Photo by Dr Indira Khurana
By Dr Indira Khurana*
Excerpted from the book Climate Resilient Socioeconomic Growth through Water Conservation: Evidence, Implications. Livelihood, Green GDP, Circular Economy: Villages in the Chambal region, by Indira Khurana, PhD. This book brings a message of hope from the Chambal villages of Rajasthan to the world – A message of climate-resilient green growth that is decentralised, equitable, regenerative and sustainable.
In Karauli tehsil, hills and broken grounds characterise almost the entire area locally known as Dang. The area at the foothills just below the hill is called antari. The plains area between the hills with sweet water overlaying the salty layer below is called maal.
In the last 35-40 years, Dang lost its water. So what happened that it lost its water? Earlier also, the average annual rainfall was 68.92 cm; that too for only 35 days in a year. The scope of water seeping into the ground was less before also. What happened to cause the wells to dry up? Why did those who built houses on the outstretched arms of the Dang hills have to lock their houses and come down to live in ‘antari’ or ‘ghatiya neeche’ (below the hill) in the months of May-June? Why did the rebels who were once considered flag bearers of rebellion resort to dacoity, petty theft of livestock and looting of travellers? Painful questions, which need answers.
Interaction with elders in villages in the Dang gave glimpses of answers. Roop Singh says sadly. “We are ignored. Even today, most of the villages of Dang do not have electricity, roads, education, or regular doctors, nurses, and government midwives. Roads are few, especially in far-off villages. The people of Dang may be illiterate, but they are knowledgeable. What wrong has Dang done to anyone?” he questions.
Also read: The Chambal Civilisation – 4: The wilds of Karauli
He informs, “In 1972, the forest department gave a contract of these beautiful forests to contractors who came from outside. We were naïve in some way, also complicit and cooperated in some way or another. We made a huge mistake as this drastically affected water resources. Then the government leased out the mines. Whatever water was left, was destroyed. We were forced to work in the mines. This was also our mistake, but what could we do with no other source of income? “
Shares Ramjilal, “Earlier families in Dang had 35-40 buffaloes. But today most of the areas of Dang are in a bad state. The political system taught dependency to the independent people of the Dang, who were self-reliant in matters of water and nature management. Gradually the community bonds weakened, and the political leaders forgot us once they got their votes. With the entry of outsiders in the forests and rocks of Dang, the people lost faith in their own knowledge, labour, resources, capacities and power. This knowledge was replaced by greed causing destruction and animosity. Then came a time when the newly educated started calling the village Gurus ganwaar (illiterate) and the day came when the villagers began to believe that they were idiots and their knowledge was of no use, neither was the strength of their arms.”
The intergenerational knowledge and practice of living with nature collapsed within years. The result? There was no water left in the wells or in those small streams of the river. Rivers like Nehro, which were once perennial, frolicking from the upper reaches in the antari, and flowing below in maal, enriched Banas, Chambal and finally Yamuna rivers, yearned for their own flow.
Says Ram, “When the water went, the green veil of the earth blew away, as did the peace of the women of the Dang. By Makar Sankranti (which falls on January 14), there would be no drinking water available in the upper reaches. The whole family would descend with their household items and cattle. They would stay there until the raindrops would call them back up. When there was plenty of water for both living together, then one house would belong to the cattle and one to humans. They used to call the house of the cattle guwadi. With water shortage, the livestock and humans were forced to live together under one roof and share a common space. Villages such as Umari and Alampur were earlier guwadis.
With water gone, agricultural activities declined. Where cereal and other crops grew in abundance, now worrying about food for the next month was real. Dependence on cattle increased, but where will the fodder come from in the absence of water? Big towns once depended on Sapotra’s Dang for milk, now Sapotra itself started looking towards them for its bread. When a society starts looking towards someone else for its food and welfare, that day is the beginning of its decline and ruin.”
The villagers conclude: “Slowly, people started moving out for labour. Some took to other work, some left the village, and for some unfortunate villagers, life took a turn for the worse. The landless Dalits took to mining in the stone mines and were consumed by TB and other diseases. Every fourth woman of the Scheduled Castes here has lost her husband.”
But as water conservation work began in the Dang, slowly and surely, groundwater levels rose, streams and rivers revived and rejuvenated. When we visited villages in the Dang in August, during the monsoon, there was greenery all around and agricultural activities in full swing. Nallahs leading to the Nehro River were flowing and water chestnut was being cultivated in the talaabs.
In Alampur, we sat in the verandah of a newly constructed home of a villager just as the sun was setting, we saw family members busy with milking the buffaloes. The joint family was so satisfied as four generations were together. A newly purchased air cooler provided a cooling breeze.
“When was this house built? Did you always have so many buffaloes?” we asked. Pat came the reply, “All this has happened because of – and after – the talaab.”
To continue…
*Indira Khurana, PhD is Chief Advisor of Tarun Bharat Sangh, an NGO working since 1975 towards climate change mitigation and adaptation by promoting water conservation, sustainable agriculture and rural development in the arid and semi-arid regions of India.
