Greening of wastelands: proceedings of the national workshop on utilisation of wastelands for bio-energy, held in Pune, April 27-29, 1985

The Bharatiya Agro-Industries Foundation (BAIF) is a voluntary service organisation with a strong research base, operating in various parts of India, since its inception on August, 1967, helping the rural people in making proper and judicious use of natural resources such as land, water, vegetation and cattle for improving the quality of their life. In all its undertakings, Man is the focal point and natural resources are the means to make human life richer and better. It is for proper development of human life, that BAIF undertakes development of natural resources.
An overseas team of visiting profesors, which was at Urulikanchan in one of the early years of the organisation, had suggested that BAIF should move to some other area, gifted with good land, abundant water and adequate vegetal cover. BAIF Founder, Dr. Manibhai Desai, quietly asked, "And where will the residents here go? Migration from degraded areas, he implied, is certainly no answer to help man in meeting his basic needs. The vegetation and cattle for the rehabilitation of Man in natural environs. Over the last two decades and more, BAIF has worked on a variety of soils - alkaline, saline, aline, hilly slopes and gravelly lands-utilising science and technology for greening once barren and treeless areas, propagating Subabul and other species, utilising non-descript cows as seedbeds for producing high-yielding, early maturing cross-bed cows endowed with longer lactation and shorter inter-calving periods through A.I. service at the farmers' doorstep; constructing small tanks, operating lift irrigation schemes, introducing drip irrigation and arresting run-off rainwater. In recent years, BAIF has extended its activities to tribal welfare, rehabilitating landless, nomadic tribals in Bansda on tribal lands, and eltare, providing tribal men, women, and children adequate health cover. The rich and varied experience gained by BAIF's committed team has endowed it with courage, confidence and competence work effectively at the grassroot level. The clarion call by Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi for urgent development of wastelands through a people's movement has naturally caught the imagination and attention of this dedicated team, as it sees in the process of the Greening of India an excellent opportunity for the rehabilitation of Man-its abiding focal point.