This article has been taken from The Organizer, RSS publication. Dr. Kathiria is former union minister of state and ex MP of Rajkot

Necessity is the mother of invention and innovation. The western area of Gujarat traditionally known as Saurashtra and Kutch used to have scanty rainfall leading to frequent droughts. Due to lack of water for agriculture and even for drinking there was huge migration of young population to urban areas. The evident disinterest in agriculture was observed. People used to have a tough life in village. The water scarcity was so much that street fights were common. The cattle population also started decreasing and migrating towards south Gujarat. The ecological system was much disturbed. The water level was depleted beyond imagination. The sea water penetrated upto 50-80 kms towards land making the agriculture land saline. Due to this the whole area got barren. The economy and development also took its course on downfall. This was compounded by frequent cyclones and earthquakes. The overall situation was really gloomy.

It is said that nothing is permanent. The whole universe is constantly changing. Change is inevitable for survival of the people and other creatures of nature.

People actually felt shortage of water for drinking, agriculture and industrial purpose. People realised that water can change their life, bring development and prosperity and bring back the harmonious eco system.

Socio political initiatives
With the coming of BJP in Gujarat an era of change came. The party with difference, the party for development, the Bharatiya Janta Party came to power under the leadership of Shri Keshubhai Patel in Gujarat. The writer of this article also, by destiny, became active in politics and became Member of the Parliament. After becoming Member of the Parliament, for the first term, I took the challenge of water crisis as my first priority.

The concentrated work of watershed programme was going on in one solitary village named Raj Samadhiyala. Observing the results, I took eleven villages of my constituency where we started watershed programme movement with the help of karyakartas, NGOs and village people. The Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) came to my rescue to finance the project. The beneficiary people were asked to volunteer for labour work and the material was supplied from either through MPLAD or from donations from the society.

This activity turned up in a social movement popularly known as “Check dam abhiyan” in Gujarat. Check dam is water harvesting structure created in river bed, more suitable as per topography of Saurashtra.

Almost all methods of rain water harvesting were used as per local suitability such as well-recharging, farm ponds, check dams creating new ponds or deepening them. The concept of Bori bandhs were made more popular by Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

The BJP government of Gujarat is very much popular amongst people because of his welfare and socio-economic development measures in all walks of life and fields. That is why it was known as government with good governance.

The government was also keen for a permanent solution to solve water crisis. Continuous two drought like situations made it more pro-active and the government ultimately came up with public bhagidari scheme, “Sardar Patel Sahbhagi Jal Sanchaya Yojana” popularly known as 40:60 check dam scheme. The scheme provided 60 per cent government share and 40 per cent by farmers or beneficiaries, which came as self labour, contribution or donations. The scheme was properly approved and monitored by government machinery. This scheme came out as best model with good results. The entrepreneureship, enthusiasm, the devotion of people and positive government attitude made this scheme the best public welfare measure scheme. This was the most successful movement of the decade for every one.

Mass movement
Along with farmers and government, people from all walks of life, joined in propagating this abhiyan. The religious leaders, sadhus, sants mahatmas, NGOs, social and political workers, public representatives from panchayat raj, MLAs, MPs, ministers, industrialists, associations, government officials and even NRIs came forward to organise the ‘Jal Yatra’ to spread the message of water harvesting and water conservation. The ponds and check dams were named as ‘Jal-Mandirs’, where prayers and artis were performed for Jal Devta. The message was conveyed by leaders and social activities like Rajendra Singh from Alvar. Print and electronic media also played a great role in spreading this abhiyan. Through the seminars, gram sabhas, kisan sammelans, lok dairas (popular gathering of traditional entertainment) religious meets, in short, all types of methods were adopted to spread the message of water conservation and to make the people actively involved. The writer of this article participated and visited more than two thousand villages and such gatherings and that is why he is popularly known as “check dam sansad”. The enthusiasm and moral of the society was too high to describe in words. It can only be experienced and not expressed.

Ghar ka pani ghar me
A number of slogan were adopted such as Ghar ka pani ghar me, Gaon ka pani gaon me and Khet ka pani khet me, etc. In each village 10 to 100 check dams were constructed on all spring rivers waste lands or low lying areas where water can be stored. From kachcha bandh, bori bandh to pakka check dam, were constructed, wells were recharged, deepening of village ponds and old medium or minor irrigation dams were also undertaken. In short, all sorts of measures as per local topography were undertaken utilising wisdom, local traditions and skill along with modern methods. The aim was to share each drop of rain water keeping in mind the principle of “save the water where it drops”. Due to typical geographical topography of Saurashtra, almost 80 per cent rain water was merging in sea before this movement was made. Now almost 80 per cent of rain water is harvested.

