In the Kutch district of India, which receives very little rainfall, women traditionally had to walk long distances to collect drinking water for their families. This changed when an NGO worked with local women to organize water committees and train them. Led by a tribal grandmother, the women studied local geology and revived traditional water sources, enabling their village to become self-reliant for water rather than relying on government supplies. Their success inspired other villages, with women in some places building wells themselves. It helped bridge social divisions and allowed conservative Muslim women to take on new public roles managing water resources.

1. A FISTFUL OF WATER
By Meenakshi Shedde
Mumbai, India

2. In Mumbai, India—a city with 16 million population—Nandini Rao, a
CEO’s wealthy and highly educated wife, is entirely dependent on the
government water supply. The day there’s a water cut, she goes ballistic.

3. Nandini is rich enough to afford Bisleri bottled mineral water for daily use.
The water she would use up in just the flick of the water flush, would mean
enough drinking water for a rural Indian family for a whole week.

4. Whenever there is a water cut in the city, those who can afford them,
scramble desperately to get private water tankers that bring well water to
the high-rises in the metropolis.

5. Meanwhile, Kutch district in Gujarat state, in the desert near the western
Indo-Pakistan border, was much worse off. It got just 13 days of rain in a
year and was so drought-prone, that water was once costlier than milk!

6. The men, cattle herders, would migrate in search of fodder, leaving the
women to fend for themselves. The women had to walk five kilometers
to fetch drinking water daily. Often, men don’t even know from where
their women get water: it simply arrives!

7. The villagers were reduced to drinking awful, tea-coloured water, if even
that was available. At one time, people would refuse to give their daughters
in marriage into this district, because of its acute water scarcity.

8. All that changed with Hansbai Buddha, a feisty 55-year old Rabari tribal
grandmother of Karamta village in Abdasa district in Kutch, Gujarat. She
heads a women’s water committee that actually turned their drought-prone
village into a self-reliant one that gets year-round water, and is actually
independent of government water supply!

9.  The women were organised and trained by the Kutch Mahila Vikas
Sanghatana and Sahjeevan, two NGOs, along with their partners. They
started a ‘Water is Ours’ campaign to make thirsty villagers self-reliant in
water, rather than rely on government promises.

10.  The women’s collectives studied the local geology, before clearing
traditional tanks and digging wells. Each collective also appointed a
member on the NGO’s governing board, so cattle-grazing women could
now talk to government officials as equals. So the men often got jealous.

11. Men didn’t like the women getting ahead. When women worked to revive
an old canal, the jealous landowner tried to get a court stay order. So the
women worked overnight to finish its construction before the order was
passed!

12. To defuse the situation, the women’s groups start with what men see as
“women’s issues,” like eco-friendly stoves and toilets. As they understand
ecology better, they move to water source development for the village.

13.  In Khari village, women transformed drought relief work into drought
proofing work. 45 women built a well by themselves. They were less
corrupt and more hard working. Whereas men in the adjacent village only
managed a shabby road under the drought relief programme.

14.  Kutch has very diverse ethnic communities, including high caste Hindus,
low caste Harijans, and ethnic Muslim communities, each living in their
own worlds. The women had no reason to meet, and never went out
without a man. But building the village tank galvanised everyone.

15.  In the Muslim-dominated Dador village, in Nakhatrana in Kutch district, it
is very inspiring to see conservative Muslim women play public roles in
leading water management. The men are very proud of their women’s
achievements.

16.  The women in the collectives enthusiastically go on “water tours” to
Aurangabad, Ralegan Siddhi, Dungarpur and Udaipur to learn and share
experiences that benefit everyone--villagers, agriculture and cattle.

17. However harsh and unforgiving nature is, with whatever little they have,
the women of Kutch know to truly celebrate life! .