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A group of twenty people of varied backgrounds and walks of life found
themselves together on the Gujarat -Madhya Pradesh border at 6 AM,
September 12th 2003. One thing bound them all: interest in water and
its management by local communities. CSE's 11th Pani Yatra, which
had attracted people from places as far apart as Kerela, Jharkhand,
Gujarat and Karnataka, from the government, from the corporate world,
from NGOs, went off to a good start in Kalakoonth village of Jhabua
district, MP. The villagers awaited us with garlands and the clear
fresh smiles of those untouched by city sophistication. We were escorted
to the bank of their talaab where brightly-hued chalk markings on
the ground - a PRA map- depicted the village before and after the
community started managing their water with the help of an NGO, Action
for Social Advancement (ASA). A lively discussion ensued where the
yatris, a particularly curious bunch, got a sense of this tribal community's
involvement in watershed development and the impact it has had on
their lives.
The week-long Pani Yatra took us to a number of villages tucked away
in the Malwa region, a hilly tribal tract in Western MP. Jhabua district
held for us the joy of a Jal Pujan organized by ASA in Ratmaliya village
at the end of a pad yatra of 5 villages, where amidst the gathering,
women of all ages from different villages brought water collected
in urns from 64 talaabs to be blessed; the jewel of Dhar district,
Mandu Fort, amazed us with its elaborate and sophisticated rainwater
harvesting system, conceived thousands of years ago; and Sanjay Dubey,
the young and energetic Collector of Dhar held the yatris spellbound
with his recounting of the works related to watershed management and
general development in his district, as seen from the other side,
that of planners and pushers of plans.
In Ujjain district, perched precariously on a tractor, ploughing through
the treacle-like, wet, black-cotton soil, we visited the percolation
ponds in Baloda Lakkha village, pushed forward through the drizzle
by the sheer enthusiasm of the villagers. A beautiful, enigmatic woman
Sarpanch who was just a figure-head, a socially and politically divided
community, hinted at the troubles behind the scenes, but a warm welcome,
a home-cooked meal and great pride in their coming together to retain
all the "gaon ka pani gaon mein" through their own efforts
and contributions cheered us nevertheless. Our next stop, in Dewas
district, brought the yatris into contact with the Samaj Pragati Sahayog,
an NGO doing formidable work on watershed development by village communities
apart from training scores of others to carry this on elsewhere. A
rich store of knowledge and experience, and patient explanations given
to us, the novices, made the trek winding our way through the teak-covered
ghats to their remote center well worth it.
In Khandwa, the yatris divided into two groups, one to visit an all
women-led watershed area in a village of the civilization-shy Korku
tribals, where a Kerelite sister managed to do the unthinkable, which
was to draw out these people by addressing their most important concern:
water. The other group was treated to the hospitality of the CEO of
the district, RK Gupta and, along with his people and Sheik Osman,
the President of the Watershed Development Committee of Torni, (a
village where 90 per cent of the families used to be BPL previously)
visited structures, interacted with the villagers, and learned and
opened their eyes to changes in the country in a way that is only
possible by being on the ground, in the village, with the community.
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