Dry no more

Rajasthan has launched an ambitious programme to become drought-free in four years.

- Sushmita Sengupta

RAGHUVIR SINGH Tomar, a farmer in Rajasthan’s Looharwas village, says that for first time in two years he expects to make a profit of ₹1.2 lakh by selling around 6 tonnes of wheat he cultivated on his 3 hectares farmland.

“Earlier, it was difficult to even recover the investments because I had to spend ₹20,000 on buying tanker water for irrigation.” But the construction of 19 water conservation structures in the village situated in Sikar district by the Watershed and Soil Conservation Department (WSCD) last year has significantly improved the situation. The structures include contour check dams, mini percolation dams, soak pits and farm ponds. As a result, soil moisture has increased in the village. “This season, I could irrigate my field from my well,” says Tomar.

India's desert state is witnessing a revolution of sorts. In January 2016, the government launched its ambitious Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan (MJSA) to make the state drought free by 2020. Within six months, 94,941 water harvesting structures were constructed in 3,529 of the state’s 21,000 villages. About ₹1,300 crore were spent during this first phase of the programme. And the impacts are starting to become visible.

Hardas Ka Bas, another village in Sikar, has harvested a bumper crop this year, just like Looharwas. “I have earned more than ₹1 lakh by selling tomatoes and mustard. This is five times of what I earned last year. The village now has access to uninterrupted supply of potable water,” says Nathu Singh.

“The overhead tank in the village gets filled up with groundwater in just 80 minutes. Till last August, it took more than three hours to fill half the tank,” says Kailash Kanwat, sarpanch of the village.