In drought-hit Bundelkhand, village returns to age-old water conservation techniques

While most parts of Bundelkhand is reeling under severe water crisis, a village in the drought-hit Banda district of UP has gone back to traditional conservation techniques to revive existing water bodies and is serving as a role model to others.

While villages in this region grapple with water scarcity, Jakhni village, popularly known as 'Galgram' (water village) that is situated around 20 kilometres from Banda city has its ponds, wells and other water bodies brimming with water.

The village has now 32 wells, 25 handpumps and four ponds (two of which are undergoing rejuvenation) -- all filled with water.

This was not the case always, as some eight years ago residents of Jakhni fed up with their water problems, decided to adopt traditional water conservation techniques to revive water bodies in the village. Villagers say they did this without any assistance from the government.

Due to the abundance of water, farmers and youth who had migrated to cities are slowly returning.

Residents of the village have also formed an organisation "Sarvodaya Aadarsh Jal Gram Abhiyan Samiti" to take collective measures to harvest rain water and thereby increase the ground water level.

Shanti, a farmer, says: "Eight to 10 years ago, we decided to divert wastewater to ponds and this measure has rejuvenated the water level and has made farming easier."

Banda is one of the worst-hit districts of Bundelkhand region.