Honour for the 'man of check-dams'

By Sunny Sebastian

JAIPUR, JULY 30. The man who used water to bond people together in hundreds of drought-prone villages across Rajasthan has won international recognition. The 2001 Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership, which has gone to Mr. Rajendra Singh, is an honour to scores of illiterate but wise villagers of Rajasthan's rural districts who revived traditional conservation methods as droughts became annual occurrences and water got scarcer over the years.

Mr. Rajendra Singh, whom villagers fondly call ``the Johadwala Baba'' (The bearded man of check-dams) and his organisation, the Alwar-based Tarun Bharat Sangh(TBS), have been instrumental over the past 15 years in the construction of as many as 4500 check- dams in various parts of Rajasthan.

It is significant that the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership has gone for the second consecutive year to a person working in Rajasthan. Last year, the noted social activist, Ms.Aruna Roy, who fought a successful battle against corruption through her Right to Information agitation, had been the recipient.

Starting out as a disparate group of activists whom villagers around Bhikampura-Kishori in Thanagazi tehsil of Alwar initially suspected to be terrorists and child-lifters back in 1984-85, Mr. Rajendra Singh and his small force of committed men and women have over the years carried out what one would term miracles. They have made dead rivers come back to life, helped farmers renew agricultural activities, forests to re-emerge and even the dwindling population of tigers around the Project Tiger Sanctuary in Sariska to thrive.

The President, Mr.K.R. Narayanan, went to Hamirpur village in March last year to award the local people for rejuvenating the Arvari river with the construction of a series of check-dams along the slopes of the Aravallis.

The Rajasthan Chief Minister, Mr. Ashok Gehlot, who has always been appreciative of community participation in conservation efforts,has expressed his happiness over the honour for Mr. Singh. ``His successful work in water conservation has been a trail blazer for a drought-prone State like Rajasthan.''

``It is both an award to Rajendra Singh and the work he carried out with the help of villagers,'' notes Mr. Siddhraj Dhadda, nonagenarian Gandhian, who is the patron of Tarun Bharat Sangh. ``Let it be clear that the water belongs to the people, the community and not to the State,'' he said referring to the efforts to declare water a national asset.

Mr. Dhadda had perhaps in mind the relentless battles Mr. Singh waged against the local authorities while constructing check- dams. Even when he is getting the prestigious award, Mr. Singh is trying desperately to protect one of the water harvesting structures he built at Lava Ka Baas near Thanagazi with the help of local villagers. Even as the news of his getting the award reached the Rajasthan capital yesterday, he was not available for comments. According to his associates at Bhikampura, he started off towards the Shekhawati region along with an industrialist on a reconnaissance tour of locations for new johads.

Mr. Singh, who believes in making the rich share the responsibility of village reconstruction through Gandhian methods, has chalked out an ambitious programme to build johads with funds from industrialists.

Ms. Meena, his wife, confessed that she never got enough time with her husband who is always on the march. ``I feel happy. His work is his life. His preoccupation is water,'' noted Ms. Meena who is from Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh.

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