Emulate Water Man's efforts

The award of the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize to Rajendra Singh is a recognition of the major contribution he has made to improve water security in villages in India, mainly in Rajasthan. The prize is known as the Nobel prize on water and is awarded annually to persons or organisations who have made important efforts for conservation and protection of water sources and thus ‘’improved the wellbeing of the planet’s inhabitants and eco-systems’’. Rajendra Singh is known as the Water Man of India. In the last two decades, he has dedicated himself to fighting drought in a part of India which is known for its extreme arid conditions. The methods that he used to solve the problem were as  important as the results he achieved. The Stockholm Water Prize committee has cited that Rajendra Singh’s life work has involved building social capacity to solve local water problems through participatory actions.

Rajendra Singh worked in close cooperation with villagers and small communities and linked traditional know-how with scientific and technical approaches in his water conservation efforts. Water sources were revived in over 1000 villages which had lost them and a number of small rivers and streams were brought back to life. He also took the initiative in building thousands of large storage tanks which conserved water. What was important about his work was that it also empowered communities, including women and those in the lowest social and economic rungs, who are most affected by problems relating to water stress and shortage. This has made his achievements sustainable and socially important. Water is among the most important natural resources. But the world has entered an era of depleted water sources through its misuse and overuse. Most water bodies are also polluted, and a lot of water is unfit for use. As the committee noted, the problems cannot be solved by science or technology alone. They also have to be seen as human problems of governance and policy which need to be tackled at the level of communities. 

India is facing serious scarcity of water in many areas and the problem is going to worsen in future. There are debates about the merits and demerits of various methods to solve the problem. Big projects like interlinking of rivers and building of dams have been suggested. Rainwater harvesting and small community-based efforts like Rajendra Singh’s are also advocated and tried. The prize awarded to Rajendra Singh has again drawn attention to the problem, and the need to adopt the best methods to solve it.