UTTAR PRADESH : Known as the ‘water hero’ of the region, a moniker Rambabu Tiwari has earned through his exploits, a saga of determination spanning over 13 long years. Having grown up with folk verses narrating the plight of women walking miles to fetch water in the parched landscape of Bundelkhand, Tiwari embarked on a mission to tackle the water woes of the region when he was only in Class 12.
“Each drop was gold,” he recalls from his childhood when he would get a dressing down for breaking a water pot accidentally.
UP’s Bundelkhand region remains under the grip of perennial drought and relentless heatwaves with temperatures touching 45 degree Celsius causing water bodies to run dry. The situation has worsened in the last 30 years when the region witnessed drought every five years.
Rambabu Tiwari, now a 30-year-old PhD scholar, set out on a mission to resolve the persistent water woes by taking taking the initiative to fill a pond in his native village Adhavan. Despite resistance from family and friends, Tiwari succeeded in mobilising fellow villagers in his endeavour to desilt and revive the water bodies to ensure availability of water during the harsh summers.
His determination bore fruit and today, Tiwari has a network of 5,000 ‘water friends’ across Bundelkhand. “I will not be around forever. I wanted to ensure that my work continues even if I can’t,” he smiles.
Now, Tiwari has lost count of the number of rural ponds he and his team have revived – “definitely more than 75”, he says. The feat is rare and the journey towards it arduous. Unrelenting heatwaves and opposition from kin, only strengthened his resolve. Gradually, water conservation became a part of Tiwari’s life, his habit.
However, it took a back seat for some time when he went to Prayagraj for higher studies in environmental sciences in 2012. He was pleasantly shocked to get taps full of water at his disposal in hostel and the luxury somehow made him complacent towards the woes back at home. Then came the weekend visits to home, reminding him of the hardships, and driving him to continue with his mission.
In hostel, Tiwari knew the water he was using for a shower could quench the thirst of his family. “I was reminded of my mother walking for hours in morning and evening to fetch 20 buckets of water daily. It felt to be a sin to waste water in the shower,” he said.
Tiwari would return home every weekend and organise people to desilt chocked ponds. “Even during the monsoons, the ponds would not get filled. Come January, we faced water shortage again,” he says.
He started by urging villagers to desilt the first pond -- Bajrang Sagar – spread over 11-bighas, one of the major water bodies in the village. “Initially, villagers were reluctant. So, I decided to organise a puja at the temple and people started joining,” he shared.
He along with few friends explained the significance of desilting the pond to villagers who had gathered at the temple. That day, before ‘Prasad’, the crowd began digging the silt away. “People considered it as a service to God,” Tiwari says. “In time, more and more people began coming for this weekly duty. It took eight weeks, with us digging for 24 hours every Monday, for the pond to be completely cleared,” he adds.
The impact was palpable as in the 2015 monsoons, the pond got filled to the brim in Adhavan. Encouraged by the results, Tiwari abd his team started building troughs near every field to collect rainwater which could be used for farming purposes.
Having revived over 75 ponds, Tiwari and his team has also organised 300 ‘paani chaupals’ to sensitise the villagers over water usage, and water-saving techniques.