Aanore, which bagged the third place in the Water Cup and a cash reward of Rs 13 lakh, intends to use the sum to further its development.
Aanore is a little bigger than a hamlet. Yet its 450 families have shown the world that if people work together, they can turn the tide on a drought, make a dry village self-sufficient, while drubbing 4,700 other villages to bag a cash reward of Rs 13 lakh and a trophy at the hands of Aamir Khan.
DNA had earlier reported how in summers Aanore, some 350 km from Mumbai, in Jalgaon district, would struggle to get drinking water for its people and animals. But the residents decided to take charge of their fate. In March, they started a vigorous drive to prepare the ground to conserve every bit of water. Four months later, their efforts at rainwater harvesting and watershed management paid off: they had successfully tucked away 25 crore litres by the time the monsoon came.
With this, they made the shortlist of a statewide water-harvesting contest, the Water Cup. But they didn't know they'd be among the three winners.
"It is a miracle," said Sandeep Patil, the 37-year-old torchbearer of this village. It was Patil who had urged the villagers to come together and end successive years of drought which had been piling on the woes.
"Most women of our village were forced to travel 8 to 10 km to get a pitcher of water. Children were also engaged for this. So most of the time, they'd just have to bunk classes, sometimes for as little as a glass of water. We are happy now that we have enough water. Our women can work on the farms and children can go to schools," said Rahul Patil, another villager.
Making It Count
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| Villagers dug up 92 soak pits, 13 farm ponds |
| They got the soil tested and sowed seeds to it |
| They have a nursery where they grow plants to later plant them in village |
Patil added: "Farmers do not need government subsidies if there is enough water. It can end suicides in rural areas."
"Once we understood the importance of water, we planned to save each and every drop of rainwater this year. Otherwise, most of the showers would just go waste," Patil said.
Aanore, which bagged the third place in the Water Cup and a cash reward of Rs 13 lakh, intends to use the sum to further its development. The trophy was awarded by superstar Aamir Khan and Marathi actor and director Nagaraj Manjule in Pune on Sunday.
"We are thrilled to get the prize. We hadn't thought our village could compete with 4,700 others across the whole state and get a prize. Even in our own district and tehsil, it's quite a non-descript place we inhabit. We would introduce our village to outsiders by naming bigger neighbouring villages. Now, everyone knows the name of our village. The water-saving initiative gave us name, fame and identity. We are more than happy," said Tukaram Patil, a senior Aanore citizen.
Ranjeet Shinde, a local school headmaster who was part of this initiative, said the "determination to do something" helped Aanore escape a woeful fate.
"All those harsh summer months, they worked day and night with one goal — do everything to save each drop of water. They planted at least two trees in front of each household. After meals, they would wash their hands and plates near planted trees. It was a thousand tiny little things like this that helped them to awaken to the importance of conserving water," Shinde said.
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