Amai Mahalinga Naik gets Mangaluru Press Club Annual Award

Vartha Bharati | 16-12-2018 | 20:21:00 IST

Mangaluru, Dec 16: Amai Mahalinga Naik, who converted a piece of barren land into a full-fledged farm, has been selected for Mangaluru Press Club Annual Award-2018.

The selection committee headed by Prof. Balakrishna Gatti, Dr. Vasanth Kumar Parle and Dr. Nagaveni Manchi selected the 73-year-old Mahalinga Nayak, a resident of Amai near Adyanadka in Bantwal taluk, for the award.

Award presentation on January 5

The award will be conferred on Amai Mahalinga Naik during the celebration of Press Club Day on January 5 at Urwa Church Hall, informed Ibrahim Adakshala, general secretary of Mangalore Press Club.

40 years ago, Naik used to eke out a living by plucking arecanuts, coconuts. Landlord Mahabala Bhat gifted 2 acres of barren land to him in 1978. His dream to raise an arecanut farm atop rocky hills with poor vegetation was initially mocked by all. But he decided to rely on the ancient method of water harvesting, Suranga, as there was no water source for irrigation nearby.

Naik took up the task himself as hiring workers for digging would have been highly expensive. Though he was no water diviner, he followed his gut instinct and begun digging the same year. After harvesting coconuts and arecanuts, he used to return home and resume digging during the spare time. The tunnel being narrow, he had to crawl on all fours and crouch in order to hold the metal basket between his legs for collecting excavated soil.

After digging up to a depth of 30 metre, he gave up and begun digging at another location guided by his instinct. But water still remained elusive at a depth of 35 metre in second tunnel. When he had to abandon digging third and fourth tunnel at 35 metre again, the hard work of four years seemed to have gone in vain. Villagers declared that Naik was on a fool’s errand.

But ignoring all this, he began digging the fifth suranga located at an elevated place. And finally at 50 feet, he discovered moisture on ceiling. At sixth attempt, at 315 ft long, he found water. Then Naik went on to dig the seventh suranga behind his house to provide water for drinking and domestic use. Today, not only his farm is the living proof of a man’s extraordinary optimism, but Naik is also a role model for small farmers.

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