Chambal chronicles: Changing landscapes and lives through waterscapes

By Achita Varyani, Mansee Bal Bhargava*

Across India, the Chambal region usually brings a flashy and feary notion for the place and people as rugged. The Chambal’s infamous ravines, gullies and badlands dominate the imagination of most Indians. The region was once known for its infamous dacoits, including Phoolan Devi, Paan Singh Tomar, Man Singh, Madho Singh, Nirbhay Singh Gujjar, and more. Burdened by the infamous narratives of the region, several good stories are also buried. For example, the Chambal region is rich with its wildlife, temples, and history. This story however, is among the good stories of the Water Warriors as Chambal Chronicles.
At the heart of the Chambal region is the Chambal River and is spread across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh where it finally meets the Yamuna River as an important tributary of Ganga. Like all rivers in the country, Chambal too has a history of interesting milieu of events and stories from the Chambal region (the catchment) which are lesser known across the country. The legendary river finds a mention in the Mahabharata as Charmanyavati, originating from the blood of thousands of animals sacrificed by the King Rantideva and along whose banks the Kauravas and Pandavas played a game of dice. The river is one of the pollution free rivers of India with major projects on soil and water conservation. The river has the largest breeding population of gharials in the wild and home to the endangered Ganges River dolphin and Indian skimmer besides home to rare turtle species.
History of the Changing Landscapes and Lives through Waterscapes
The history of Chambal Ke Daku’s dates to the time when the Chambal region faced problems of water scarcity, poverty and lack of livelihood. Due to which the youth especially the men of the region took up crime and dacoity as a means to survive. There were instances when social activists Jayaprakash Narayan and Vinobha Bhave interacted with the dacoits spreading awareness about water conservation and awakened them to lay down their arms (finally mass surrender in April 1972). The Tarun Bharat Sangh in the leadership of the Water Man of India, Dr Rajendra Singh, has been involved in extensive community water conservation work for over 20 years which marked the beginning of transformation in the Chambal region. Though there was a constant fear of police amongst the surrendered bandits, with the availability of water over time, farming became their source of livelihood, and in no time the bandits became water conservationists reviving the water resources of the region.
As Chambal found its peace in water because of water, the community together made efforts to revive the ecosystem through rainwater conservation practices and agricultural activities. This in turn led to increase in employment generation and financial empowerment of the community. There was availability of food and nutrition, fodder and fuelwood. Families started living together and the village established security, dignity, and resilience.
The Session
The Wednesdays.for.Water session organised by WforW Foundation on, ‘‘Chambal Chronicles: Changing Landscapes and Lives through Waterscapes” discussed the intertwined landscape and waterscape of the Chambal region and enlightened as good things turned around in the lives and livelihoods of the indigenous people by choosing the path of water conservation and ecosystem rejuvenation.
The speakers of the session are Dr Indira Khurana and Maulik Sisodia. Indira is a biochemist with over 30 years of experience working on rural livelihoods, focusing on water conservation and social inclusion. Her work emphasizes resilience against climate disasters through community-centred water solutions, particularly addressing the needs of women and children. Maulik is a development professional who is leading Tarun Bharat Sangh since 2009. He is interested in public-policies related to rivers and water resources and has expertise in program design thinking and project management at the grassroots level with communities. Both have been part of national and international campaigns on water conservation and management. This essay is developed from the session as a learning outcome. The session video is available at here:

