IN the water-starved, drought-prone Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, Jakhani village stands out as an oasis of prosperity. Wheat, rice, mustard, gram, pigeon pea and other crops flourish in this village of 2,000 people, located 20-odd km from the district headquarters of Banda. The six ponds and 33 wells in the village are full to…

Till last year, Fateh Ali, 40, a resident of the Gwaltoli locality of Kanpur, was selling vegetables. He has now switched to selling fish, like many other families in the Gwaltoli, Khalasline, Shoetarganj neighbourhoods. His income is now twice what it used to be. A member of the river-cleaning crew drinks water from the sacred…

NO other river in India evokes as much awe or is surrounded with as much religious fervour as the mighty Ganga. The river begins its 2,525 km journey from the mouth of the Gangotri and ends up at the Gangasagar in West Bengal. The river covers 26 per cent of the country’s landmass, straddling a…

The state is overhauling its sewerage network system so that the wastewater its cities send out to the Ganga is rid of all the impurities. Stream of consciousness: Beur STP in-charge Kumar Saurabh Every day, Kumar Saurabh reaches his office, the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Beur in Patna at 9 am, and begins his…

Geeta Ben still recalls with a shudder her daily struggle to get water when she married Hasmukh Bhai and shifted to his village Motipura Veda in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar district 22 years ago. She had to make several trips to a tube-well three kilometres away to fetch enough water for her daily needs. Her life and…

The Har Ghar Nal Se Jal scheme is empowering thousands of women in Rajasthan by bringing potable water to their doorstep DIRECT TO HOME: Tap water supply at a house in Sindrath village Sindrath village, near Rajasthan’s Sirohi town, 410 km from Jaipur, is buzzing with excitement. Homes have started getting tap supply of potable…

When 28-year-old Alka Chhetri got married in 2012 and settled in Mungram village in south Sikkim, her biggest challenge was sourcing water from afar and rationing its use. “I came from Darjeeling and was used to tap water. Fetching water from a spring four kilometres away left me fatigued. Water used for washing clothes and…

AT the headquarters of the Union Jal Shakti ministry in New Delhi, Bharat Lal, additional secretary and director, Jal Jeevan Mission, clicks on his computer to check on the progress of the government’s massive programme to ensure that every rural household has a functional tap connection for drinking water by 2024. The dashboard of the…

Nowhere is this dictum more precious than in India’s arid countryside. Farmers here have now realised that technology, community and shared resources can vastly improve their lot Drip, drip: Bhikabhai More shows off his micro-irrigation network in Khoraj village in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar district. Photo by Bandeep Singh 40% savings in water and labour costs if…

A participatory project involving farmers and elected water users’ committees ensures water to the last farm in parched Bundelkhand. Streaming live: Water users’ committee members with irrigation department officials at the Rohini dam Mardan Lal, 60, a resident of Chauka village of Mehroni tehsil in Lalitpur district, Bundelkhand, was very worried last year when the…