The Marathwada region in Maharashtra is a drought prone area that frequently faces water stress exacerbated by irregular rainfall and depleting groundwater.
Combined with the way deposition of silt reduced the riverbed’s ability to hold water, this caused the rivers in one of its districts, Beed, to dry up.
In the same region, Rajshri Deshpande and her Nabhangan Foundation had started water restoration projects to tackle this issue. It was during this period that Vishnu Rathod from Beed approached her for help.
But it wasn’t an easy task to undertake– Rajshri and her team were occupied with the construction of a tribal village school in the Paithan area. Despite the lack of funds and bandwidth, they decided to visit Jayaram Taluka in Beed and hear the villagers out.
The reality on ground was both evidence of the drastic effects of living in a drought-prone region and a testament to the farmers’ courage.
“There were so many people who left their villages and had migrated out in search of work,” Rajshri says, “They all wanted to do farming because their land is here but the problem was that there was no water.”
As rivers filled with silt and water continued to dry up, farming became harder to sustain as a full-time profession; more and more farmers had to leave their land behind in search for work.
Rajshri and Nabhangan Foundation’s involvement challenges that reality head-on.
When they joined hands with the farmers in Beed to revive a river in Pachegaon, several people returned to their villages and their land in a ‘reverse migration’. Since the Foundation started its water-restoration efforts, 20+ villages have become drought free and 1000+ families have returned to farming as their primary source of income.
Today, many farmers in Pachegaon have returned to their fields and some have even taken up animal husbandry and sericulture alongside their efforts to improve their water conservation methods.
But, Rajshri emphasizes, none of it would have been possible without the villagers’ willingness to come together and work towards the betterment of their villages. When news of the river revival spread, people from adjoining villages joined in the mission.
“From the Kanifnath temple to Bopgaon, we revived another patch of about 5km. That entire patch crosses almost 12-15 villages and people from every village came together and worked for their villages,” Rajshri explains, “So, you know that's the power of coming together.”
With farmers and their families returning to the villages, Nabhangan Foundation wishes to focus on the kids’ education, moving forward.
“In the same village, in Pachegaon, we have a Zila Parishad school which is in a dilapidated condition. And Nabhangan Foundation and me, we all have a dream to build that school,” Rajshri says.
In this episode of Force For Good Heroes, Brut follows the journey of Nabhangan Foundation, where the promise of water brought farmers back home and the revival of a river revived their dreams.
It’s a story that is proof of the power of community; of what people can do when they unite towards a common goal and remind themselves that anything is possible.
