Water management

In March-April 2013, Maharashtra suffered from what was probably the worst drought in 40 years. The people were once again at the receiving end of the wrath of Nature, as it took a heavy toll on the lives of the people on the parched lands. It also led to the formation of a youth organization dedicated to helping the victims and finding long-term solutions. This is what began as the Maharashtra Drought Relief Project, and is now called Yuva Foundation.

This is a story of fighting huge odds stacked against you. This is a story of sheer grit and perseverance. This is a story of putting Science and Technology to good use. This is a story of overcoming obstacles like corruption and red tape without compromising on your ethics. This is a story of transforming 95 acres of the 'worst land in Rajasthan' into a green campus of an educational institute. Read on.

Jean Giono’s 1953 story, ‘The Man Who Planted Trees’ tells the tale of a shepherd named Elzeard Bouffier, who planted trees all along an Alpine Valley to recreate a desolate forest. Whether Bouffier ever existed in reality or not, we may never know. But in Kasargod district of Kerala, there lives a man in flesh and blood who actually did this - a man who bought 32 acres of barren land and planted a forest there - all by himself! Read more

Remember the 2004 Bollywood film in which an NRI Mohan Bhargava (played by Shah Rukh Khan) returns to India and is moved by the harsh realities faced by the people in his village to become an agent of change? The name of that film was Swades, and here is an organization called Swades Foundation that shares a similar mission - to bring about change in rural India. To know how they are doing this, read more.

This story of the untiring efforts of a commerce ex-lecturer to convert twenty five acres of a barren piece of land into a self sustainable green farm, provides an ideal example of a model for rainwater harvesting and demonstrates how persistence and the sheer determination to go on till the end, can yield miraculous results.

In concluding our Water Week, we couldn't think of a more apt story than one that fills our hearts with gladness, and an old, defunct lake with water! Read how the efforts of an Environmental outfit, together with the co-operation and willingness of the villagers, revived a lake thought to be dead, and turned around the fortunes of a small region.

Continuing our water series this week, today we profile a few remarkable people and organizations who have turned around several villages in Gujarat, a largely arid part of the country, into fertile agricultural land. This article demonstrates nicely what can be achieved when government agencies, non-governmental organizations and local governance bodies like water committees can work together and inspire community-level participation and ownership.

A visit to Oddoor farms near Mangalore, Karnataka, provides an inspiring example of the efforts made by Rajesh Naik to transform 120 acres of barren land into a lush green farm through his persistent efforts of creating a 2 acre wide and 50 feet deep lake, which has not only transformed the surrounding area, but has also helped in improving the water table in the surrounding village, besides helping in the development of a self sufficient organic farm and a dairy.

Magadh Jal Jamaat, a loose network of progressive individuals in Gaya has been successfully able to revive over a dozen abandoned water sources and have instilled in people the need to create, clean up and conserve several lakes and ponds in the region. The problem of water scarcity had been of late afflicting the region, which once had a good system of ponds. But through their efforts, the group has managed to revive the traditional methods of irrigation, which are now more effective than the largest irrigation system in the area.