Villagers join forces for Jal Swaraj

An article by ‘Waterman of India’ Rajendra Singh

The river basin-focused approach of Tarun Bharat Sangh in Alwar district in Rajasthan has led to rejuvenation of seasonal rivulets as perennial rivers. When there was plenty of water in River Arvari, there was natural growth of fish, which continued to multiply. The government wanted to get hold of fish and brought in a contractor. The people resisted and the government had to cancel the contract. It is not that the local people wanted control over the fish. Far from it! They are all vegetarians and do not eat fish, but they realised that today it was fish tomorrow it would be water.

This incident led to the formation of Arvari Sansad (River Arvari Parliament). The Sansad represents 72 villages, each of which sends two representatives. Thus, it has 142 members who are nominated by their respective village institutions (Gram Sabhas). The primary objective of the Sansad is to safeguard the integrated and water management efforts of the community of river catchment.

It follows the Gandhian ethos of participatory, equitable and decentralised paradigm for water management (Jal Swaraj), where decisions are made at the grassroots not by centralised institutions. Thus Arvari Sansad develops policies and enforces rules to govern the integrated management of interlinked natural resources like water, soils and the forest for the wellbeing of the villagers as well as other forms of life – flora and fauna.

There are direct and indirect impacts of Arvari River Parliament. These can be categorised into three broad aspects namely: Physical, Economic, and Social. In the category of physical impact, it is mostly the protection of water resources, increase in area under cultivation, improvement in the quality of land and forest resources and most important of all is physical community control over land, water, and forest resources.

Economic impact is largely manifested in change in livelihood pattern because of improved access to water resources in general and groundwater specifically. Increase in water availability has led to several commercial activities such as production of tomato and other vegetables, increase in employment and trade activities.

Because of increase in agricultural production of both commercial and other nature, marketing activities came up in a big way, exporting produce from river basin to metropolitan cities, establishment of commercial states and activities of middle men and other businessmen dealing with the produce, transport activity, emergence of service such as agro service centres, commercial shops, dhabas, tea stalls etc.

This has also led to diversification in livelihood activities. Several livelihood alternatives came up which have engaged a large number of population and stopped them migrating outside in search of jobs. The social impact is quite significant as the Arvari Parliament empowered people to fight for their claims over resources, question state bureaucracy of their programmes and plans, and better implementation of programmes at ground level.

Further it also helps in drawing plans for future use of natural resources. Particularly women who had no chance to put forward their views and opinion in any of the policy matter or activities in a village got a platform to represent their case. Now they are participating in all the activities organised at village or basin level. It is also important to note that the self-help groups formed by women are all active and doing well, compared to the failure of groups formed by men. Women SHGs have changed status of women in the household activities and decision-making.

Challenges faced
There is a lack of clarity regarding the ownership and responsibility for water harvesting structures and resulting water resources. The Arvari Parliament attempts to retrieve the ancient tradition of community responsibility towards common resources, in a difficult legal and administrative environment with its impractical and counterproductive provisions, which lets the so-called “owner” of a plot of land do virtually anything with the soil and water, including for example emptying the whole aquifer or polluting the soil forever, but which puts a lot of obstruction in the way of any initiative for community-based management of the common resources.

One of these obstructions is the Irrigation and Drainage Act, 1954, which does not recognise the indigenous water management system. In all this, the workers of TBS function as facilitators with Gram Sabhas and their leaders. But all this is possible when every member of village community has a feeling of ownership. This feeling of ownership is very important and is a product of one’s contribution, participation and sharing.

Transmission of knowledge
After having run a 9-month training for its own volunteers for many years, Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) has started in 2005 a Professional School of Water, Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth. The Vidyapeeth offers different courses open to all and specifically designed to fulfil the needs of young village boys and girls. The course design process itself involves the active participation of the students, to ensure a “need-based” course and their full commitment and responsibility for the revival of the indigenous knowledge system of water management.

TBS work
Awareness in the community i.e., awareness of various aspects of water management; respect for cultural, traditions and historical practices; and will to work together for community’s common interest Working strategy comprises the following: constitution of village councils; maximum possible use of traditional technology with advice from engineers if needed; all decisions including technical (sitting, materials, design etc) are taken by Gram Sabha; All decisions are taken by consensus, and not by majority.

Women play a role in helping reach consensus. A minimum of 30 per cent of total cost contribution is borne by the community and the rest from support agencies through TBS. Total responsibility for operation and maintenance activities is assumed by the community. The River Parliament (Arvari Sansad) is formed all 72 villages of Arvari Basin. It is responsible for planning and enforcing sustainable use of water, particularly in agriculture.

(The writer is a well-known water conservationist from Alwar district in Rajasthan. He won several awards like Stockholm Water Prize, which is known as "the Nobel Prize for Water," in 2015. Previously, he also won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2001 for his pioneering work in community-based efforts in water harvesting and water management. He runs an NGO called 'Tarun Bharat Sangh.')