By Sunny Sebastian

Jaipur: Rajasthan is a state which occupies 10 percent of India’s land mass but only one per cent of the country’s water resources. A state which houses the mighty Thar Desert often finds water dearer than “ghee” (clarified butter).

Old timers, especially those in the desert districts, often used to refer to the rainfall—as and when it occurs—as “shower of ghee” (ghee baras raha hai!). Here water is the ultimate succour and whoever brings this scarce commodity to its terrain is bound to be called no less than a “redeemer.”

This is what exactly happened to Rajendra Singh, who is referred to as “Johadwala Baba” (the bearded man of check dams), “Paaniwala Baba” and “India’s Waterman” by the people of Rajasthan.

Interestingly, Singh, who received 2001 Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership after two decades of work among the rural folks in Alwar district, is not originally from Rajasthan and does not claim any inherited wisdom in water conservation—other than what he learnt from the people in the villages.

Singh, who came to Rajasthan with a degree in Ayurveda and Masters degree in Hindi literature in the early 1980s almost with no idea of whatsoever he wanted to do in life, originally belongs to water-rich Meerut district in neighboring Uttar Pradesh.

In Rajasthan, despite constant threats to his life, he, with the help of villagers in Thana Gazi tehsil of Alwar launched a campaign against mining inside the Sariska Tiger Reserve. After a long struggle he got a Supreme Court order to close all marble mines operating in the reserve.

It was not all that easy when he had turned up in Gopalpura, a village dominated by backward Gujjars and Meena tribes nestled on the lap of the Aravalli Mountains, along with five friends from Jaipur.

As Rajendra Singh narrated to me on various occasions in the past this area was chosen as he found the place in dire straits. However, apart from a vague desire to do “something good” he had no clear idea what he would do or be able to achieve. People in the locality initially suspected them to be child lifters or terrorists.

Soon, water turned out to be the cementing factor. That time many parts of Alwar district had been declared “dark zones” and there used to be regular outmigration of local youth in search of jobs. Life had come to a standstill in the region as there was no productive action. With farming getting severely affected in the absence of water, bovine wealth, the backbone of rural economy, too had declined.

Now, consider the miracles this he man, now in his late 50s, has achieved in the state’s arid and semi-arid landscape in a period of over three decades with his NGO, Tarun Bharat Sangh(TBS): More than10,000 ‘johads’ or check dams built with people’s cooperation in about a dozen districts; turning the areas under his activity into agriculturally productive; revival of seven rivulets in Alwar and Jaipur districts; facilitating the return of hundreds of thousands of natives who had migrated to places such as Delhi, Ahmadabad, Mumbai for jobs; greater participation of people and introduction of grass-root level democracy.

With the advent of water honor too returned. People derived a new confidence and self respect. While talking to villagers Rajendra Singh would often use the word “Paanidar” which means a respectable person though he would not miss to point out that the very expression came from water, that is; where there is water there is ‘ijjat’, or respect.

To commemorate the revival of the Arvari, one of the seven rivers brought back to life, none other than the then President of India K. R. Narayanan turned up in Gopalpura in March 2000. The president felicitated the villagers of Bhanota-Kolyala with the Down to Earth Joseph C John Award.

Singh never allowed the village folks to lose their self respect. At any given time in the past he had been flooded with requests from villagers to build “johads’ in their areas. Singh always made it a point to make them contribute—either 25-30 percent of the cost or physical labor from their side as he organized funds from various international agencies.

Through water Singh, a Gandhian, introduced the concept of grassroots level democracy. With the active support of the late Sarvodaya leader Siddhraj Dhaddha, he set up “Arvari Parliament,” a representative body of 72 villages in the areas served by the river. A people’s sanctuary, Bhairudev abhayaranya, too was established.

With water, traditional village occupation of animal husbandry returned along with viable agricultural practices. Thousands of litres of milk, under TBS supervision, started going out of the villages. One of them, Neembi in Jaipur district’s Jamwa Ramgarh tehsil, caught the fancy of UNDP and planners in Delhi as it started producing vegetables and milk worth 30 million rupees annually back in 1994.

If in those days the “mantra” which guided Singh was the well known development maxim, “think globally and act locally.” What is driving him now it seems is, “think locally and act globally.”

After his success in Rajasthan and the rest of India where he connects with the people through “Jal Biradari” (brotherhood of those who work in the areas of river rejuvenation and water recharge), Singh is now on a global mission– a global march, titled “World Water Walk,” to highlight water issues. He has already covered more than 10 countries including UK, Germany, USA, France and Sweden.

(Sunny Sebastian is an editor with the Patrika Group of Publications, based at Jaipur. He was the first vice chancellor of Hardev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication, Jaipur. He was also the Bureau Chief of The Hindu newspaper in Rajasthan. This article first appeared in the “Kerala Calling” November issue.)