Digging 12-foot wide, 107-meter long trench, 'Water Warrior' Babita revives village pond!

Bundelkhand is ill famed for drought and perennial water stress. At such a time 19 year old 'Water Warrior' as she is fondly known, Babita Rajput and her 'Jal Sahelis' have came together to revive the village ponds for water security in the Chhatarpur district of Bundelkhand region.

 

The women dug a 12-foot wide and 107-meter long trench, to cut the hill and make way for the rainwater to change its course. “We all worked through the peak summer heat and early monsoon as the work needed to be completed before the monsoons. Eventually, some men began contributing to speed up the work,” Babita said.

 

 

 

This came up straight, when PM Modi in his last Mann Ki Baat praised Rajput for this step. Also, Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said was humbled by the effort of this young girl to fight against all odds and bring water to the drought-hit village. "If you care about the environment, be like Babita not Greta. Inspire, don't Conspire!", he tweeted.

 

 

For years, the residents of the village have been suffering from a water crisis. While they had access to a 70-acre lake in the vicinity, the water body was dry. Moreover, the little rainwater the village received drained-off from the other side of a hill and merged with the Bachheri River. Due to the lack of a catchment area in the village, the monsoon water used to run off into the forested hilly terrain instead of being collected in the village pond spread over 70 acres.  

 

 

“We always thought about diverting the rainwater to one side of the hill and channelizing it to fill the pond. But the hill belonged to the forest department and digging even an inch of land is not permitted", said Babita in an interview to one of the newspapers.

 

 

The women of the village would often have to walk long distances to fetch water in the scorching heat. Due to the scarcity of water, it becomes impossible for the women to do their household chores properly.

 

 

 

A big challenge faced by 'water warrior' Babita was the issue of land encroachment. “Some farmers had started using empty areas of the lake to farm and were using the limited water resource for their benefit. If rainwater filled the lake, they would lose the land. Hence, they opposed any possible development in this regard. The women constantly complained and demanded steps to solve the crisis. But the efforts were futile,” she said. “Children dropped out of school so they could travel long distances to fetch water in summer months. The farmers could not cultivate more than one crop, which adversely affected the income,” she added.

 

 

Besides this some 250 saplings have been planted in the forest area about two km away from the village. The work on the Agrotha pond has also been appreciated by the Forest Department. The women are also practicing organic farming in their backyards to earn additional income for the family. The groundwater recharge helps the soil to remain moist and manages to get second crops like mustard and peas.

 

 

The 19-year-old young activist, Babita Rajput began her journey in 2018 and led the movement from the front to ensure a peaceful life for 1,400 villagers in the drought-affected region of Bundelkhand. In her words “It is good to see that the lives of the villagers have improved.”

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