest house we could already see the fresh snow on Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South and Hiun Chuli (6434m). The climb to Poon Hill seemed like a pilgrimage. The entire tourist population of Ghorepani, around 200 of them, was up and early and religiously climbing Poon Hill to catch the sunrise. The only thing missing was bhajans and cymbals. May be it was the morning hour or my laziness the climb seemed infernally long. When we reached what appeared to be the top, there was a reassuring sign “Only 15 more minutes and you would reach the top”. I was thinking may be it would be easier if I sat for 15 minutes and waited for the top to reach me. The climb went on for another 45 agonizing minutes. There were some enterprising locals who had carried huge flasks of hot water to the top and the 200 pilgrims who had gathered had an option of coffee or tea, black or with milk (powder) at 80 rupees a cup. I gladly bought a cup and waited for the sun to rise.

The sunrise was not as spectacular as it was touted to be. It was a bit hazy and the sun rises behind the Annapurna range. It was nice to see the rays of light interrupted by the peaks but otherwise the view from Poon Hill is better seen at sunset when the fading light illuminates the mountain peaks. That would also mean a relaxed cup of tea in the evening and not getting up at an unearthly hour. Unfortunately at this time of the year it is impossible to have clear evening skies. But if you are in the Poon Hill area in October-November season I would recommend a sunset climb.

We climbed back to Ghorepani and had our breakfast and we were ready to leave. We had to climb again and the morning walk was up on a open ridge which had spectacular views of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna range. There was no reason for us to have tortured ourselves for the sunrise. If I had known that the views from Deurali would be equally good I would have skipped the sunrise tamasha altogether. After we passed the pass the trail descends into a beautiful rhododendron forest. The forest was filled with bird calls but I could manage to see only the red billed blue magpies. The gnarled trunks of the old trees made it feel as if we were walking through Ent land.

We reached Ban Thanti (3180m) for lunch. The owner of Hungry Eye (again) restaurant had lived in Mumbai for a few years and she was happy to talk to us about her experience. It looks like these small villages are safe enough for women to live alone. She lives there in her house even during winter when practically the whole place closes down. It seems ACAP keeps one guest house open in each village during winter for the occasional tourist. The community decides which guest house would be open. It is crazy to think how they manage during winter time in this rickety wood structures which are more or less open to nature. These villages have small vegetable patches where they grow cabbage, potatoes and other greens. As a responsible tourist it might be better to order food that is locally grown rather than packaged food like noodles and stuff. Both in terms of transportation and garbage disposal. In our group, Zubin was the most responsible in that sense since he ate Dal-Bath (rice with some vegetables) almost every lunch. I should remember this on my next trip.

After Ban Thanti the walk continued through forests and we had to climb down to cross the Bhurungdi Khola again. As soon as we crossed we had to make a steep long climb to Tadapani. It was a tiring day since we started early in the morning for Poon Hill and a climb up and down. We had to climb again to the pass and then descend and climb again to Tadapani. By the time we reached Tadapani it was cold and rainy. It was around 3 in the afternoon and I decided that I would snooze for a while, but we had some noisy Spanish travelers who were speaking loudly and I couldn't doze off. Our room in Tadapani was tiny but had great views.

Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part III

May 3^rd 2011 – Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani

Summary – Altitude gain 1340m (tough day). A steep flight of steps from Tikhedhunga to Ulleri. Gradual climb from Ulleri to Ban Thanti. Steep climb on rocks and steps from Ban Thanti to Ghorepani.

We had a lazy morning and a 3^rd look at the ACAP menu made us decide that we should cook our own breakfast. We asked for permission to enter the kitchen and made egg burji. By the time we finished cooking and eating breakfast, it was around 8. The skies had cleared and there was bright sunshine. All through the trip, I was tired and went to bed by 8 at night. Thanks to the new Kindle that I had bought, I always had some reading material before I dozed off. Since I slept early I got up early too by 4:30 or so and was ready to hear the bird calls. But that never made me get out of bed, I would snuggle in the sleeping bag till 6 and then get up and get ready.

