Dr. Raja Marathe, an engineer and scientist, conducted a cloud seeding experiment in the village of Sujlegaon, India to address drought conditions. He burned rubber tires mixed with salt, which caused smoke to rise and condense moisture from clouds, producing rain over the village within 3 hours. This brought relief to struggling farmers. Though a simple method, villagers see it as a miracle. The project has now expanded to other nearby drought-stricken areas based on its success.

1. To Marathe, the
ultimate reward is
the smile on people’s WHAT’S BEHIND DR. MARATHE’S MAGIC?
face when the rain The project takes its name from lavan, which means salt, and vajra, rain
arrives. “All the love
God Indra’s weapon in Hindu mythology. Marathe usually scatters salt over
the villagers shower
on me helps me grow a pyre of wood or rubber. When the smoke travels up to the clouds, the salt
spiritually,” he says. condenses them to bring rain. Marathe has burnt over 300 rubber tyres
over 10 days in areas like Kandhar, Loha, Mukhed and Umri in Nanded
district, which managed to result in rain. Though he first experimented
with a pyre of wood, Marathe switched over to discarded rubber tyres as
they are “cheaper and easily
available in comparison to
wood”. While the villagers
are glad, Marathe is aware
that environmental activists
will raise concerns about
burning rubber radials.
Marathe says, “A one-time
effort needs three tyres,
which leads to a negligible
amount of smoke and little
harm, unless someone is
Marathe says that cloud
directly breathing it. We also
seeding is “the simplest
conduct the experiments and the quickest bet to
away from residential areas.” condense clouds”.
ers were languishing. Marathe initi- from the Nanded district collector.
ated the villagers into ‘partnership As the news of rain-showers in
farming’. Under this concept, farm- Sujlegaon spread to other villages,
ers pooled a portion of their lands and people from the neighbouring areas
shared profits as well as losses. And of Gadaga in Karnataka and Nizam-
HEROES Marathe spent Rs. 2.5 lakh to pur- abad in Andhra Pradesh too turned
AMONG US chase seeds and fertilisers for them. to Marathe’s project. Though the
But even though fields were ploughed experiment remains to be proven sci-
and seeds sown, a delayed monsoon entifically, many villagers vouch for
RAIN MAN
used the simple idea of cloud phys- played truant. it. “Mama [Marathe] has given a new
ics to bring rain to the village. Lavan The farmers turned to Marathe for lease of life to our crops and our fami-
Vajra, a cloud seeding project started help. He recalls how he was stumped lies,” says Sanjay Suryakar, who heads
by him, uses an easy method — burn- for an immediate solution. “But I one farming group in Sujlegaon.
ing wood or rubber tyres with salt. knew I had to act immediately,” says Between working in remote villag-
Marathe visited Nanded in May this Marathe, adding that he looked up the es, Marathe spends his time with his
year, his first trip in 28 years. In the internet for guidance. daughter, who lives in Pune and his
Dr. Raja Marathe’s cloud seeding project has brought showers — and much-needed ’70s, Marathe had spent close to five Finally, a book published by Profes- son, an American resident. His hope
relief — to the struggling farming community in Nanded, Maharashtra BY ADITI RAJA years in the area. A graduate in elec-
trical engineering from IIT, Mumbai,
sor Shivaji Rao from Andhra Pradesh
gave him the answer. Marathe ini-
is that one day his project will be
applied to other affected parts of the
and a doctorate from RICE Univer- tially approached the state govern- country. “It is surprising that India
O
n a parched afternoon in experiment, the village receives rain kilometres away. Marathe’s “magic” sity, U.S.A., Marathe was a Marxist ment to kick-start the project but as can go to the moon, but not recog-
Sujlegaon, near Nanded in — its first in five weeks. with salt (that’s how some of the sympathiser back then and worked “time was running out”, he decided nise the need for something as easy
rural Maharashtra, anxious In a tough year for Sujlegaon — women in the village refer to it) has to help farmers in the region. to undertake the work himself. The as weather modification. A timely and
villagers are gathered around a fes- rainfall has been down 40 per cent in been nothing short of a miracle. On his return, the villagers project even managed to attract some collective effort can help us be pre-
tive bonfire. All eyes are on 63-year-
old Dr. Raja Marathe, who stands in
this fertile farmland and the tempera-
ture has touched 49 degrees Celsius
This year, farmers celebrated the
local harvest festival with an enthu-
embraced him with the same affec-
tion as before. “I was overwhelmed
funding later, receiving a sponsorship pared for monsoon delays.” •
the centre, sprinkling handfuls of salt — this is reason to celebrate. In fact, siasm not seen in recent times and by their love,” says Marathe. “I was A PEOPLE HERO is one who is elevated from ordinary to
into the pyre. His actions make little when it was raining in Sujlegaon, the even felicitated Marathe for saving amazed that they remembered me.” extraordinary by actions which are both noble and inspirational. Know
or no sense to the curious onlookers scorching heat continued unabated in their crops. Marathe is no wizard When he interacted with the fami- a hero? Email suggestions to heroes@peoplemagindia.com
but within three hours of Marathe’s the neighbouring village, barely two but merely a man of science, who has lies, he found most small-farm own-
72 October 23, 2009 PEOPLE Photographs by KIRTI SURVE PARADE/PEOPLE PEOPLE October 23, 2009 73