He brought water to a parched land

SHAMJIBHAI JADAVBHAI ANTALA, is a true son of the soil, toiling not only to ensure that his fields remain green but translating the love for his land into a concrete project that has mobilised a number of farmers and people at large, to understand the importance of rain water collection, storage and harvesting.

A resident of Dhoraji, a non-descript little town, 25 km downstream of the river Bhadar, 63-year-old Shamjibhai, shot into fame primarily for raising a voice against the polluting dye units of the sari industries in Jetpur, upstream of Bhadar. (After a reasonably long struggle the Gujarat High Court ordered nearly 200 units closed in 1997, until proper effluent treatment plants were installed).

Dhoraji, all of 80 km from Rajkot, is in the heart of Kathiawar. A rough terrain, surprisingly it has not made the people of this area antagonistic, but has honed them into a more resilient and extremely hospitable lot.

"Having lost my father at a very young age, I worked for a while on our ancestral land, but bad days befell us and I was forced to sell everything to cover my father’s debts. I thus did not attend school. The urge to learn, however, was strong and I managed to pick up the Gujarati alphabet in my spare time, mostly while irrigating the fields," says Shamjibhai, with a faraway look in his eyes.

Today this "formally uneducated" man is a member of the Board of Governors, Water Management Forum and heads a number of local bodies. For a man who has been through extremely adverse conditions, both financially and otherwise, reaching this pinnacle of success with due felicitations and recognition is modestly attributed to God and his people.

"I could not have done so much single-handed, though I was constantly driven by my goal, to see that my fellow beings got a better deal where the most elementary of resource — water is concerned. Shamjibhai, finally gave up full-time farming and switched several jobs in order to support himself and his family. Deep down, he continued to be a simple khedu (farmer) at heart. Having worked as a peon in the municipality and then as a reporter in several vernacular papers, including Jansatta, he finally became the circulation manager of a Gujarati paper, Phulchhab, from which he formally retired only in 1997.

It was during this period that he had the opportunity to roam around Saurashtra and meet people in nearly every village. Though his field trips were mainly for assessing circulation, the farmer in him came to the fore at more than one instance and he was deeply touched by the plight of the farmers unable to combat the constant water shortage. The skyward looking, gnarled tense faces left an indelible mark on his psyche and he turned to writing on their problems.

All this while he wanted to do something practical to counter the water problem. A chance observation during the four-year-long drought (1984-88) in his village changed his life and that of thousands others. "At the fag end of the drought I happened to notice how a few farmers in Dhoraji itself, had diverted the rain water through small canals to recharge their wells. This set me thinking and after chewing over the idea and consulting with friends, I decided to do something on a war-footing and took upon myself the work of recharging the nearly seven lakh dry wells of Saurashtra. People were skeptical and considered me mad," he chuckles.

Thus in 1989, along with a close friend, Natwar Singh Chauhan, he set up an NGO called Saurashtra Lok Manch (SLM), the thrust of which was water harvesting, and called it the Rashtriya Jal Sanchay Abhiyan.

What started off on an experimental basis with a few wells in Dhoraji, is today a passion with this man and has become his mission. Unlettered in the conventional sense, Shamjibhai has the crazy habit of not resting till he gets to the root of a problem. Most of his knowledge stems from pragmatism and field observation. His solutions are embedded in local wisdom. Saurashtra has not a single perennial river, but there are numerous erratic rivulets, that fill up only during the monsoon and dry up soon after.

In several villages, he suggested that the wells be connected to these monsoon rivulets by 9-inch diameter cement pipess. Says, Keshavbhai Katheriya, a local farmer, "This sure benefitted us, as just after the first few showers the wells were brimming and enough water percolated down to the water table too."

Reaching a point where the villagers gave him a patient ear was in no way easy. As disillusionment with government schemes and subsidies etc was rampant, he and his ideas were often scorned at. Shamjibhai’s relentless efforts slowly started paying off when he explained to them that he was not doing anything extraordinary, but was just cashing in on traditional wisdom of water storage and harvesting. Which had, somewhere down the line, faded into oblivion.

