Rajinder Singh concludes National Water Literacy Campaign

Jaipur, May 22, 2004.

Magsaysay Award winner Rajinder Singh has concluded his two-year long National Water Literacy Campaign (Rashtriya Jal Yatra) that traveled through all the states of India over 2 lakh kilometers and assessed the situation in 144 river basins. During the Yatra, hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life – professionals, politicians, businessmen and the underprivileged – attended meetings and pledged to conserve water.

The Yatra began from Mahatma Gandhi’s Samadhi in New Delhi on 23rd December, 2002. It wound up at Sarvodaya Seva Ashram, Chitrakoot, Banda along with the National Water Conference on 18th-19th May 2004.

The Yatra has brought together the largest national network of people and organisations working on water conservation with chapters in all the states of the country called the Jal Biradari. The newly constituted board reflects it democratic character. The Biradari will take the momentum of the Yatra forward.

At Chitrakoot, leaders of the Campaign passed the Chitrakoot Water Declaration stating that water is common, not private, property. As such, it is the local people living near water sources – ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, etc., - who have the right to use and conserve water, not companies or even the government India’s national water policy needs to reflect this. Local communities and village people have the right to conserve and store rainwater.

One of the important messages of the Jal Yatra was that local people can and should take ownership of their water resources. They have to take the lead to set up village level organisations that will take charge of water resources and ensure equitable distribution of this basic resource. No longer can people afford to wait for the government to help them nor can they stand by and watch multinationals such as Coca Cola or companies that well bottled water take ownership of this community resource. The Chitrakoot declaration says that such industries are extremely polluting and are a menace to local communities.

The Yatra was organized by the Biradari, which has an independent board. The board decided in future to oppose the river linking project of the Central Government in the form of a ‘satyagraha’. To this end, the Rashtriya Jal Biradari distributed the responsibility among members to constitute the river basin level groups.

The Jal Biradari also decided provide common ownership rights over water in new water policy and also decided to continue to create the awareness of the water conservation and extend the work in all over the country. For this, it will hold a conference on 25th and 26th June 2004, at Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi, to initiate a dialogue with the new central government.

At the National Water Conference, members of different state yatras presented state-wise reports on their efforts towards water conservation. They also decided to extend the Jal Biradari from the village to the river basin level.

Rajinder Singh’s book on the Rashtriya Jal Chetana yatra was released by noted environmentalist Dr. G. D. Agrawal. The Yatra has created awareness about the problems related to water conservation and its management.

The Yatra made a political statement as well – if the government does not work properly, they will it. The people have decided to oppose unemployment and corruption which increased in 6 years due to the policies of previous government. Jal biradari will create dialogue with new government to correct the mistakes of the previous government and develop a people oriented water policy.

Other resolutions passed at Chitrakoot included preparing village level water policies to give people ownership over water conservation and management; to include more women at all levels in Jal Biradari; and to constitute village and river basin level Water Management Committees.

The Jal Biradari also constituted new governing body. While Mr. Rajinder Singh re-elected as the president, the other members elected were Mr. Gyanendra Singh (Maharashtra), Mr. Arvind Kushwah, Mr. Ishwarchandra, Mr. Avadesh Gautam and Mr. Abhimanyu Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Mr. Nilesh Desai and Mr. Durga Prasad (Madhya Pradesh), Mr. Sunderlal and Mr. Rajendra Prasad Yadav (Haryana), Mrs. Savita Gokhale and Mr. Mukul Sharma (Delhi), Mr. E. Manoharan (Tamilnadu), Mr. K Sukumaran and Mr. Kumar Pandare (Kerala), Mr. Hembhai (Assam), Mr. D. R. Patil (Karnataka), Mrs. Lalita (Pondicherry), Kalnand Mani (Goa), Mr. Prem Kumar and Mr. Vijay Bhai (Bihar), Mr. Gotam Bandhopadyay (Chhatisgarh), Mr. Aditya Patnaik (Orrisa), Mr. Om Prakash and M. D. K. Mishra (Jharkhand), Mr. Chandan Pal and Mr. Ahmed Bhai (West Bengal), Prof. Manohar Singh Rathore and Mr. Gopal Singh Bhadrajune (Rajasthan) and Mr. Dunglena (Mizoram).

Jal Biradari members have decided to encourage fresh water conservation work and include water literacy among school students. They will encourage state education departments to include water conservation in the sylabus. They will also set up a committee to oppose the proposed Ken-Betwa River linkage plan under the aegis of the Bundelkhand Jal Biradari, to be headed by Dr. Agrawal. This committee will immediately conduct the study on impact of Ken and Betwa River-linkage. Other members of the committee are Mr. Avadesh Kumar and Mr. Abhimanyu Singh.

Jal Biradari members of different states also decided to publish a state-wise book on the Rashtriya Jal Chentana Yatra before the convention of 25th-26th June. They constituted a committee to prepare for the convention. Mrs. Savita Gokhale and other members of Delhi Jal Biradari are the members of the committee.