RAINY RAJASTHAN

The harsh deserts of Rajasthan bear testimony to human adaptability and ingenuity. They receive just 300 mm of annual rain, making Rajasthan India's driest state. Yet they are home to a third of the state's population and, by some estimates, the most populous deserts in the world.

This is because of a singular ability of the local people-devising ingenious ways to harvest every drop of rainwater, whenever, wherever it falls. Their competence and wisdom were put to test this year, when western Rajasthan-the region where the deserts are received heavy rainfall in May, much before the formal onset of monsoon in the region on June 26. By then western Rajasthan had received over 70 per cent of its annual rain and by August, the entire state stood second in the country in terms of excess rainfall received. How did the water-starved region react to this excess? 

ANIL ASHWANI SHARMA travels to eight villages in Beawar, Pali, Barmer and Jaisalmer districts to find that the people are busy doing just one thing: capturing water. Tens of thousands of traditional water harvesting structures are already brimming with water, and hundreds of new ones are being built to store the scarce resource. Agriculture is experiencing a boom, with massive fallow areas under cultivation. People have devoted water structures to regenerate grazing lands for fodder, planning for the future. In many desert villages, farmers have made preparations for a second crop in the coming winter season.

PRADEEP KUMAR MISHRA in Delhi analyses the potential of water harvesting in the region, as the changing climate could result in more wet days. This estimate suggests that even by harvesting half of the rain received between May and July, the communities would store a humongous 28 billion litres-sufficient to meet their domestic water needs for years. This is the story of a changing climate, and the adaptability of traditional knowledge to such situations.

BEAWAR I SENDRA
Entire catchment revived