In any case, we left Tikhedhunga and we immediately crossed Bhurungdi Khola and started climbing, climbing and climbing. It seemed like a stairway to heaven or rather hell. It was all steps, endless and relentless. The climb was to a village named Ulleri (2020m) and it was the first serious climb in our trip and my legs and lungs were not used to such an assault. It was just 500 meters of climbing and we did it in 1.5 hours or so. The only relief was the first glimpse of Annapurna South (7219m) from the final approach to Ulleri.

Ulleri is a nice village on a ridge with good views and nice tea shops. We had nimbu pani to refresh ourselves and I also bought two bracelets from the shop on the top. I don't think there are very many Indian trekkers on this route and so most of the shop keepers were quite interested in knowing where we were from. Mumbai is always associated with Bollywood (or should I say The Hindi Film Industry?) and my companions were asked if they had met Kajol or Salman Khan. Bengaluru somehow seems to convey to them a very developed city where everyone is a scientist. I did not try too hard to persuade them otherwise. Ulleri also has a primary school and it did not help my self-esteem to see so many tiny tots scrambling up the steps for their morning classes. The high school is in Tikhedhunga and the older kids were waltzing down the steps. Some enthu, I say. I was curious to go inside the school but better sense prevailed and I let go of the thought.

After 30 minutes of “Shavasana” in Ulleri we set off for our next lunch stop at Ban Thanti (2210). The climb was easier and gradual and we had a leisurely walk. We walked mainly throughly step cultivated fields and small settlements. We had a long lunch in Ban Thanti. The tea houses start preparing lunch after you order them, so it takes a while. This worked well for me as it gave me time to laze around and recoup from the morning activity. Most of these villages were clean and cute. The ACAP has done an amazing job in keeping them tourist friendly. It must have been around 1 pm when we started from Ban Thanti. Now the climb was getting steep again through a rhododendron forest. There were either steps or rocks. The sky closed in again and there was thunder. I was reminded of our previous evening hail and Zubin and I hastened to reach our final destination Ghorepani. We had to climb another 600m for the day and it seemed a lot. I had taken out my jacket and covered myself and the day pack with a poncho. This made the heat inside unbearable and I was sweating profusely. But the thought of another thunder storm made me climb very fast and continuously. We stopped for a quick breather in Nangga Thanti and continued up, up and up. The forests were thick and there were lot of streams and tiny waterfalls, but the idea of dipping was not appealing since the water was coooold. By the time we reached the suburbs of Ghorepani big droplets of rain was falling. We had to climb another infernal flight of steps to reach downtown Ghorepani and we checked-in into the Hungry Eye Guest House and Restaurant. The threat of rain had made me climb faster even than Narayan and it was worthwhile since we narrowly missed a heavy downpour. I was pooped and I suspected that I had pulled something in my left knee. But we were warm next to a fire, indoors and I postponed my worries for the next day. The only other guest in the guest house was a German girl who had just finished her medical college and was in Kathmandu for a few months. Her guide and porter was a good friend of Mahesh and so they happily chatted away. The guest house had fantastic views of the mountains which we could see when the clouds occasionally cleared up. There was fresh snow piled up on the high peaks and the lower slopes were glittering with hail. We were glad that we were indoors.

Ghorepani is actually a diversion from the main ABC trail. We had climbed up here to go to Poon Hill from where we could also get a view of Dhaulagiri. The idea was to see the first sun rays on Dhaulagiri and Annapurna range. People who know me well would understand how much I detest sunrises. I hate getting up early in the morning, but the enthusiasm around me was infectious and in any case I was getting up around 4:30 so I decided I would join them on the climb to Poon Hill for the sunrise views. I had a light dinner of noodle soup and went to bed after a hot shower.

Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part II

May 2nd 2011 – Pokhara to Tikhedunga

Summary – Altitude gain 500m. A short downhill from Naya Pul to Birethanti. A gradual uphill climb from Birethanti to Tikhedunga.