Benefits of Water Conservation in villages of Chambal
The economic impact of water related disasters and climate change can be seen worldwide. The global economy could lose 10% of its total economic value by the year 2050 due to climate change. For example, in 2021 economic losses caused by floods worldwide were estimated at 90 billion U.S. dollars and India suffered 8% GDP loss in 2022 due to climate change. Such disasters cause increase in poverty, loss of livelihood, inequity, diseases, migration, deaths, violence, insecurity, conflict, hunger, no dignity, no hope, no money, no food and nutrition. While the problems are global or national they percolate into the local where, people have to find local solutions to cope with climate change especially manifested through water crises.
To overcome this issue of water crisis, Chambal followed a decentralized community-based rainwater harvesting approach to suffice its water needs. Capturing rain augmented water resources based on the local topography and geology and helped secure water. Decentralised rainwater capture is more effective in terms of costs of structure and efficiency of capturing the runoff. Rains enables decentralised economic prosperity while also reducing inequality since clouds are present everywhere and store sufficient rainwater. Hence small low-cost structures are used for this as it is rejuvenated, powerful and community owned and managed.
Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) worked extensively with the communities of Chambal region to construct over 200 rainwater harvesting structures. For example, three villages namely, Bhudkheda, Umari, and Alampur have benefited from it. According to their study, a total of 168 households with 1700 bigha agricultural land and 9.05 crore input cost gained a profit of 14.01 crore, that accounts for 8.33 lakh per household. Villagers especially women were positively impacted through the water conservation and landscape restoration. Their involvement also acted as messengers of peace and generated more green, resilient and circular economy due to more cash flow and some money on hand.
Some of the learning from the community water conservation and management in Chambal villages include:
- Slowing the flow of rain and directing it into the aquifers, so it recharges the aquifers and doesn’t get evaporated.
- Small rivers are like our nervous system and if we start rejuvenating them, the local water is available thus, providing a cushion to water shortage.
- Groundwater and surface water share a symbiotic relationship. When the surface water is flowing it seeps into the groundwater aquifers and recharges them during the rains. After the rains are over this relationship is still maintained. The water feeds into the base of the river, so the river may not flow on the surface but it will be flowing below the surface provided if over extraction is not done, thus ensuring year-round water.
- Involving local communities through participatory approach is crucial because the locals have been living there for generations and have the wisdom and knowledge of the flow of water, direction and location of streams, and locally available materials that are good for water conservation structures. Besides, it is them who are affected both ways in terms of water crises and availability.

Local community with Dr Rajendra Singh

A Case Study of Nehro River Basin
Nehro River basin is in the Alampur valley in Karauli district of Rajasthan. It is a 29 km long river with 78 sq km of catchment area playing a vital role in collecting the runoff during the rainy season contributing significantly to the water supply in this semi- arid region. The TBS facilitated the village communities to construct 15 rainwater harvesting structures along the Nehro river to capture and store rainwater, with a capacity of 10 lakh to 100 crore litres. These structures are strategically distributed across key villages like Kaurapura, Alampur, Timangarh and Bhojpur to maximize coverage and mitigate water scarcity.

Chambal, Nehro river basins having rainwater harvesting structures

A remote sensing analysis and geospatial study of water harvesting structures at the Nehro River basin carried out by TBS found that the impact of water retention on the vegetation area changed from the year 2017 to 2024. The remote sensing indices also helped in measuring the vegetation health i.e. how much green is growing in an area. The study also measured the moisture content in the plants and a super plant vision that quantifies and checks whether the plants are growing well.

Nehro river basin: Increase in vegetation Oct 2017, Oct 2023

Some of the findings from the timeline study are very promising. For example, the fields that were largely barren in 2017 suggesting limited irrigation and poor crop yields were changed by 2023 into spread of green fields with improved agricultural outputs. The vegetation health that was earlier low, sparse, and stressed transformed into healthy and flourishing plant life and agricultural fields along the river basin. The small water bodies that earlier covered only 30- 40% of their capacity earlier, were expanded by the surface area up to 60- 80% indicating better water retention. Thus, one may say that the water availability and water management practices have led to increase in moisture which further led to more greenery.
The integration of community observations with satellite data further validates the findings with a real-life view of the trees, water and land. For example, the ecosystem rejuvenation experienced by the local community indicate that the flow of water has been resumed in the stream. The construction of 15 rainwater harvesting structures has transformed the Nehro River Basin and enhanced the water security towards supporting sustainable agriculture. Their observations from the ground show a consistent flow in the rivulet, which could not be captured through remote sensing. This also highlights the importance of integrating community observation for a comprehensive assessment of hydrological changes.

