From being a humble farmer to a confident leader, Ganga Rajput has come a long way. The 30-year-old is a resident of Chaudhary Khera, a village which lies in Madhya Pradesh’s portion of the dry Bundelkhand region infamous for its dusty environs and water scarcity. She has, to her credit, the revival of the talaab village pond that she and other women in the village, brought back to life after years of neglect.

Baba Talaab, a 12-acre pond, was originally built by the Chandela kings during their heyday. Though in its glorious days Baba Talaab yielded water for the village, the pond fell into disuse due to neglect almost four decades ago.

People in fact stayed away from reviving the Baba Talaab because of a prevailing superstition – the story in the village goes that when a sarpanch (village head) tried to revive Baba Talaab, he lost both his children. The tale kept people from protecting the pond. Over the years, as it went dry, the village hand pumps went dry as well.

With no water left in it anymore, the residents began to use the dry land for the cultivation of crops.

The village faced a water crisis as there was no facility to store water. There was not a single talaab (pond) in the village. The hand pumps too were unreliable. Water shortage became a regular feature, especially in the summers. Women, who fetched water had to walk long distances to access it and this would lead to altercations at homes over delayed chores.

Being most affected by the water problems, the women of the village, convinced by Ganga, took on the task of reviving Baba Talaab. In 2019, the revival was planned with the help of Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan, a social organisation led by Bundelkhand’s waterman Sanjay Singh. A women’s network, called Jal Saheli (women friend of water), was set up with about 30 members, to revive the water body and water harvesting techniques in the drought-prone region, through community participation.

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Read more: Jal Sahelis quench the thirst of parched villages in Bundelkhand

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There was initial resistance to reviving the pond. Some feared the superstition, which was then overcome with rituals that the villagers believed would appease the local deity, Gaur Baba, who is supposed to hold sway over the water body. Then there were objections by people who had been growing crops on the dry area where the pond once was. The revival process was then done in a way to not affect them either.

As part of this process, the area was cleaned up, silt was removed and a check dam was constructed. When it rained, water would collect in the pond and over the monsoon months helping in groundwater recharge as well.

After the water has been in the talaab for around three to four months, the water would be pumped out and channelised into the Bachheri river, explained Parmarth field staff Dhani Ram. Once the talaab is drained of water, the wet soil dries up in around a week and it is ready for cultivation, he said.

This helped those who had been cultivating on the land as they decided to do wheat farming during rabi. The farmers had earlier been using the dried-up pond for cultivating soyabean and urad during kharif. After the revival, they shifted to wheat farming during rabi. Some 150 families cultivate on plots ranging from one to five acres. Once the water is drained out of the talaab to the river, the farmers prepare the land for wheat farming, said farmer Neelesh Lodhi, a resident of the village who used to grow jowar and gram during kharif and is now cultivating wheat at the talaab site along with four other farmers. A total area of around 20 acres is now under wheat cultivation. “Once others also agree to it, we can also do fish rearing in the pond (during monsoon when water collects),” he said.

“The work started last summer (2019) went on till this year (2020). There were 25 women with me who helped in the restoration process. The men also helped us and we constructed a check dam at the site to help control the water velocity. We have managed to retain water in the talaab which earlier used to flow out into the Bachheri river. We use the pond water for washing clothes and in irrigating our lands,” Ganga told Mongabay-India.

“This year (2020) in summer, there was no shortage of water,” Ganga gushed over the phone, talking to Mongabay-India, adding, “The men were afraid to do anything because of the prevailing superstition but women showed a lot of courage.”