Coir Geotextiles from Kerala to prevent soil erosion
Sudha S Namboothiry
Coirgeo textiles mat Kochi -- Ever thought what would happen if the earth under ones feet suddenly slips away? Scary? Well this has been happening in our mountain slopes though not so dramatically. Every year during the monsoon immeasurable quantity of life supporting topsoil is washed away into the ocean.
Soil erosion is one of the most serious problems faced by mankind today. In India, about 27 per cent of the land is subjected to severe erosion. It is estimated that 6000 million MT of precious topsoil is lost annually whereas it takes around 1000 years to build one inch of topsoil. Deforestation, unsustainable methods of land use, mining, road laying and construction accelerate the rate of soil erosion.
This is where the importance of geo-textiles comes in. Any material used for improving the soil behaviour, thereby preventing soil erosion is termed as geo-textiles. Synthetics, cotton, jute and now coir are used as geo textiles. In fact, the concept of geo-textile is not very new. According to historical findings wood, bamboo, straw, reed, wood, and animal hide were used as geo-textiles in ancient times too. In industrial age synthetic material like polyester, polyamide, polypropylene and polyethylene took their place as geo-textiles for engineering applications due to their long life. These geo-textiles, however, had their own disadvantages. Their production caused air and water pollution while their non- biodegradability was responsible for increasing soil pollution.
In an age of growing environmental awareness, the use of eco-friendly biodegradable material as geo-textile started gaining momentum. Natural geo-textiles like cotton and jute were used but their performance was not upto the mark. Coir fibre with very high lignin content comparable to that present in soft wood became the ideal choice as a geo-textile material. The lignin content in a fibre determines the resistance to microbial attack. Coir geo-textile with a lignin content of about 46 per cent scores heavily above jute (12 per cent) and leaf fibre (10 per cent).
Experimental studies have proved that while cotton and jute degrade within six months coir retains its 20 per cent strength even after one year. It provides good support on slopes for about five years and is resistant to saline water. Its greatest advantage is its ecological niche for a rapid re-establishment of the vegetation cover by absorbing water and preventing the topsoil from drying. Once the natural vegetation takes over the fibre decomposes gradually and eventually disintegrates, leaving nothing but humus. Similarly, like natural soil coir has the capacity to absorb solar radiation. That is why there is no hazard of excessive heating that occurs sometimes while using synthetics.
Coir geo-textiles come in various forms like woven netting and meshes, woven coir blankets, coirlogs, coir pillows and coir rolls. Their applications are various. They are used for stabilisation of soil slopes and road, reinforcement of soil-wall, rail-roads, track-bed stabilisation, embarkment on soft soil, land fills, control of erosion on slopes, land reclamation and river bank protection. Coir geo-textiles, currently, enjoy a high demand from environment conscious nations across the world. But in India its demand is very poor. About 90 per cent of the production in the country is exported. The USA is the main buyer of Indian coir geo-textiles.
The Coir Board has been conducting field level demonstration cum application studies on the coir geo-textiles in different locations. Protection of hill slopes in Nirjulin, Arunachal Pradesh, railway cuttings in the Kudal sector of the Konkan Railway, hill slopes of Gangtok,Sikkim, canal banks in Muvattupuzha Valley Irrigation Project, road slopes in the Eight Gardenia, Trichur,Kerala, mud wall and land reclamation work in Mancompu in Kuttanadu, Kerala and river bank protection in Chowara near Alwaye, Kerala are among the projects undertaken by the Board in India. The Board also proposes to undertake experimental studies on protection of the road embarkments and hill slopes in the north-eastern sector in collaboration with the Border Roads Organisation and north-eastern State governments It has also undertaken protection of mine spoils in collaboration with the Central Soil and Water Conservation Research & Training Institute, Dehradun. Besides technical support for product application, the Board also provides technical inputs for coir geo-textile production and helps in market promotion. The world requirement of coir geo-textiles has come to around 1,400 million sq mts.
The relation between man and earth is immense. India is basically the land of farmers and hence, soil conservation becomes all the more important. The coir geo-textile with its very high tensile strength, water absorption capabilities and ability to break up run off topsoil is a natural cure for environmental maladies. In addition to this, it will help boost the good fortune of the coconut farmers and the coir workers with its ever-increasing demand all over the world - keralamonitor.com
3000 Indian Construction Workers Stage Demonstration for getting unpaid wages.
Helpless Garment Workers in Mawelaa face uncertain future.
Dubai - keralamonitor.com July 16, 2002. In an unprecedented event, more than 3,000 workers, mostly Indians, employed by one of the leading construction companies in the UAE's demonstrated in front of the offices of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Dubai as well as other locations in Dubai and Fujairah, in protest against the non payment of wages for the last four months. A Dubai Police team visited the places where the workers had gathered to check any untoward incident and control any spontaneous outburst. The police team worked in tandem with security personnel of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Dubai to control the crowd and escort them back to their construction sites. It may be noticed that in the UAE and all other Gulf countries, workers have no formal trade unions to express their griavences. According to Brigadier Sharafuddin Al Sayed Hussain, Assistant Chief Commander of CID Dubai Police, the workers gathered in Al Ghusais and Al Quoz and police were able to guide them to the offices of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs without causing any major traffic disruption.
According to Jassim Al Bannai, Deputy Director, Labour Relations Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the company's non-payment of wages to its staff had triggered off the protest. The ministry had summoned the director of the company who agreed that the workers had a genuine grievance since they had not been paid for four months.An agreement was finally reached between the employees and the management of the company with the latter consenting to pay up two months' wages. The workers would lodge an official complaint with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs so that an effective method of payment of their salaries for the remaining months could be worked out. "It is expected that two months' salary will be paid to the workers immediately while the arrears will be paid gradually, the first by the end of this month and the second by the end of August," he added. 'The protest was in violation of the civic rules laid down by the government and enforced by Dubai Police,'' according to Dubai Police. But what mechanism is there to address such problems, rampant throughout the Gulf countries?
About 30 tailors who had been working for a garment unit in Muscat are living without water, electricity, food and salalry for the last several months. Out of several hundred garment workers, only 30 tailors are still hanging on to get their unpaid dues and salary from the Arab sponsor. Since May, 2001, the garment workers are living a difficult life without water, electricity, food and money. Located at Maw'welah , 60 KMs from Muscat the workers have filed a case against the employers. Even though some of them got favourable judgments from the labour courts, the employer, who is obviously facing financial difficulties, cleverly smuggled out all the machines from the garment unit to start another company in the name of his brother. " The factory owners have carted out all the sewing machines, air conditioners and other things to start another factory nearby," Arvind Pillai , a Malayali tailor working for the closed company says. Twenty-eight tailors had filed a case and judgment came in their favour but the owners haven't paid up yet..
The Indian embassy helped a group of eight workers to go home by providing them with air tickets The Indian embassy helped them with money as well as food. According to him work has started at a different location under a different name while salaries for the workers of the old organisation has still not paid. "We sleep outside to avoid being roasted," said a worker. One of them pointed out that they get water supply thanks to a neighbouring factory. "There's no cleaning done here for over a year," Pillai added. Most have borrowed to come for a better job, some cannot leave without money, and some have begged and borrowed to go back home. Such labour problems are not isolated cases. We have reported the case of companies like M.L, El.., P & S, etc. etc. to highlight the problems facing ordinary workers. Gulf News Journalist Sunil K Vaidhya has shown the human face of journalism in this part of the world by reporting the case of 30 tailoring workers. Despite all these, the workers had to go back without getting their pending salary and other benefits. The Indian Embassy could give them only a ticket to India.
