Community-led problem solving_ A solution to the Water Development Problem In Maharashtra

1. Community-led problem solving: A solution to the Water Development Problem In Maharashtra Consider Sakharam Shinde, a farmer, cultivating your favourite fruit, the mango, in one of Maharashtra's 36 districts. He has 202 mango trees at the moment, and one morning he wakes up and knocks down 110 of them. However, why? Why would a farmer ruin his business? To put it plainly, he can't afford to take on additional debt. Just the water tankers have caused an accumulation of debt of three lakh rupees. Indeed! Tankers carrying water. To feed his crops with water, he has been purchasing water tankers for three lakhs. Additionally, he now needs additional water tankers to maintain his mango trees because of the ongoing drought in his area brought on by a lack of water, which he can no longer afford. Is this an invented incident? Not at all! Not at all! How big is the problem and is there a solution? Okay, continue reading! We'll go into more detail and quickly review the extent of Water development problem in Maharashtra as well as how a tiny group that got its start thanks to a TV programme affected millions of people and used a community-led approach to find a solution. The severity of the issue

2. 6,29,00,000 litres - the quantity of drinking water given by tankers per day in Maharashtra; 6290 tankers to 4920 villages and 10506 hamlets dispatched daily, bringing water to fill the most basic demand of nearly 40% of the talukas of the total 358 labelled as drought regions. Drought has devastated hundreds of Maharashtra villages for decades, causing debt, starvation, thirst, forced migration, and wilted crops. Even if it seems obvious and natural to us that the unpredictable monsoon is to blame, there is ample data to show that poor water and resource management, made worse by the uncertainty brought on by climate change, is a key contributing factor to this serious situation. Where is the answer? It's well known that scientific approaches to managing water resources, restoring the ecosystem, and conserving water may help end this catastrophe. What prevents the implementation of these solutions, which have been widely accepted and well studied for a long time? Why is science unable to resolve this problem that has put the underprivileged of Maharashtra in a hopeless situation? Does the government need to set up committees and set aside funds for this? Or will NGOs need to gather money from wealthy people and bring in pricey technologies to find a solution for the water development problem in Maharashtra? While I searched the industry for a scientific solution, the solution was more locally based and came from a community-led initiative started by the well-known TV series Satyamev Jayate. WOTR, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that Bollywood actor Amir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao created, argues that the underlying cause is the deeply ingrained societal divisions. Disparities in caste, religion, politics, and gender have kept communities from taking ownership of this problem and coming up with a plan to solve it collectively. What came after this realisation is evidence of the strength of individuals, communities, and information when properly disseminated. Implementation from the bottom up. Since we've previously discussed the importance of water development problem in Maharashtra, let's see how WOTR effectively used it. 1. In order to promote inclusion, respect, and engagement, Aamir Khan would personally write a letter to the Panchayats of the villages to invite them to the tournament each year. The villages that are invited are required to approve a resolution in the Gramme Sabha stating that they wish to take part and send five individuals, two of whom are women, to the centres in their talukas for brief training periods. This would promote knowledge-building via community approval and participation in decision-making. 2. Post instruction in watershed methods of management, leadership, and community building, these individuals return to their villages and lead the work, motivating others to participate in and undertake shramdaan work (volunteer labour), therefore, fostering development via community-led problem-solving.

3. 3. With the core of it being voluntary labour, the participating communities work on different methods of gathering water and get their villages ready for the monsoon. As a result, the people can confront the issue of water shortage together, ending the cycle of reliance on the government and ultimately realising their dream of having a sufficient supply of water in their village. This not only promotes self-reliance but also dismantles social obstacles like caste prejudice and communal conflict. Such contests and projects typically appear fantastic on paper, so the natural question is, "But do they work?" Yes and no, then! The effect Water storage capacity for a total of 55000 crore litres was developed throughout the three years that the Water Cup competition lasted from 2016 to 2019, with over 10,000 communities and 5,000 trained participants. The market value of water was 11020 crore rupees. A participant from the Velu village, the cup's 2016 champion, sums up the entire outcome so well when she says, "Last year, at this time, there was not a drop of water." There was not even enough to locate water to drink. There is flora all around now. Thus, while the model was working at first, the traditional human nature problem of "the more a man has, the more he wants" reappeared, and the draughts began to reappear. The amount of water used rose along with its availability. This fact shows that conserving water and soil won't be enough to protect a hamlet from drought. However, there were some benefits as well. For example, community growth, training, and voluntary cooperation among the community members are essential to tackling problems at the grassroots level. Thus, with a more all-encompassing strategy to eradicate droughts, WOTR introduced Samruddha Gaon Spardha in 2020. Moreover, lay community decision-making and implementation—albeit with a more comprehensive perspective—are at the core of this. The Verdict The first recommended search result for "water crisis" on Google right now is "water development problem in Maharashtra." Because you and I live in a privileged environment and are not affected by this crisis, it is quite simple to think that it solely affects the lowest classes of society. However, as we go farther into the ground to look for groundwater, the problem is gradually moving closer to us. WOTR's straightforward yet impactful Water Cup initiative demonstrates the strength of the community and points to the location of the crises' solution. The only issue left is: How willing are we? Not to mention the lesson we learned in elementary school: "Where there is a will, there is a way."