Photo credit: Tarun Bharat Sangh
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.
There is so much power in the raindrop! The villages of the Chambal vividly demonstrate the ‘miracles’ of decentralised rainwater conservation. No longer do women and girls, and children need to face water scarcity, drought and floods. Non-violence has replaced violence. There is employment for all, with which comes peace, security and dignity. Care for the family is possible. Babies can be born healthy, and girls can be educated. Nutritious food can become available for all. In the words of the women, “What anand (peace)? We are now living in maha anand (great/mega peace)!
A little support, community involvement and participation in water conservation can reverse trends of devastation of nature and human behaviour.
Water scarcity, drought and flood have a long-term effect on the health and safety and dignity of women, girls and children and cause stress.
As communities reel under the heat waves caused due to climate change, known to exacerbate the effects of anaemia, small efforts in water conservation and enabling access to water, closer to the water-starved community goes a long way in reducing the drudgery of women and the ignominy and risks they face when they travel far to access a pot of water for their homes.
In a rural scenario, no matter what the age, it is often the girl/woman’s responsibility to get water to meet her family’s water requirements. If she spends hours getting water, how much time does she really have for taking care of the health of her family and herself, looking out for her loved ones? No water translates into no food, no money, and distress migration. If there is no water or difficulty in accessing water, it is not possible to meet the basic needs of the family, and that further drives her helplessness and disempowerment.
We travelled to several villages, in the peak of summer in May and in the mid-monsoon in August 2024. Some of these villages were in the middle of forests with low populations. What we saw warmed our hearts. We saw contentment on the faces of women. We came across children deep in study. We saw smiles on the faces of women, as they went about tending their livestock, or doing their household chores. We also heard the laughs of women. We saw the elderly grandparents happily playing with the mischievous grandchild, who was tugging at the moustache, or pulling on the nose ring.
We spoke to women from several villages. Several women recall their experiences of looking and digging up small water pools in dry riverbeds and filling their pots with this water. Even in the peak of summer, in hot and dry May, the women were unworried. When we spoke to the elderly women about the drought several decades ago, their eyes teared up. They shared that the youth of today do not have an idea of how debilitating drought can be, and don’t fully comprehend how water conservation structures have made life easy for them.
A snapshot of what the women said: “Earlier, since there was little agriculture, we hardly had any grains or food in our homes. When the rebels would come, we would feel embarrassed and afraid, since we would not be able to feed them as per their demand and be humiliated. Now, though there are no rebels, we do have capacities to feed guests, as our kitchens and household stores are full.”
With money coming in, families are adopting modern technology and tractors in agricultural activities, which has made life easier. There is no need to plough the field with cattle the entire day. The water available in the talaabs and wells is used in the fields.
We also visited a village where there was no intervention. The contrast was stark and frightening. Just how dark the lives of women without water could be, was amply visible here. Clothed in rags with vacant eyes and broken hearts, it was made so clear just how important water is in the lives of women, children, and men.
The following were the key points that were gathered from the perspective of women, adolescents, and children:
- There is deep respect for the raindrop. The decentralised rainwater conservation has resulted in the creation of ‘huge natural containers’ that gratefully and willingly accept the rain that falls, which recharges aquifers, livelihoods, and lives. These natural and beautiful structures energise, create magic and help in drought and flood mitigation and adaptation. These raindrops also provide for agriculture.
- The women are strengthening their spiritual connection with nature. On special festivals and days of sowing and harvesting, they perform rituals and commit to the protection of natural resources
- The women look so much at peace. The heavy burden of lack of water, resulting in problems of economic, food and social poverty, has lifted. The family members are engaged in agricultural and animal husbandry activities. The social fabric, disrupted because of lack of water and resultant migration, is history.
- The women have disposable cash income in hand, which empowers them.
- The entire village lives in dignity. The shame that women felt when the male members took to crime is now replaced with quiet dignity.
- With water available, women can meet domestic water needs as well as their personal hygiene needs. While they say that their bodies are cleaner now, discussions on menstruation will need more interaction. Clothes of the entire family members are regularly washed.
- Diets of the family have improved. With increased agricultural activities possible, the female members of the family also have access to better diets, and therefore improved nutrition.
- The women aspire for themselves and their children. They now want better healthcare and education facilities and have some income with which they can afford. There is an increase in education of the girl child.
With improved quality of life, clean environment, rejuvenated nature, the women are largely satisfied in their local environments and do not aspire for shifting to urban areas.
Water is a powerful catalyst of ‘good.’ Small decentralised, local and community managed water availability and access can address several health, hygiene, economic, social and environmental issues.
‘Mother nature’ nurtures. In the same way, in rural areas, women nurture their family, livestock, and forests. When there is no water, there is no nurturing and little empowerment. In urban settings, when there is no water, women are under stress, which may be in a different form. In either case, lack of water stresses women and all but breaks her back.
The lives of women can dramatically and exponentially improve if there is access to water, through water conservation and the access to household level tanks.
*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.
