Who is glacier man of india

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Because of global warming, the glaciers are receding quickly and as a result, farmers face a lot of difficulty in getting adequate water. On the other hand, a lot of water gets wasted during the winter months as, due to the severe cold climate, farmers cannot grow any crops in that season. Given the severe winter conditions, the window for farming is usually limited to one harvest season.

It was a big problem for farmers. The idea first came to him when he saw water dripping from a tap which was kept open so as to avoid the water from freezing in winter and bursting the tap. The water gradually froze into the shape of an ice sheet as it came in touch with the ground and made a pool. It struck him that the water that melts from natural glaciers due to high temperatures in summer goes to waste as it flows into the river.

Instead, if this water can be stored in summer and autumn so that it can form a glacier in winter, then this artificial glacier would melt in spring and provide water to the villagers at the right time. Based on this, he created artificial glaciers by diverting a river into a valley, slowing the stream by constructing checks.

The artificial glacier is an intricate network of channels and structures built on the upper slope of a valley to divert water from the main river of the glacier melt and then freeze it in winter in cascades which melt in summer in time for the sowing season. The artificial glacier is located between a village and a natural glacier at different altitudes so as to ensure the water melts at different times.

As the temperature rises, the next glacier — which is located at a higher altitude — then melts, and as this process of glaciers melting at different times continues, there is assured irrigation for the fields below. A simple and low-cost project, Norphel's artificial glaciers have won over even the most skeptical farmers in Ladakh. Thirty years ago, when Norphel first proposed this solution, he was laughed at.

No one would take him seriously. But today, he is hailed as the 'Iceman of Ladakh' and a climate hero. He may have bagged several prestigious awards, including the Padma Shri, but Norphel remains friendly and down-to-earth. It's rare to see him without a smile. He laughs about how he got the idea for his artificial glaciers, and when I praised him for the dozen or more awards he had won for his idea, he said he never expected to receive so much appreciation.

His celebrity notwithstanding, Norpehl is usually found at home, worshipping in his personal room, working in his kitchen garden, in the company of his beautiful wife.

That is when he's not busy addressing batches of enthusiastic students from various parts of the world, teaching the technique for creating artificial glaciers to the Ladakhi people, or visiting sites that need or have the potential for these man-made glaciers. When I met him most recently — it was after a gap of a few years — his rooms were filled with awards. The road to Nang village, about 30km from Leh, betrays all the Ladakhi characteristics described in tourist brochures: enchanting, mesmerizing and magical.

At an altitude of nearly 12,ft, the stark, bare and ethereal wind-sculpted rockscape is also equally breathless, factually and figuratively. Led by two officials of Leh Nutrition Project, a local non-governmental organization NGO , we hiked up a moderate incline from the village, breathing heavily in the thin air. We walked past a few cemented homes, through farmland, over embankments and along a gushing and frothy mountain stream, which distracts from the fact that Ladakh faces an acute water scarcity, especially during winter and early spring.

After about an hour of walking, we crossed the stream and headed further up through boulder-strewn terrain. Eventually, we reached an area that had been cleared, lightly flattened and bunds created at regular intervals on the slope. In July, when we travelled to the site, this area looked parched and featureless. As it happens, a mustering of forces between the natural and the artificial, year-old Leh resident Chewang Norphel can once again sigh in relief at a job well done.

His age, says Norphel on the phone from Jammu, rarely allows him to make himself available at the site of artificial glaciers these days. Having created and inspired 15 of them near various water-starved villages of Ladakh, NGOs have taken up the initiative to create and maintain artificial glaciers, he adds. He has provided us the know-how and technical expertise and we have followed his instructions.

He is also available for advice whenever we need," said Nasir Ahmed of the Leh Nutrition Project, one of the three implementing NGOs, as we negotiated boulders on our way to the Nang glacier in July. What lends charm to the process of creating an artificial glacier is the simplicity of the idea.