We had an early breakfast in Lake View Resort and packed our bags and headed out for our trek. We had a 1.5 hours car journey to Naya Pul. It was a Maruti 800 and it handled 6 of us admirably with our bags too in the hilly slopes near Pokhara. We reached Naya Pul not without incidents. Narayan noticed that his bag was missing. It seemed like his bag had dropped off during the car journey somewhere on the road unnoticed. Poor guy not only did he loose all his clothes but also his harmonica and his certificates. We were told by Mahesh that Narayan plays the harmonica very well and we would be missing his performances during the trek. Each of us donated some of our clothes to him so that he was adequately clothed. He took all this in his stride. Though he was definitely feeling bad about his bag, he continued to maintain his cheery countenance.

At Naya Pul, Narayan tied both Zubin's and my sacks together and carried them in typical Sherpa style using his forehead. This seems to be the preferred mode of carrying weights. They must have enormous strength in the their neck muscles. The sacks together must have weighed around 30 kilos and I couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

The path from Naya Pul (1070m) follows the Modi Khola (river). Modi Khola was going to be our companion for most of the trek be we left it after 30 minutes of walk after crossing over a bridge in Birethanti (1025m). We took a left towards Ghorepani from Birethanti. The path was a broad road and we could see construction equipment (heavy earth movers) for widening the road. The climb was gradual at this point and we walked comfortably. The road follows the Bhurungdi Khola river which joins Modi Khola at Birethanti. I was getting used to walking with my day pack. It is an old North Face pack, actually Madhavi's which I have used since Sahyadri days. It is the most comfortable of the small packs I have and hence I chose it for this long trip. I had 2 litres of water, some emergency medicines, flash light, rain poncho, a sweater, a jacket, gloves and an umbrella in my day pack to handle all eventualities.

We passed several villages and had our lunch at Hille (1460m). The menu card indicated that it was prescribed by Annapurna Area Conservation Project (ACAP). ACAP coordinates all the 'tea houses' in the Annapurna area. The tea houses provide simple lodging, a bed with a clean sheet and not-so clean blanket. I used my sleeping bag instead of the blanket. ACAP seems to be doing a good job except for the fact that ALL the tea houses in the entire area have almost the same menu. It felt like stepping into a McDonalds every time for food and this got tiresome after the third meal.

Almost within 30 minutes after lunch we reached our final destination for today, Tikhedungha (1520m). We passed the downtown area and checked ourselves in into Laxmi Guest House. I had a hot shower (yes, that is possible for 100 Nepali Rupees) and started writing my diary in the dining area sitting next to the Bhurungdi Khola. Narayan sat in front of me and was busy keeping notes and accounts and reading. Narayan is fully conversant in English and he can read and write fluently too. I could see a Verditer Flycatcher a few feet away and a Great Barbet screeching.

Thunder clouds rolled in and it started to hail. There were huge hail stones and it hailed for almost 45 minutes. I again started to worry about the weather. The Annapurna area is notorious for its weather due to the dramatic altitude differences. The South Face of Annapurna frequently has bad weather, lot of precipitation and avalanches. Our destination, ABC is in the south side and hence my apprehension...

Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part I

I had always wanted to do a long trek in the Himalayas ever since my taste for trekking got developed in the Sahyadris. My first trek there must have been in 1991 when I went for a trek to Bhimashankar during the monsoon with some of my PUCSD friends. It has been 20 years since and recent events gave me a reality check that I am not growing any younger and so I contacted Odati Adventures and joined their trip to Annapurna Base Camp.

April 30^th 2011 – Bangalore to Kathmandu

The Jet Airways flight to Delhi was a surprise. As always I can never figure out if I am flying Jet Airways or Jet Lite. If I eat in the airport I go on a Jet Airways flight and I get food in the flight too or if I don't eat in the airport I have to buy the horrible in-flight food in Jet Lite. Sigh. This flight turned out to be Jet Airways and strangely they had allowed me to web check-in in the business class section. So I actually traveled business class to New Delhi. Since I did not eat in the fabulous New Delhi Terminal 3, the flight to Kathmandu turned out to be Jet Lite, of course. I had been informed that I should take the left window seat on this flight so that I would get my first glimpse of the greater Himalaya. As it turned out the day was cloudy and I could only see the peaks peeking out above the clouds. Still an awesome sight. We had an overnight halt in Kathmandu in Hotel Marsyandi Mandala in Kathmandu, near Thamel. It was an expensive and forgettable place. The rooms were not good, the bathrooms were horrible and generally the service was poor. This applies to Kathmandu in general. It is avoidable. It is dirty, polluted and the services lethargic. This is surprising considering that it is invaded by tourists.

