A role model village
Sometimes the biggest lessons in life are taught by the smallest. The cities, with its bustling population looks down upon villages and its folk. But the urban prisoners could learn from this small village in Maharashtra – Hiware Bazar.
While Latur has gone completely dry and on the brink of apocalypse, this Hiware Bazar village has not ordered a water tanker since the past 20 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi especially mentioned in the last episode of 'Mann ki Baat' programme on Sunday about the exemplary work done by this village.
Hiware Bazar too used to suffer from water scarcity but took upon water conservation efforts in 1994-95 under which many watershed management programmes had been initiated. It undertook many other measures like banning crops that require large quantity of water like sugarcane and banana. The villagers opted for vegetables, fruits, flowers and pulses. And if you think this would have cultivated poor farmers – it came as a surprise to know that farmers in this village are far more wealthier than their counterparts and not a single family is below the poverty line!
Other measures include – encouragement to dairy development trade, ensured no bore well is dug in the village and that every drop of water is used carefully. Most important – villagers meet on the 31st of Dec every year to review the rainfall for cropping. A water budget us chalked out and it is decided as to which crops that can be grown in upcoming season on the basis of available resources. This year, with no rains, the villagers took an off from cropping.
Can we city dwellers control even something as small as taking bath in lesser water, not washing the cars everyday and watering lawns?