KHANDWA (MP) This is the story of the grit of a woman self help group of Chabutara, a remote forest village in Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh which saved the entire village from water crisis by deepening a pond, once a life line for the people. For the last 2-3 years the pond would not provide sufficient water to the villagers as it began to dry up by January-February leading to water scarcity not only for humans but also for the cattle.
The village has two hand pumps but they are not sufficient to make up for the water shortage. Many families had to travel two kilometers to fetch water which resulted in the wastage of lot of time which could have otherwise been used in other productive activities. It was the women whose lives were worst hit by this as they were not able do many of their household chores.
The worsening water crisis forced the women of the self-help group to do something to retrieve the situation.  After lot of deliberations they finally decided to deepen the pond. That required help from the panchayat but their request to intervene was turned down. So, they decided to pick up the shovel and hoe themselves. De-silting of the pond was a mammoth task as it required hard manual labor. Initially men folk were reluctant to cooperate, but later after persuasion of these women, six of them decided to join this cause. One Budhiya Bai of the village took the initiative and mobilized these 35 women and even aged people. Thus began the digging of well during the midsummer of 2016 through voluntary labor.
The group toiled for 40 days to deepen the pond. The local NGO Spandan Samaj Seva Samiti incentivized their volunteerism by providing clothing and grains to keep their stoves burning.
As massive siltation over the years reduced the capacity of the pond, the group had to use cultivator machine for a day to loosen the soil and ease the digging. The rains filled the pond again. Nearly 1300 man-days of voluntary labor were contributed by these women. The water was sufficient during the summer months for the humans for non-drinking purposes and the cattle from 4-5 neighboring villages.
In 2017, the women planned to use the pond for fish farming. They used their savings from their group to get fish seeds. As some miscreants began to steal water and fish from the pond, the women and aged kept night vigil by turns. Yet the problem could not be solved completely. This compelled the women to lodge a complaint with the police who took away the motors used for stealing water.
Finally, the women collective from Chabutara village met the Block administration and got the contact for fishing in April, 2022 from the government. It is time for fish harvesting from the pond. The women decided that they would not sell them in the market.
They sold them to their own and neighboring villages at nominal rate so that they can fulfil their nutritional needs. They made a profit of Rs 10000 which they decided would be used for helping those in need in the village and for buying fish seeds for the next year.
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Pic: Budhia Bai who inspired the women of the village
with the fishing contact given by the DM.

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