In Kathmandu we got the initial briefing about our trip. Jayesh from Odati was joining us, Mahesh from Culture Treks from Nepal was going to be our guide and I had just one more group companion Zubin Fatakia from Mumbai. I was happy that our group was small and I did not have to deal with a lot of people. I was expecting these 15 days to be quiet and contemplative.

May 1^st 2011 – Kathmandu to Pokhara

We took an early morning bus to Pokhara from Thamel. This was a tourist bus and the seats were comfortable. It was a 4.5 hours ride to Pokhara in terrible roads. There were big traffic jams caused due to vehicles parked arbitrarily in narrow two-lane roads. Nepal reminds me of India 20 years back. Those who keep whining about how things are going bad in India should shift to Nepal. The bus route follows the Trishuli river. There are already pre-monsoon showers and the river is picking up lot of silt and is brown in colour. The building material of the gangetic plains is getting transported from here. We saw some folks in rafts and feel jealous and I think, may be we should be doing rafting too in this trip.

In Pokhara we checked-in into the Lake View Resort and we meet a very scrawny man who was very deferential to us and who picked up our bags. Later we found out that this was Narayan who was going to be our porter for the trip. Pokhara is a stark contrast to Kathmandu. The lake side is very pleasant and Lake View Resort is a good place to hang out. It started raining in the afternoon and this was a constant feature through our entire trip.

We visited the Mountaineering Museum in Pokhara and got full gyan about mountaineering and geology of the Himalayas. The museum is worth a visit. The plaster-of-paris relief maps were interesting. I could see that our trail to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) goes through some narrow gorges in the last 2 days and there was avalanche danger. I was thrilled by that prospect.

There have been expeditions to collect the junk that has accumulated in the mountains and the museum has a display of some of the junk collected. It is sad that in our pursuit for adventure we care so little about these pristine places. Hopefully, modern expeditions are more sensitive and collect their garbage and get it back....

When we came out of the museum the rain had stopped and the skies cleared. We could see the entire Annapurna range and Dhaulagiri range towering in the north. It was a crazy sight. Pokhara is probably lower than Bangalore but we can see the 8000m mountains rising very quickly within few kilometers from Pokhara. The mountains seem to loom way up in the sky and it was like nothing I have ever seen before. Pokhara is a very good tourist destination.

Our actual trek starts the next day and we have any early night. I am a bit apprehensive about the weather. It was rainy and stormy....

Civil Society

I have been following the recent protests against corruption spearheaded by Anna Hazare with some confusion. The demand for participation of 'civil society' in anti-corruption vigilance is the cause of discomfort for me. Who decides who is a representative of civil society? In a democratic society, isn't all of us part of civil society and isn't our elected representatives the members representing civil society?

Partha Chatterjee of Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and Columbia University has written about the need for a new conceptual framework of "political society" for a country like India. http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/12162.pdf. I pick a quote from this article here...

"...It would be a mistake, however, to think that the result is a convergence of the Indian political system with the classical models of capitalist democracy. The critical difference, as I have pointed out elsewhere, has been produced by a split in the field of the political between a domain of properly constituted civil society and a more ill-defined and contingently activated domain of political society [Chatterjee 2004]. Civil society in India today, peopled largely by the urban middle classes, is the sphere that seeks to be congruent with the normative models of bourgeois civil society and represents the domain of capitalist hegemony. If this were the only relevant political domain, then India today would probably be indistinguishable from other western capitalist democracies. But there is the other domain of what I have called political society which includes large sections of the rural population and the urban poor. These people do, of course, have the formal status of citizens and can exercise their franchise as an instrument of political bargaining. But they do not relate to the organs of the state in the same way that the middle classes do, nor do governmental agencies treat them as proper citizens belonging to civil society. Those in polit ical societ y make t heir claims on government, and in turn are governed, not within the framework of stable constitutionally defined rights and laws, but rather through temporary, contextual and unstable arrangements arrived at through direct political negotiations. The latter domain, which represents the vast bulk of democratic politics in India, is not under the moral-political leadership of the capitalist class.

