The Junior Changemakers’ Club | 'I Grew Up Visiting Villages. Now I’m Working To Save Water in Rajasthan: A Teen’s Message of Hope to PM Modi

This Children’s Day, we at The Better India reached out to young achievers across different sectors to learn about the change they wish to see in the country. From tackling a city’s water crisis to becoming a wildlife photographer at just 10, these kids have fresh ideas, high ambitions, and an inspiring spirit to make our nation truly a ‘Better India’. Here’s what they have to say on this special day.

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To,
The Honourable Prime Minister of India

Subject: A young changemaker’s appeal for sustainable water management in Rajasthan

Respected Sir,

My name is Sharanya Mehta, and I am 17 years old. Growing up, I spent many summers in Alwar, visiting villages with my grandfather. I remember watching girls my age walk kilometres in the sweltering heat to fetch water instead of going to school. Everywhere I went, the problem was the same: limited access to water.

Driven by these experiences, I began working on water conservation — launching Project Jal. I worked with the Rotary Club of Delhi Premiere (RCDP) to raise over $2 million in funding, supporting the construction of multiple check dams and drip irrigation systems across Rajasthan. These efforts improved water access for thousands of farmers, turning barren fields into fertile land.

Alongside this, I conducted independent research to optimise the design of check dams for better water retention and structural stability. Using AutoCAD to develop initial concepts, I moved from cardboard prototypes to precision-fabricated steel models, experimenting with parameters like curvature, inclination, and additions such as Doha pits. 

Through ANOVA testing and quantitative analysis, I verified how small design changes could significantly improve efficiency. My model later became a tool for both CSR pitches and student workshops, helping younger peers understand the importance of water harvesting and sustainable design.

As these systems flourished, a new question emerged: while we were conserving water, were we using it wisely? That thought marked my shift from water conservation to water usage.

Across farming communities, I observed that farmers frequently struggled with irrigation schedules, either using excessive water or risking crop damage due to insufficient irrigation. 

With climate variability and unpredictable rainfall, traditional “fixed schedule” irrigation was no longer always effective. Advanced irrigation technologies, while helpful, are often not easily accessible in rural areas due to cost, complexity, or availability in local languages.

To bridge this gap, I reached out to Commodore Sridhar Kotra, a military veteran, engineer, and co-founder of Agrimatrix India Pvt Ltd., a centre bringing agricultural technologies to village clusters. 

With his guidance, I began exploring how data could be used to support farmers, eventually developing the Decision Support System (DSS) — a simple, data-driven irrigation advisory tool that helps farmers make informed decisions about when and how much to irrigate. 

I wanted to create something that translated technical data into practical guidance, combining soil moisture, rainfall, and crop type information to suggest optimal irrigation schedules.

What began as a small research idea soon turned into months of reading papers, running simulations, and testing models to see how technology could make water use more efficient, sustainable, and accessible to those who needed it most.

The DSS brings together multiple data sources into one farmer-friendly platform. It retrieves satellite data from ISRO’s Bhuvan and Sentinel-2 to assess crop water stress, integrates weather forecasts like rainfall, temperature, and evapotranspiration, and combines these with readings from IoT-based soil moisture sensors that collect data from different soil depths. Using this information, the system generates crop-specific irrigation plans — two-week schedules that adjust automatically as field conditions change.

To make the system accessible, I designed a mobile app available in Hindi, Tamil, and Marathi, with audio and video-based guidance for semi-literate users. 

Farmers can receive irrigation advice in their local language, even without internet access. If soil moisture drops below a set threshold during a critical growth stage, the system instantly recalibrates the irrigation schedule and sends an updated plan directly to the farmer’s phone.

The DSS has been tested through both lab simulations and field trials across different soil types and crops. The results have been encouraging: preliminary tests suggest up to 25% water savings compared to traditional irrigation practices, while maintaining or even improving yields. The model also helps reduce electricity costs for water pumps and prevents soil degradation from over-irrigation.

The project has been reviewed by agricultural scientists at the Pusa Institute, who commended its scientific foundation and user-centric design. Built on modular, cloud-based architecture, the system can scale easily — the first rollout aims to onboard 500–1,000 farmers across Rajasthan for real-time testing and refinement, with the potential to expand to many more.

Through this project, I’ve learned that innovation doesn’t stop at invention; it grows through collaboration and empathy. Explaining hydrological concepts to farmers, watching them translate data into action, and seeing their trust in technology grow has been one of the most fulfilling parts of this journey.

Through this journey, I’ve realised that true innovation begins with listening to the land and the people who depend on it. My work on water conservation and irrigation taught me that technology alone cannot solve India’s challenges; empathy, persistence, and accessibility must walk beside it. My dream is to see every farmer in India equipped with the knowledge and tools to manage water wisely.

As India continues to innovate, I hope we remember that the real measure of growth lies in how many lives it touches, not just how many systems it builds.

With hope,
Sharanya Mehta
Your young changemaker