By Isha Parvatiyar
Jhansi: Bundelkhand has a legacy of water conservation but unfortunately, the region is not living up to its tradition in present times. Frequent droughts due to scarce rainfall have become a bane of this land of the Chandela dynasty known for their pioneering work in water tanks. The severest drought of recent times had continued for two years on a stretch between 2016-2018 when much of the Chandela period (between the 9th and 13th centuries) lakes had dried up. In the first 18 years of the 21st Century, the region experienced adequate rainfall only thrice – in 2009, 2012 and 2016. The year 2017 was particularly hard, and in 2018 too, the average rainfall was just 350 mm against the normal 1,000 mm.
Things have improved but as has been the case elsewhere in the country, many waterbodies are also victims of encroachment in the region today. This was on my mind when I reached Jhansi on my first-ever tour of this famed region of Bundelkhand. The poem of legendary poet Subhadra Kumari Chauhan that has immortalised this place was very much ringing in my mind…”Bundele harbolon ke munh humne suni kahani thi, khoob ladi mardani wo to Jhansi wali rani thi (We heard the story from the mouths of Bundele Harbols, she fought bravely, she was the queen of Jhansi)”.
I wanted to explore whether the legend of the brave Queen – Laxmibai – a stalwart of the first war for independence in 1857, had transcended the generations and was bequeathed by the brave women of the region, for whom travelling for miles for water has become an everyday struggle. I had heard enough about the resolve of the Jal Sahelis of Bundelkhand, who are now transforming the lives of the people here with their zeal to conserve water and in the process, spreading water literacy in the villages of Bundelkhand. None less than a person, our Prime Minister had spoken highly about them in his radio programme, ‘Mann Ki Baat’.
I could interview a Jal Saheli, Neelam Jha, of Durgapur Gram Panchayat in Babina block of Jhansi district. It was an eye-opener. “There is a lot of water problem in our Bundelkhand, in many villages, women used to go to fill water from one to two kilometres away,” she told me.
Neelam said her life was transformed once she came into contact with Jhansi-based Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan in 2018. “Ever since I joined the organisation, I was given complete information about how I can keep our point and the problems of the village before the Development Officer to the District Officer,” she said. It was in Parmarth that she could learn about the value of water and the symbiotic relationship between women and water. In fact, the very concept of Jal Sahelis is pioneered by Parmarth. The volunteers of the organisation trained these Jal Sahelis and today this model is hailed as one of the most successful steps taken in the fields of water conservation as well as women empowerment.
I could not believe that a problem that plagued her village for years could be resolved only because of the combined efforts of the women of the village – the Jal Sahelis – like Neelam. Rising against the neglect that resulted in water scarcity in their gram panchayat, Neelam along with other Jal Sahelis could together impress upon the panchayat and get a pipeline installed in the village, which benefited 45 houses. The women also motivated the males and together with the village head, the committee members repaired the hand pump and deepened the well and embankment in the entire village. They also participated in the construction of 10 check dams in the vicinity; got soak pits constructed in villages.
No wonder, therefore, that the work done by Parmarth, a non-government and non-profit, charitable organisation, and its novel concept of involving rural women in this work, is now being taught in schools and is very much included in the syllabus of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
It is because of this background that I was keen to visit the office of Parmarth and meet its founder Sanjay Singh, a relatively young graduate of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow. I was sure that visiting the office and meeting Sanjay and his team would enable me to evaluate in a better way, their work in the field of water conservation and water literacy.
What I could find there was that it was not just the team of dedicated volunteers who have worked all these years for the conservation of water in the region, but it is their accessibility and a deep understanding of the ground realities that are helping bring about the change in the region.
It may sound simple, but it is rather a complex situation when one finds that the 13 districts of the Bundelkhand region actually fall in two states – Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. This means for an organisation like Parmarth, it has to deal with not just the administration of two states but also the political establishments of these states. Obviously, such dynamics are very challenging, but what is even more interesting is that today Parmarth has its presence even in the dry regions of Haryana and Rajasthan!
As Neelam told me, Parmarth has not stopped with only water conservation, but the Jal Sahelis stepped out of their homes even during COVID lockdown periods and distributed ration kits to the poor in the region with the help of Parmarth.
Today, Neelam said, along with her village, in many villages, with the help of the committee, the Jal Sahelis have freed the village from the water crisis. Today many Jal Sahelis are self-sufficient and doing their work by themselves. Through the committee and organization, the work of revival of Chandel period ponds, revival of small rivers and traditional water resources is being done. “With the help of Jal Sahelis, we are able to complete this task,” she added.
Parmarth’s ability to motivate the rural women of the region, who otherwise wouldn’t even step out of their homes, and mobilise them to take a lead in the field of water conservation is not a small achievement for a group that started with just a few volunteers under the guidance of Sanjay, who in earlier days used to tread the ravines of the dreaded Chambal on foot or bicycle to spread the message of water conservation. He said it was in 1995 that he set up Parmarth with the aim of supporting the weaker and deprived class of society.
Since then, team Parmarth has expanded in both numbers and the regions they’ve covered with the help of a concept called “Pani Panchayat”. The team has established more than 600 Pani Panchayat committees and more than 1086 Jal Sahelis – women from different small villages in the Bundelkhand region – have been mobilised.
Another significant achievement of the organisation is that it has also successfully restored 4 rivers, namely, Barua, Bargi, Bachedi, and Kanera through Nadi Ghati Sangthan in the areas of Jhansi, Lalitpur, Tikamgarh, and Chhatarpur. They have together rejuvenated more than 112 Chandela tanks and have created more than 1000 other water-preserving structures.
The core team of about 100 dedicated individuals are now together working in areas of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana, covering about 551 villages, impacting one lakh households and 6 lakh population. They have created a total of 67 water-repairing structures, have saved about 1.5 billion litres of water, and helped benefit over a thousand farmers with their endless efforts and work, with no signs of stopping anywhere in the future, instead successfully expanding their work to remarkable lengths. Their successful models for water conservation include water budgeting and water security plans, climate-smart sustainable agriculture, rejuvenation of water bodies, and noticeably the Pani Panchayat and Jal Saheli models. No wonder, accolades are pouring in and even Bollywood is now ready with a movie on their ‘Bhagirathi‘ efforts.