People’s involvement
Let me quote the example of a village where after my inspiring speech for construction of check dam, the old aged people (called as bhabha in Gujarati) who heard me, took an oath and initiated constructing check dam. Youth joined afterwards. The structure was completed. I was called for inauguration and when I came to know the story, I named that check dam as “Bhabha check dam” ¦

Similarly, one Vohra NRI family donated handsomely in constructing the check dam. I used to visit the check dam while construction was going on. I remember that in construction of one such check dam, the wife of a doctor was also doing labour work as volunteer. I salute to such innumerable social workers, activists and volunteers who helped us to achieve the mission.

Impact of check dams
The visible and self satisfactory change was the rising of under ground water level up to 8 meters. Repeated percolation after each phase of rainfall during monsoon raised the ground water level table, which in turn prevented sea water from penetrating in inner land and also prevented chemical pollution.

Crop production
The alarming change was seen in crop production. Due to irregular seasonal rainfall, the monsoon crops which used to remain devoid of water at a particular time were provided water by irrigation from nearby check dams or wells, the crop production did not suffer as earlier. Again, farmers could take “ Ravi” crop also by irrigating the farms. In some areas, even third crop was also possible in form of vegetables, fruits or flowers, etc.

Today, because of heavy recession in industries and business, many unemployed youth are coming back to villages and again starting their livelihood through agriculture as now there is no shortage of water.

Along with check dams the Jyotigram Yojana to supply uninterrupted electricity rescued the small and micro village industries in rural areas.

Impact on development
Once the vicious cycle of poverty was broken and economy started rising, the socio-cultural development took its own course. The sincere efforts of government and whole hearted public participation started showing the results. On one side massive drive for rural infrastructure was going on, contributive nature of donors, NGOs and religious institutions helped in fulfilling the government’s limitations and constraints.

To summarise, 24 hours electricity, drinking water facility, pakka roads, community halls, panchayat rooms, school rooms as per requirement, gaushalas, tree plantations and smriti vans (gardens), etc. are now common features all over the State.

The socio-cultural revolution
The community development and uprising programmes such as educational reforms, de-addiction and no smoking movements, awakening drive against myths and false beliefs, gau-sanvardhan (cow protection) programmes, movement for healthy body and life styles and spiritual awakening were taken up for cultural revolution and national resurgence by various socio-religious institutes such as the RSS, Gayatri parivar, Swadhyaya parivar, Swaminarayan sects, VHP and Brahmakumaris, etc..

Bio diversity and ecology
After water conservation and harvesting movement, the next social movement was massive tree plantation drive. The writer used to allocate rupees 25 lakh yearly for tree plantation, gardens, parks, Ayur Ved gardens and forestry.

Agriculture impact
It is known fact that the farmer of Gujarat is most hard working and progressive. Once he was assured of enough water, he started getting bumper crops by experiments for scientific and organic farming methods. He switched over to drip and sprinkler irrigation system, organic manure and organic insecticide using cow urine and cow dung, wormiculture, floriculture and even medicinal plants farming.

The one month long ‘Krisi rath yatra’ and ‘Krisi mela’ brings the scientists from laboratory to fields (agriculture field) plays a significant role in educating the farmers for inclusive farming and development. Input was added by Narmada canal irrigation and continuously better monsoon.

Animal husbandry and increased milk production and cow protection took its own positive path due to enough of grazing land.

Now, it is the time for warehousing, cold storage and agro-industries, to come out as new industrial growth swing.

Why small check dams and water harvesting against major dams?

Principally, I agree that our ultimate goal is to harvest, store and conserve rain water as much as possible and by as much means as possible as per the local factors. So I am not against major dams because they serve other purposes also like electricity and biodiversity. Similarly, interlinking of rivers may be undertaken considering the cost benefits and dire need of the area.
Check dams or water harvesting structures are preferred as they are low cost, no need of acquision of agricultural or other land, no disputes, no migration, no rehabilitation, storage at multiple levels, covering river side area for irrigation with or without canals, increase water table in wide areas every time it is filled up, easy desilting whenever required, almost no or minimum maintenance cost and in real sense decentralised control, against all reverse factors for major dams.
Ultimate message is to conserve and manage water at every level.

Considering water as my life mission I remember Robert Frost’s poem:

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”