Rural women's campaign suggests their worry for water conservation are more genuine that that of men

By Bharat Dogra 

When a man agrees to walk for 300 km to take the message of water conservation to many villages, this is great. However when a rural woman decides to do so, this is an even bigger decision and an even bigger achievement because the problems a woman must overcome to be able to complete such a task are much bigger.

This is something I realized while speaking to several women who had participated in a 300 km march in Bundelkhand region to spread the message of water conservation.

As several women related, their first struggle starts with having to leave domestic, farm and farm animal related duties for a stretch of nearly three weeks. A lot of planning has to go into this. There must be a lot of dialogue and persuasion with all family members so that she can lead the home on a happy note with all the strength that family support provides. Her husband may initially feel that her being away for such a long time will upset the family schedules and work. Even some of the children, not just the smaller ones but even the elder ones if they are preparing for exams, may be upset by Mom going away for a long stretch of time. So Mom may have to take one of the smaller children with her. This involves more planning. Yet ultimately these women convinced everyone at home and managed to join the march with the family’s consent.

Secondly, in the course of a march that goes across remote areas and for some stretch even forest areas, women have more worries than men, starting with sanitation and getting ready early in the morning for prayers, breakfast and march. Again, finding proper rest facilities at night is not easy, but these women marchers were so involved in their meetings and walking, songs and slogans, that they simply brushed aside these inconveniences as I did not find anyone complaining regarding this.

Walking around 15 km every day for a stretch of about 20 days is not easy for anyone particularly when this is combined with some meetings and dialogues with on–the-way villagers, yet at the end of the march these women were in good cheer and full of enthusiasm regarding the completion of this mission.

Speaking to some of those women who had to leave after some days of the march, it was revealed that in most cases their compulsion came from having to attend marriages or other such social gatherings which could not be avoided. Otherwise, they too were very keen to complete the march and regretted having to leave in the middle of the march.

The women who participated in this march were mostly jal sahelis (water friends) or water volunteers who have been mobilized by Parmarth voluntary organization to take forward water related issues in many meaningful ways, contributing to protecting water sources and improvement in drinking water supply.

A typical day of the march started with the entire group leaving at around 7.30 and then marching for about five hours, stopping in-between for a meeting with villagers-on-way on issues relating mainly to water. At these meetings often several local women on hearing about the inspirational work of jal sahelis also enlisted their names to become jal sahelis in future. The marchers were seldom silent—songs and slogans kept the spirit of marchers at a high level and also attracted much attention of people. The sky blue dress of women marchers and their banners were also a source of people getting attracted towards the march.

Then the marchers stopped at a pre-decided place for lunch, often entering into a shorter dialogue or consultation with people here too. There wasn’t much time for rest however as the group left quite soon for the next destination.

The next phase of the march generally continued up to 7 in the evening, again providing time for a dialogue wherever suitable place and opportunity for this emerged. The marchers would be greeted with tea and some refreshments, and there would be a time for a review meeting or a smaller dialogue, and of course there was some time for song and dance too before or after dinner. The fact that the coordinator of the entire Jal Saheli program Sanjay Singh was also marching along on almost all days cheered up the participants further. 

This was by and large the pattern although things were different on the first and the last day. The first day included a kalash ceremony in which water was collected from a spiritually respected place. This kalash or traditional water carrying utensil was carried all the way by one or the other marchers during the entire course of the march, and when they reached a water tank or river, a few drops of water from this too were added to the kalash. Hence the sacred kalash with water gathered from so many sources became a symbol of the resolve to protect all water sources of the region.

In keeping with rural traditions, the task of creating and protecting water sources has a strong spiritual orientation in this region. Invariably many of the famous tanks co-exist with smaller or bigger temples. The temple here exists as a support and a reminder for protecting the water sources. The kalash became a symbol of such spiritual strength to protect water and water sources in the course of the march. When they came near a water source that was in poor health, such as a water tank in Babina, women took a pledge that they’ll come back to do some restorative work or take other supportive steps in this direction.

The last day was also planned somewhat differently as the country’s rural development minister was coming all the way from Delhi to greet the marchers after the completion of the march. All the marchers and dignitaries who had gathered here together planted trees.

As women marchers started leaving for their homes, they were full of enthusiastic stories and anecdotes. Some of them reached home late at night, when children were fast asleep. One of them related, “When my six year old son got up early in the morning, he said—why did you not tell us in advance the time of your coming. We children were planning to make garlands to receive you.” The lady said she forgot all her tiredness after hearing this.

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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Man over Machine, Protecting Earth for Children, When the Two Streams Met, and A Day in 2071