The incredible story of eliminating water poverty in Jalna, Maharashtra
This blog is about one of our most remarkable stories of change. Stories like these make us, at OVBI, do what we do. Makes us feel connected to India, its villages, and its people. Our vision is to eliminate water poverty in India by 2030. Data and logic may tell you that it’s an extremely difficult task. However, as the hero of our story will put it later, once one has tasted hope and success, one wants more and more of that till the goal is reached. This story makes us believe that our vision will be fulfilled.
The story takes place in the villages of Jalna district in the Marathawada regions of Maharashtra. This region, 30–35 years ago, used to be very green and very prosperous. However, due to deforestation, chemical farming, and many other unsustainable farming practices, Jalna became a drought-prone area. From four crops per year, the farmers had to resort to two crops and now just one crop. The farmer didn’t have enough produce to feed their own family, much less, others. The stressed and defeated psyche of the farmer saw no option other than suicide. And that’s when the plight of the Indian farmers first made it to the news all over the world. The farmer suicide rate in India shook the whole world, including us at OVBI.
Something had to be done.
Enter Dr Purshottam Wayal. Dr Wayal, from Jalna, son of a farmer himself, is the protagonist of our story. Like many youths, he too saw no hope in farming and left the village. However, unlike most of the other youth who work in menial jobs as unskilled labour in big cities, Dr Wayal studied and studied well. Well enough to become a political science professor. However, he says in his own words,” As I progressed in my career, my circle of friends changed and from a simpleton, I became an arrogant man.” He squandered huge amounts of money on alcohol and resorted to other addictions as well. All this led him to depression. The next 11 years saw Dr Wayal’s life go on a downward spiral. He was lost and frustrated. Fortunately, he got in contact with the Art of Living foundation and took their stress-elimination programs. He says, “The six-day workshop proved to be life-transforming. For the first time in 11 years, I slept soundly.” For the next few months, he diligently worked on adopting a lifestyle that was conducive for his mental health, and once he was calm, happy, and clear, he found his purpose in life. He decided to work for the lives in the villages, to uplift them to economic and social prosperity. He didn’t want the people to leave their village to work in the cities just so that they could survive.
“And what better village to start than my village,” He says.
In 2017, Dr Wayal started working in 10 villages of Jalna. He had the motivation and the methods but lacked the means. And this is where we, OVBI, comes in. We met Dr Wayal in India and saw his work in natural farming, watershed management, and rehabilitating drug-addicted youth. We were impressed with what he’s been able to do and decided to initiate and support a pilot program of watershed management in 10 villages of Jalna. Dr Wayal got into action immediately. He wanted this project to become a model project to inspire other leaders from all over India. But the project wasn’t an easy one. They had to change the whole physical and economic landscape of these 10 villages. For that, they realized they had to change the social landscape first. He had to instil self-confidence, reason, and hope in people who’ve lost all money, energy, and people. He saw for any change to be sustainable, for any society to be prosperous, one needs to work on an individual. When individuals are happy, society is happy. Mr Wayal said,” He wanted to empower them and not employ them. We wanted them to feel that their hands and their efforts saved this water that they are drinking. We wanted them to feel a sense of belonging to their village. Only then the change could be sustainable.”
Mr Wayal came up with a plan.
His team decided they wouldn’t work only on watershed management and natural farming but also areas of de-addiction, women empowerment, and education. He knew that inspiring words won’t work on a mind that doesn’t have any energy and calmness to listen to them. What they set to do required a warrior-like attitude, and people weren’t prepared for that. Dr Wayal’s team went from village to village and taught The Art of Living Yoga, Meditation, and Breathing techniques to the villagers. It worked. The villagers felt miraculously different after the program. The rooms were full of enthusiasm. They had never felt this much energy before in a room. “I had never felt this much energy in a room before,” said Mr Wayal.
Many vowed to support Dr Wayal and save their village.
