THE WATER WARRIOR

NEETA BEN PATEL'S GRASSROOTS WORK IN GUJARAT'S DANG DISTRICT HAS REVIVED TRADITIONAL FARMING, REDUCED MIGRATION, AND TRANSFORMED THE EVERYDAY LIVES OF WOMEN

- AANCHAL PODDAR

DANG KA PAANI, USKA PAISA, AUR USKE LOG—TEENO hi uske nahi hai. ("Dang doesn't own its water, wealth, or people.")

These were the words of Neeta Ben Patel, a tireless water conservationist who has been working with the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) in Gujarat's Dang district since 2013.

Tucked in the northwest of Gujarat, Dang is a largely tribal district of around 2.5 to 3 lakh people. Despite receiving generous annual rainfall (about 2,000-2,500 mm), it remains chronically water-scarce, especially during the peak summer months of April to June. Most of the rainwater rushes off the hilly, basalt-rich terrain without recharging groundwater, leading to widespread drought and distress migration.

A MISSION TO RESTORE LIFE

When Patel first arrived in Dang, she found villages abandoned for half the year. "Farming was impossible in the kharif season due to water scarcity. Families were forced to migrate for work," she recalled.

That bleak situation spurred her life's mission: to build water security and dignity for Dang's residents, many of whom are from Indigenous communities. Over the past 12 years, Patel and a dedicated team of 90 have implemented a sweeping watershed management programme across the district's 311 villages.

Their strategy: capture every drop of rainwater and make it count. The team has built a dense network of check dams, contour trenches, ponds,