Tarun Jal VidyaPeeth

 Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth is an initiative of the people’s organisation Tarun Bharat Sangh. This organisation is the result of a double alliance, between the rural traditions and the inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi, and between the ancient and proven wisdom and modern scientific methods. In the last twenty years, the villagers of more than one thousand villages of Rajasthan have regenerated water and natural life, expelled extreme poverty, revived the village institutions, created the Arvari River Parliament and the first People’s Wildlife Sanctuary at Bhaonta-Kolyala. These sustained efforts have been rewarded by the rebirth of five rivers, dried since decades, and by a new prosperity in the region.

These results have been widely acclaimed, including by the President of India at Bhaonta-Kolyala in 2000 and the Magsaysay award in 2001.

The two-year course is an outcome of the 9-month training programme Tarun Bharat Sangh has been running for many years for its own volunteers.

The two-year Diploma course on Community-driven Common Resources Management marks the launch of Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth, and will remain its backbone. With this course we aim at addressing the priorities of rural competence and youth education and employment.

In the coming year, a number of short training programmes adapted to the needs of various professionals will start, and degree and post-graduate courses will follow in the near future.

The origin of the impulse and the long-term goals of Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth are described in the Concept Note by Rajendra Singh:

Concept note

The idea of the Jal Vidyapeeth sprouted during the Rashtriya Jal Chetna Yatra (National Water Literacy Campaign.) commenced in the year 2002. During this campaign (yatra.), a need was felt to build the capacities of organisations and individuals working in the field of water conservation in India . This Jal Vidyapeeth will cater to the requirements of an illiterate farmer and a highly educated person alike; the training provided in this Jal Vidyapeeth will enhance the understanding and skills of those working or interested in working on issues of water management.

The Jal Vidyapeeth is looking for the involvement and cooperation of sincere people from every age group who have the enthusiasm to work towards saving every drop of water in the country to meet the needs of the present and their future generations. We would like to involve and invite people who can impart knowledge, philosophy (Jal darshan) and understanding on different aspects of water.

The objective of setting up Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth is not to construct a set of buildings but to raise a group of pupils who have a deep concern for water conservation and want to develop a better understanding. These pupils will serve as the pillars of the Vidyapeeth.

The mode of imparting knowledge in Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth will be distinctive. We will not rely primarily on lectures and experiments of science in classrooms. But the entire country where efforts of water conservation are on will serve as classrooms for the students. These sites will serve as the training centres and laboratories. The model set up by the university will not rely on the formal but a functional education system. It will focus on creating water professionals and managers through work experience, in the way farmers such as Kanhaiya, Jagdish, Gopal Singh and Ram Dayal associated with Tarun Bharat Sangh have become professionals, managers, and directors of water structures with experiential learning.

The relationship between a teacher and a pupil in Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth will be unique. We hope to find teachers who would be open to learning new things. Similarly the students after having gained experience will act as teachers. The teachers should not work primarily for a salary. They should have a feeling of imparting knowledge selflessly. Tarun Bharat Sangh would be happy to take on the responsibility of fulfilling the basic needs of pani, roti, kapda aur makaan (water, food, cloth and home) for them and their families. Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth would be interested in those who would teach following the principles of "voluntary poverty". We welcome such people as teachers who are ready to tread the path of sages, whose research was based on the principles of tyag, tapasya and sadhna (discipline, concentration and labour). During their research, sages would tolerate great pains and lead an austere life. Their requirements were limited and their work was in harmony with nature and their environment. We are in a look out for such teachers who excel in areas of interest to the students.

Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth will cater to the needs of people who are keen to do something in areas fraught with water problems and feel that they lack certain skills to work in such areas. Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth does not believe in offering degrees but in building of water professionals. A student will be learning on the job, and once ready to take on any new work, would move on to develop a new site. The university will replicate the rishi parampara (traditional method of sages) of imparting education. Today's scientists and research scholars require the aids of well-equipped libraries and laboratories not only during their student days but also in their working lives.

Globalization has destroyed the diversity of education system. Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth will respect the diverse geo-cultural and agro-ecological climatic zones (bhu sanskritik) of the country in its education system. The diversity of geo-cultural and agro-ecological climatic zones is necessary for water conservation and water management work and every part of nature conservation, which would depend on the formation of natural soil and forests. Forest is the mother of water. Hence the students of Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth will prepare themselves to work in any geo-cultural and agro-ecological climatic zone. They will develop their work respecting this diversity through an understanding gained at this Vidyapeeth and their conservation and restoration work will maintain a close link with the developmental processes of their region.

People from all over the world engaged in water related issues would serve as resources persons, facilitators, motivators and their work places would serve as laboratories and training centers. Every language will be respected in Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth. The medium of instruction in the Vidyapeeth in Rajasthan will be Hindi. In other field sites, local language and English/ Hindi will be used.

Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth welcomes institutes, volunteers, organizations, or any individuals to be its partners. For their stay at Tarun Bharat Sangh, they will be provided with simple basic accommodation and simple north Indian food in a rural setting.

We hope that Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth will build on the principles of spirituality and development enunciated by Mahatma Gandhi. Financial constraints should not deter anyone from enrolling in this Vidyapeeth. We wish to provide equal opportunities to the poorest of the poor. Our objective is to prepare such people in this Jal Vidyapeeth whose hard work and understanding will yield the will and desire to fight against the injustices being perpetrated in the changing scenario of privatisation of natural resources. We would like to draw parallels between the significance of charkha for Mahatma Gandhi in the building of a national struggle for independence and the significance of creation of ponds and water bodies by students and through their community mobilization efforts. Our indicators for success of the Jal Vidyapeeth would be its products. We aspire to create people who will adopt a simple life-style and will live in harmony with nature; who will give back to nature more than they take from it.

We have been able to muster some resources to initiate this effort. However, our vision is to develop a self-reliant Vidyapeeth where all those who wish to be a part of it could be provided land to develop their own dwelling.

Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth welcomes such people who will devote their lives for water.

Rajendra Singh, Tarun Bharat Sangh