Hence, my argument is that the framework of passive revolution is still valid for India. But its structure and dynamic have undergone a change. The capitalist class has come to acquire a

position of moral-political hegemony over civil society, consisting principally of the urban middle classes. It exercises its considerable influence over both the central and the state governments not through electoral mobilisation of political parties and movements but largely through the bureaucratic-managerial class, the increasingly influential print and visual media, and the judiciary and other independent regulatory bodies."

Isn't this an interesting take on Civil Society?

Ever since the British left, we as a nation (are we a nation?) have been finding it difficult to introspect inwards and need scapegoats for our troubles. Depending on our political persuasion we blame Paksitan, IMF/WorldBank, MNCs, USA etc etc. The latest goat is the political class. Is it very hard to accept that as a people we don't care much about setting up common rules and following them for the benefit of everyone? One look at our roads would give you the answer.

Our "democratic" politics has been a politics of negotiation for special entitlements and privileges. When people vote for cash to elect their representatives, why are we so indignant when our representatives demand cash for votes?

While being at it, may be Anna Hazare should fast in Tirupati too to stop bribing Balaji for special favours.

Development in Tamil Nadu

I have revived my blogging after eons. I would now use this space mainly to write or quote about Tamil Nadu. My information mostly comes from Economic & Political Weekly.

To begin with I pick a longish quote from an article on Women's Empowerment through micro-finance in Tamil Nadu (http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/15883.pdf). The interesting part of this research is that the research have conducted surveys in the concerned villages over several decades. This kind of research gives us an understanding of how things are changing relative to time. In spite of the deafening roar of pessimism I hear all around me, I remain a rational optimist. Going by the evidence available I think things are improving for people of Tamil Nadu.

Here is a quote from the article

"Tamil Nadu belongs to that part of India that has experienced fairly stable economic growth and social development in the past 25 years. In our panel study of six villages in Karur and Tiruchirapalli districts, we have documented this development in various ways. The most important findings relate to a doubling of average real incomes, rapid growth of non-farm activities and a reduction of inequality in terms of operated area and income among the land operating agrarian households in our sample (Djurfeldt et al 2008a).

We have identified the two most important driving forces in this transformation as industrialisation with its side effects and state social policy interventions.

Being close both to the Tiruppur-Karur textile industry belt and the growing city of Tiruchirapalli, many of the households we studied have been able to diversify their economic activities into a number of non-agricultural activities. The actual number of factory jobs is still small, but the number of workers now engaged in shops, various services and modern professional occupations, building industry, etc, is quite significant. Almost 70% of the studied agrarian households have one or more members so engaged. Our statistics on income shows that it has increased faster than farm income over the past two and a half decades. Today 64% of household income derives from the nonfarm sector, that is, the secondary and tertiary sector of the economy. In 1980, this proportion was only 34%.

The development of a rudimentary welfare state is also part of the story. Despite the neoliberal policies at the centre and the pressure on the Tamil Nadu state government to lower spending

on social welfare, we still find functioning state run low price shops in all the villages which supply basic provisions of rice kerosene, and sugar to more than three-fourths of the population. There are more and better government schools than earlier in all the villages and in all of them there are also crèches and centres for the care of pregnant mothers and infants (angan­wadis). All schools and nurseries serve a midday meal to all the children, which helps in improving nutritional standards. Thus working parents are freer to work full time than earlier. This now also provides a larger number of jobs for people in the villages, not just as teachers but also as auxiliary nurses, pre-school assistants, literacy workers, etc, than was the case in 1979-80. However, recruitment to regular public service employment has been at a standstill through more than a decade and a half. Recently, there has been some recruitment of teachers.

It is this development coupled with a somewhat slower but still steady growth of agricultural production that makes up the basis for the material improvements that we have observed. "