Mr Wayal selected the five most motivated and educated people from each village and made them representatives of their village. These five representatives will lead and be responsible for the transformation of their village. They were a mixed group of people from all religions, caste, and sect, and would represent the entirety of their village. He says, “The movement had to be all-inclusive. Everyone had to be united and this was the first step.” The five-member team also had to consist of a mandatory female member. When asked, why a female? He remarked,” Because women are both sensitive and strong. Even though they might not be working as farmers, they have more potential than the other four males combined. A woman felt the pains of the family more than anyone, and are more motivated. Moreover, we wanted women to be part of the movement as well, and village women needed to see a woman leader.”
Mr Wayal’s team trained these 50 representatives, five from each village, in watershed management techniques thoroughly. They underwent an 8-day training and visited villages in India where the watershed management techniques, they were learning, were working successfully. Mr. Wayal said, “They were all so surprised. They saw the simplicity of the watershed management techniques, and how easily it could apply to their lands. They saw that the water just didn’t have to flow away from their villages anymore. It could easily be stored. They were all so ecstatic and beaming with self-confidence from this new-found knowledge. They couldn’t wait to go back to their villages and teach it to their friends.” However, all of this was technical knowledge. The real work was still to be done. Now was the time for putting in the effort. CCTs (Continuos Contour trenches) had to be dug, recharge structures had to be constructed, desilting had to be done, and trees had to be planted. “Shramdaan” (or voluntary labour) as Mr Wayal puts it, still had to be done.
“We had no idea how many people would turn up.”
Mr Wayal and his team went every morning at 6 am to the village mountain to work. As expected, the village representatives showed up. They brought along some friends. They followed Dr Wayal’s team and worked all day together. And together they ate, they sang and they danced, and went back with more energy and happiness than with what they came. The villagers back home noticed. They wanted to see what they were doing that is making them so happy. The villagers who went to work in the morning, their homes were the most cheerful in the night. The others, first, they came to see what was happening. Next, slowly and gradually they joined the work and the festivities. Mr Wayal said,” The numbers were increasing. Every day new faces will turn up, and once they came, they stayed. They always came back. One day 500 people showed up. 500 people, who came, worked for free and went back happier than they ever did after their paid jobs. It was beautiful. People everywhere were employing natural farming and watershed management techniques. “
“Jalna was changing.”
It’s the year, 2020. We are in the present moment of our Jalna story. Incredibly, in the last three years, 30,000 farmers have come together to build 3,000 watershed structures and have completed work on a 70-mile mountain stretch. However, Jalna, a drought-prone area, still needs rain for all this to work. We don’t know if it was the natural farming or the tree plantation drive or the villagers praying or the gods seemed to be passing Jalna. Maybe we don’t want to know. We want to believe in magic because it is raining in Jalna. “It is raining the most beautiful rain ever,” Mr Wayal says in the most emphatic tone. He adds with the same exuberance,” The village is so happy. All our structures are working. There is so much water. So much green. It looks like a hill station. The structures that we built are full just from one month of rain and there are still three more months of rain to go.”
“We’ve saved 40 million litres of water!”
Mr Wayal continues,” Everyone is so happy with their work. The farmers are looking to plant four crops this year. They meet me every day to express their gratitude.” He adds, “Because of Corona there are many who have come back from the cities. They are all shocked to see the transformation. They don’t want to go back to the cities anymore. They want to become farmers again. They’ve seen hope and success finally, and how will they not want to taste it again and again.”
The confidence and self-esteem of Jalna are at an all-time high. More and more people are joining the movement every day. The villages nearby are noticing and are learning from them. Mr Wayal is next taking the movement with OVBI to 200 villages. It’s amazing how one amazing human, Dr Purushottam Wayal, inspires his 10 friends to join him as rural managers, and they inspire 50 humans from 10 villages to inspire the humans of the whole village to manifest a transformation which is being talked about in the press all over India. We, the humans of OVBI, are fortunate enough to get a chance to be in the mix of these amazing humans and do our bit to reinvigorate the faith that humanity desperately needs.
Write to us at communications@overseasvbi.org