Armed with elementary literature, booklets, pamphlets he scoured the countryside, mostly on a bicycle and at times by bus, convincing people of the importance of trapping rainwater. The government was not helpful. The problem was further compounded by the distrusting attitude of the villagers, who were often confused in the face of the tall government claims of the Narmada water reaching them. "I am not averse to the Narmada Project, but for the government to project it as the lifeline of Gujarat is incorrect. I feel that the Narmada water will never reach here, but I have neither time nor inclination to counter these statistics. I am more concerned with doing something now and that can be best done by looking at our local resources," he says.

During the past seven years, his organisation has recharged nearly 350,000 wells across Saurashtra. Word about his work has spread to the neighbouring states of Maharasthra and Madhya Pradesh, and even Orissa where people afflicted by similar situations approach him.

The well-recharging programme has brought about a revolution in the area, with people being convinced of their own power and the realisation that it doesn’t always pay to keep waiting for reprieve, either governmental or natural.

Most literature, including the sketches were initially prepared by him. Later through trial and error both on and off field, newer and better ways best suited to the situation were adopted, with help from his friends in the media.

What was, however, required all along was large-scale peoples’ participation and it wasn’t always easy to hold sabha etc. Thus he devised ingenious ways of reaching people. First he approached the local religious leaders to support this work. "Since the people here are deeply religious, when a highly respected religious head, reiterates such a stand the impact is widespread and forceful," said Shamjibhai. Thus over a period of time the SLM made full use of religious sabhas to spread word about their project. Some of the spiritual heads to pitch in were among the most popular ones of the area, notably, Madhavpriyadasji of the Swaminarayans, and Swami Kishorechandarji of the Vaishnavs. The saffron-clad messengers disseminated information about the projects and warned of impending doom if the villagers ignored to take action immediately.

Everything was done in the greatest detail, i.e., illustrative posters were put up and the entire process and importance of well-recharging was explained. The economic angle was also highlighted, whereby, the farmers were told how if the most essential ingredient was intelligently used they would earn more. Volunteers then started coming forward to spread this technique.

In 1997, a yatra was organised, which passed through the afflicted areas, showing photographic details of well-recharging and the consequences. A bus was converted into a mobile exhibition hall, that was attraction enough in the small and far-flung villages.

"To begin with the villagers were not ready to spend even a nominal amount to lay the pipelines, for diverting water or for making the simple filtering pit near the wells. They thought we had a vested interest in the whole thing". However, things today are far from what they were nine years ago. The villagers are totally convinced of the viability of these ideas and have taken up the work with equal zeal.

Another interesting method of spreading word was going to, samhu-lagans (mass marriages), a unique tradition still practised in this area. "Once here, we openly approached the villagers, in the merriment and explained our project, distributed pamphlets etc and extended full support in every which way. This was a quick way of reaching people at one place, says Shamji.

"As far as financial and legal hassles are concerned, the only difficulty we faced was convincing people that we were not out to make money and whatever they spent would be from their own pockets but would have long-lasting results. Once the ideas spread like wild fire, the government started disrupting our laboured efforts. They would put up huge advertisements in the local press sourced at Gandhinagar, promising money to farmers who took up well-recharging. In actuality, this was sheer propaganda only on paper. In effect no money was doled out. Soon the villagers saw through the guile and laid complete trust in us," he sighed.

At present Shamjibhai is even more charged than before, he believes that there is little time to lose and is convinced that if efforts are made in the right direction nearly every well in the parched land of Saurashtra would be awash with the sweet nectar of life.

His work has been studied and dissected by experts from the country and abroad. He does not profess to be an expert in the field, but admits to a rustic practical knowledge. He was presented several papers at various seminars, organised workshops and given demonstrations across the state, he has also visited Orissa and parts of Tamil Nadu in this regard.

Among his future plans is a national yatra, on the lines of the one taken out in 1997, that would primarily create awareness about the necessity and significance of recharging groundwater.