Let the Rivers Flow ; Indian Policy Makers Scoff at Traditional Water Harvesting Practices. For Them Infrastructure Stops at Big Projects, Possibly Because of Big Money.

Summary

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Our journey of rural uplift started on October 2, 1985, when along with three others, I went to live in a village in Alwar, Rajasthan. I had quit my job as a national service volunteer at Jaipur. It was then that we realised that the real need of people was water. The people in this region had a symbiotic relationship with their natural resources and a rich tradition of rainwater harvesting. But with the granting of land to miners and loggers, there was excessive deforestation which resulted in severe land degradation. This increased the frequency of flash floods and droughts. We realised that people needed johads-water harvesting structures that would not let the water run away but allow it to percolate into the ground. We then turned to restoring and building johads at Gopalpura village. We built 8,600 johads in 1,058 villages spread over 6,500 sq km. Of these, 3,500 were built by Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) and then the villagers felt motivated enough to build another 5,100 structures. The johads cover parts of the contiguous districts of Alwar, Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, Karoli and Jaipur while similar water structures have also been built in Jaisalmer, Ajmer, Udaipur and Bharatpur.

Now five seasonal rivers in north-eastern Rajasthan-Ruparel, Arvari, Sarsa, Bhagani and Jahajwali-that had nearly dried up have become perennial. Our water conservation efforts have increased employment opportunities, reduced migration, upped student enrolment in schools and improved milk production and food grain output. We also developed a decentralised power model among the 70 villages of Arvari River-the Arvari parliament. It is essential that we realise water as a limited resource. But unfortunately for the Government, infrastructure stops at ports and airports. It does not include water. Traditional water harvesting practices do not find favour with policy makers for the simple reason that these do not need budget allocations. Maybe big projects mean more money and more scope for corruption. That is why our planners come up with schemes like river linking without even going into the effects and consequences. Some solutions for water management:

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Let the Rivers Flow ; Indian Policy Makers Scoff at Traditional Water Harvesting Practices. For Them Infrastructure Stops at Big Projects, Possibly Because of Big Money.

Big dams are not equitable: These displace too man...

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