This story is from July 1, 2020

Uttar Prdaesh: Small steps led to Jalaun’s big turnaround

Uttar Prdaesh: Small steps led to Jalaun’s big turnaround
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LUCKNOW: Little drops of water make the mighty ocean, goes the saying. And that’s the leitmotif of the water conservation initiative undertaken in parched Bundelkhand’s Jalaun district. With small, but impactful water conservation measures, the once scorched district has turned into a self-sustainable model. Known as Bhujal Kosh Sanchay Abhiyan, the initiative has also been lauded by the Union ministry for water conservation.
The campaign was about simple measures like repairing existing check dams with modifications and proper use of panchayati raj department funds.
However, public participation and effective monitoring bolstered its potential.
Statistics with state panchayati raj department show more than 10,000 farmers have directly benefited from the campaign launched in the summer of 2017. The campaign is executed between April and June to achieve maximum recharge of water bodies during the rainy season.
“Water crisis is the agony of Bundelkhand and ruins farmers and fuels migration. Water is also a currency in the region. So, we thought of creating a corpus to ease the lives of people,” said Mannan Akhtar, district magistrate Jalaun and the brain behind the initiative.
The achievements of the initiative are inspiring. Within three months of the effort, the irrigation potential was raised from 1930 hectare to 3900 hectare, which is over 100% more than before. The number of effective check dams went up to 256 from 108 in 2019.
Then, water recharge capacity of these structures has been increased from 99495.18 to 342331.02 cusec meters. Clearly, the increase of 242835 units is 243% capacity from last year.

The surface water storage capacity rose dramatically and quadrupled from 458549 cusec meters to 18,78,275.25 units — a rise of 409% from last year. The effort also included silt removal from water bodies, which aided storage and availability of clean water.
Mannan stated the effort helped in creating employment in the district, which countered the problem of migration and raised the quality of life. “The initiative provided employment to scores. As many as 1,46,880 man days were created providing employment during times of distress,” he said.
Lauding the effort, the Union ministry of water conservation also posted a video on the campaign. Experts said, the campaign is a classic example to prove that mind-set plays an important role in movements.
“Climate change is no longer a concept. It’s a reality, the human race is facing in the shape of problems like erratic rain patterns causing downpour in one place and droughts in other. The more recent example is that of the locust attack. Consciousness is therefore the first step towards action for saving the planet,” said a retired environmental scientist in Lucknow.
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About the Author
Shailvee Sharda

Journalist with the Times of India since August 2004, Shailvee Sharda writes on Health, Culture and Politics. Having covered the length and breadth of UP, she brings stories that define elements like human survival and its struggle, faiths, perceptions and thought processes that govern the decision making in everyday life, during big events such as an election, tangible and non-tangible cultural legacy and the cost and economics of well-being. She keenly follows stories that celebrate hope and life in general.

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