OVBI Announces Annual Banquet
to Eliminate Water Poverty in India
Immediate goal is to eliminate water poverty in 500 villages by 2020
OVBI (Overseas Volunteers for A Better India) is holding its annual fundraising event on September 15th, with an immediate goal to eliminate water poverty in 500 villages in India by 2020. The event will educate and inform the public on the severity of the crisis, as well as share the successes that OVBI has had in tackling the problem in rural India.
The event to eliminate water poverty will be held at the India Community Center in Milpitas with nearly 500 supporters expected to attend. Leading subject matter experts and executives including Raju Reddy, former CEO of Sierra Atlantic and Rathi Murthy, CTO of Gap will share their thoughts on how non-governmental organizations, such as OVBI, are shining a light and making a significant impact on this critical issue.
Currently, 54% of India faces extremely high water stress. Women have to walk miles to procure water, farmers live in deep financial distress, and major cities such as Chennai are running out of water. The UN has warned of civil unrest if urgent steps are not taken to address this problem.
Over the last three years, OVBI has been working on a war footing to avert this national crisis. In 2019, partnering closely with government bodies, ex-ISRO scientists, NGOs and local communities, OVBI will complete projects to eliminate water poverty in 105 drought-stricken villages across the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. The interventions include construction of micro recharge structures, de-silting of water ways, and building check dams to allow water to percolate and refresh underground aquifers.
“We started with just one village in 2017 with a significant initial investment of $70 thousand. Subsequently, our ability to engage with local partners including ex-ISRO scientists, and leverage government and CSR funds, enabled us to significantly increase our operational efficiency and thus have an outsized impact. Therefore, we have been able to scale rapidly to now positively impact 105 villages, with an average investment of about $1500 per village of 2000 residents”, says Mohan Trikha, Chairman of OVBI.
These water infrastructure projects have created 1.6 billion gallons of additional water capacity and positively impacted over 160 thousand rural villagers. Building on this strong foundation, OVBI is on an urgent race to Eliminate Water Poverty in 500 villages next year and then 5000 villages by 2023.
“While the immediate charter for OVBI is to increase water capacity, this alone is not enough to completely solve the problem. In order to ensure a permanent solution, we have to increase greenery as well as create economic incentives for farmers to grow crops with lower water needs”, says Satej Chaudhary, President of OVBI.
“Our vision is to completely transform India from a state of Water Poverty to Water Plenty by 2030. You can eliminate water poverty in a village with a gift of $1500. We encourage civic minded citizens to adopt one or more villages, so we can reverese this vicious cycle”, says BV Jagadeesh, Co-Chairman, OVBI.
You can sponsor and eliminate water poverty in a village of about 2000 residents for $1500.
You can also attend the OVBI Fundraising event by purchasing tickets here.
For more information and to donate please visit — eliminatingwaterpoverty.org
About OVBI
Overseas Volunteers for A Better India (OVBI) is a 501-©(3), IRS registered non-profit based in the United States with a mission to accelerate social impact projects in India. We are a non-political, non-religious and non-ethnic group managed and governed by Indian diaspora community leaders.
