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dam-l LS: President Honours Rainwater Harvesting in Rajasthan (fwd)
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From owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net Wed Mar 29 20:58:03 2000
From: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 17:33:38 -0800 (PST)
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subject: LS: President Honours Rainwater Harvesting in Rajasthan
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Source: The Times of India, March 29, 2000
A manmade oasis in arid country
By Chandrika Mago
The Times of India News Service
HAMIRPUR: He is aged 70 - or maybe 80. There is no
unanimity on this. But Dhanua clearly remembers the
parched land almost impossible to cultivate which sent him
in search of work to Delhi. There, he worked as a loader
for years, through the period when Gandhi was shot and
Indira Gandhi got married.
The years passed.... till his village Bhaonta-Kolyala in
Rajasthan's Alwar district saw the light, elders advising the
educated to stop talking about the arid land and start
digging, harking back to tradition and creating crescent-
shaped earthen dams. This helped harness the rainwater,
bringing to life the wells and eventually the Arvari river -
their life-giver.
The change inspired others and neighbouring villages took
to restoring old dams called `johad' and building news ones.
Some have allowed portions of their land to be submerged,
believing that being able to till the rest makes for a good
bargain. The villagers have now formed a river parliament,
meeting regularly to discuss its management.
On Tuesday, in what is possibly a first, President K R
Narayanan flew over to Hamirpur, a few kilometres from
Bhaonta-Kolyala, to honour the village with the first Down
to Earth-Joseph C John award. John founded Friends of
The Trees, described as India's first environmental society.
The award has been instituted by the Centre for Science
and Environment. The attempt: To rigorously scrutinise
community efforts and select an ``outstanding'' one.
And, Dhanua was on hand, with others of his village, to
receive the citation and Rs 1 lakh given by the trust named
after John. What would they do with the money? ``Paani ka
kaam,'' responded Arjun Gujar, another elder from the
village. They will waste no more time in waiting for the
sarkar (government) to do things.
Water remained a constant theme through the function, as
hundreds of curious villagers walked or drove kilometres to
the gay shamiana which had sprung up overnight amid the
heat and dust, on the banks of an Arvari reeling under three
years of scarce rainfall. And, as the speeches went on, the
gaily-dressed women began suddenly to trail out, ostensibly
in search of water to drink. The tankers had been kept
away by the administration and security.
It wasn't all sweetness and light. As Rajendra Singh of the
Tarun Bharat Sangh, which is helping the villagers with this
work, said the President's presence at such a function
would give their message speed and direction, the
disgruntled elements sniggered at claims of changes,
maintaining no real work had been done.
It wasn't something Dhanua, Arjun Gujar and company
would accept. The water level has risen and it's just about
15-20 ft from the ground. Foodgrain production has
doubled. Milk production is up. Expenses on diesel, to
pump out water from wells, have gone down as the
watertable has risen.
The final tally: 238 water harvesting structures in the 503-sq
km watershed of the 45-km-long river. As CSE chief Anil
Agarwal put it, the work here has shown there's no village
which cannot harness its water - whatever there is of it.