Nawazuddin Siddiqui to spearhead a campaign for water conservation
10:58 AM
Actor
has been appointed by the Ministry of Water Resources, River
Development & Ganga Rejuvenation to spearhead a campaign to preserve
natural reserves
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 9, 2017)
Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been roped in by the central government to spearhead a water conservation campaign for the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation. The Ministry is producing a celebrity-endorsed TV commercial, ‘The Auction’, to spread awareness on this issue and wants to tap the actor’s personal connect with his audience to enhance public participation, aiming to turn the campaign into a mass movement.
Confirming the news, the actor told Mirror, “We will start small, urging people to change their habits and save water at home before taking it forward aggressively. In my family, the responsibility lies with my daughter Shora who has been hearing stories about how precious water is since she was four, with added knowledge from textbooks and participation in the Versova beach clean-up operation, has been actively promoting the cause. Both my wife Aliya and I get scolded if we leave a tap open or waste water.”
Nawaz himself is equally concerned, having seen the river Hindon, which flows through his native village Budhana in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, shrink over the last five years into a stream of foul-smelling, filthy water full of chemical waste. “Nadi ab nala ban gayi hai. We can’t blame the government for what ails us, as citizens we need to take accountability and put preventive measures in places,” he asserts, rueing that even Mumbai is facing the same problem with its rivers like Mithi and Poisar contaminated with industrial effluents and sewage leading to flooding during monsoons and drastic climate change. “We have to come up with some disaster management plans as soon as possible, not just for the city and the state but for every part of the country.”
Nawaz’s grandfather and father were farmers and even he worked in the fields from the age of 10 to 22 when he left for Vadodara to pursue higher studies. He worked as a chemist before an interest in acting took him to Delhi’s National School of Drama (NSD) and on to Mumbai and Bollywood. However, he remains connected with his roots and after a state-commissioned research marked Budhana in the 'dark zone’ because of its sinking water levels, he was particularly disturbed. “A decade ago, you just had to dig 20-25 feet to pump water from the ground. Now, even at 250-300 feet you may not hit pay dirt,” he sighs, impressing on the need for optimal usage of water.
The actor remembers waking up at around 4.30 am as a child and heading straight for the fields where he would draw water from the tubewell for irrigation. The water was systematically distributed and not allowed to collect in one place and go waste. Last year, when he was at the Cannes Film Festival, he met a group of French filmmakers who had farms in Nice. They introduced him to a unique irrigation technique called centre pivot which delivers water through elevated pipes and rotating nozzles, each pipe irrigating one acre of land.
This cost-effective and water-efficient technique sprinkles water through elevated pipes and rotating nozzles. “I’ve introduced this innovative method of irrigation wherein each pipe can irrigate an acre of land and consumes less than half the quantity of water that we would otherwise use with conventional techniques and produces healthier crops. My association with this campaign should accelerate this work too,” exults Nawaz, who is open to doing everything possible, from commercials and ground campaigns to shorts and films to give an impetus to the government’s initatiave. “My background makes it easy for me to connect with the common man. Aur mujhe jo kuch bola jayega, mein bilkul karoonga. There is no time frame or deadline,” he asserts.
Will this initiative pave his entry into politics, you wonder, and he retorts, “No, I’m not interested in politics but I am interested in water conservation and river development.” What about Ganga rejuvenation? “I graduated from Haridwar so a lot of my memories are rooted in the Ganga which for us is more than a river. It’s a symbol of our culture and tradition, it’s time we gave the river the respect it deserves. I’ll be with the ministry for as long as they need me because it’s a cause very close to my heart,” Nawaz signs off.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been roped in by the central government to spearhead a water conservation campaign for the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation. The Ministry is producing a celebrity-endorsed TV commercial, ‘The Auction’, to spread awareness on this issue and wants to tap the actor’s personal connect with his audience to enhance public participation, aiming to turn the campaign into a mass movement.
Confirming the news, the actor told Mirror, “We will start small, urging people to change their habits and save water at home before taking it forward aggressively. In my family, the responsibility lies with my daughter Shora who has been hearing stories about how precious water is since she was four, with added knowledge from textbooks and participation in the Versova beach clean-up operation, has been actively promoting the cause. Both my wife Aliya and I get scolded if we leave a tap open or waste water.”
Nawaz himself is equally concerned, having seen the river Hindon, which flows through his native village Budhana in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, shrink over the last five years into a stream of foul-smelling, filthy water full of chemical waste. “Nadi ab nala ban gayi hai. We can’t blame the government for what ails us, as citizens we need to take accountability and put preventive measures in places,” he asserts, rueing that even Mumbai is facing the same problem with its rivers like Mithi and Poisar contaminated with industrial effluents and sewage leading to flooding during monsoons and drastic climate change. “We have to come up with some disaster management plans as soon as possible, not just for the city and the state but for every part of the country.”
Nawaz’s grandfather and father were farmers and even he worked in the fields from the age of 10 to 22 when he left for Vadodara to pursue higher studies. He worked as a chemist before an interest in acting took him to Delhi’s National School of Drama (NSD) and on to Mumbai and Bollywood. However, he remains connected with his roots and after a state-commissioned research marked Budhana in the 'dark zone’ because of its sinking water levels, he was particularly disturbed. “A decade ago, you just had to dig 20-25 feet to pump water from the ground. Now, even at 250-300 feet you may not hit pay dirt,” he sighs, impressing on the need for optimal usage of water.
The actor remembers waking up at around 4.30 am as a child and heading straight for the fields where he would draw water from the tubewell for irrigation. The water was systematically distributed and not allowed to collect in one place and go waste. Last year, when he was at the Cannes Film Festival, he met a group of French filmmakers who had farms in Nice. They introduced him to a unique irrigation technique called centre pivot which delivers water through elevated pipes and rotating nozzles, each pipe irrigating one acre of land.
This cost-effective and water-efficient technique sprinkles water through elevated pipes and rotating nozzles. “I’ve introduced this innovative method of irrigation wherein each pipe can irrigate an acre of land and consumes less than half the quantity of water that we would otherwise use with conventional techniques and produces healthier crops. My association with this campaign should accelerate this work too,” exults Nawaz, who is open to doing everything possible, from commercials and ground campaigns to shorts and films to give an impetus to the government’s initatiave. “My background makes it easy for me to connect with the common man. Aur mujhe jo kuch bola jayega, mein bilkul karoonga. There is no time frame or deadline,” he asserts.
Will this initiative pave his entry into politics, you wonder, and he retorts, “No, I’m not interested in politics but I am interested in water conservation and river development.” What about Ganga rejuvenation? “I graduated from Haridwar so a lot of my memories are rooted in the Ganga which for us is more than a river. It’s a symbol of our culture and tradition, it’s time we gave the river the respect it deserves. I’ll be with the ministry for as long as they need me because it’s a cause very close to my heart,” Nawaz signs off.
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