A Case Study of Kachre Wala Taal

Kachre Wala Taal is a pond located in the village of Bhudkheda in gram panchayat of Rundhpura. It is one of the waterbodies in the Sairni River Basin. The TBS facilitated the construction of pond with a capacity of approximately 50 crore litres in 2016. This example shows the crucial role of pond rejuvenation in aiding groundwater recharge and providing irrigation support to surrounding agricultural land. A small check dam was constructed in March 2016 and since the following rains, there is substantial increase in the water retention of the pond over the years.
It is found that there is increase in crop production and nutrition level of crops with more availability of water since the construction of the structure. The increase in the vegetation area from 2016 to 2024 is by 206%. The increase in the vegetation density from 2016 to 2024 is 17%. The vegetation is even present during the years of moderate rainfall. This suggests that the reservoir has created a buffer against seasonal rainfall variations, allowing for more consistent vegetation growth and agricultural productivity. Despite the fluctuations in rainfall, the gradual increase in vegetation health indicates that factors other than rainfall are contributing to improved vegetation health.

Kachre Wala Taal: increase in vegetation Jan 2016, Jan 2023

Discussion
Rivers today are highly affected by the climate change, depending on the amount of rainfall, melting of glaciers, etc. While the rivers themselves provide opportunity for rejuvenation, they are facing threat due to climate change. With the rising temperature, the temperature in the rivers is reducing their life holding capacity. So, reviving the rivers becomes crucial for improvements in water retention and vegetation health. Rainwater harvesting structures hence act as a sponge or cushion to manage the risk of drought and floods by soaking up the extra water besides, retaining the soil moisture, rejuvenating the vegetation, and refilling the tributaries.
An important lesson learned during the engagement in the Chambal region is that the absence of water and presence of hunger limits the livelihood choices. Sometimes people are compelled to make wrong or violent choices because of the lack of resources. Proper support and encouragement open a basket of opportunities. When water became available, agriculture and animal husbandry became possible resulting in increase in production and nutrition of the crops besides ownership of cattle. The vegetation density and area of cultivation also increased. As a result of which livelihood opportunities increased which improved the income of the community. Several migrated labourers returned to their farms and in some time, they even began to employ labourers from other nearby villages. The transformation from labour to entrepreneur (Maalik) is a remarkable journey of empowerment of the lives of the once labelled a dacoit community.
Community involvement, sense of ownership and reducing the water usage in agriculture by practicing micro irrigation and growing crops with less water requirements are the way forward to ensure sustainable water available in areas affected by climate change and social taboos. It is therefore important that climate agreements focus on local water conservation and management for mitigation, adaptation and resilience with special focus on the local indigenous communities who already hold some wisdom and association to the place besides, who are the most affected as most neglected. When the people benefit from water conservation and management, the nature also thrives with forests and ecosystems regenerated and wildlife flourished. Since, the issue of water availability is not a static problem and hence there is no static solution to it. Hence, it is important to continue to contribute towards water use efficiency, water conservation and water literacy.

---
*Archita Varyani is a Junior Research Fellow at WforW Foundation. Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava is an entrepreneur, researcher, educator, speaker, and mentor. More about her is at: www.mansee.in, www.edc.org.in, www.wforw.in, www.woder.org

***

Wednesdays.for.Water is an initiative of the WforW Foundation, a think tank, built as a Citizens Collective. The idea of Wednesdays.for.Water is to connect the water worries and wisdom with the water workers through dialogues /discussions/ debates. The objective is to get in conversations with policy makers, practitioners, researchers, academicians besides the youth towards water conservation and management. The vision for WforW is to make water everybody’s business and to do so, the mission is to make water conversations for water conservation. 

The Wednesdays.for.Water is reachable at wednesdays.for.water@gmail.com and WforW Foundation is reachable at hello@wforw.in. The WforW Foundation social media are at Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.