2013 saw Maharashtra experience one of the worst droughts in 40 years. Villages like Shelkewadi, Randulabad, Satichiwadi, Muthalane, Phalakewadi and Thapewadi bore the brunt of it.?
However, now these villages have evened the odds. They have sufficient water and their water management policies ensure that something like this never happens again.
Pune-based engineer Rahul Bakare has a role to play in this change. According to The Better India, he was one of those who established the Participatory Groundwater Management Network that helped the villages become drought-free.?
Rahul has done more. He has worked with several villages all over the country and helped them with drinking and irrigation water security through his innovative, patented and affordable borewell recharge technology ¡ª BoreCharger.?
What is it? Nothing out of this world, it just helps increase groundwater recharge, farm yield, duration of supply and improves water quality by quite a bit.?
But the 50-year-old was not always keen to do social work. Things then changed.?
¡°I studied in the USA and worked in the software industry until 2003 and decided to return to India to continue my profession until 2009. But I felt that despite having a comfortable salary, money alone was not giving me mental satisfaction. I wanted to contribute my bit to society,¡± he said.?
¡°As a part of this effort, I focussed on irrigation water security, indebtedness and farmer suicides. I wondered why farmers committed suicide, and I wanted to understand their problems better,¡± he added referring to his contribution to water security.
At one point he wanted to practice agriculture but was discouraged.?
¡°They told me that farming was not an ¡®online game to be played¡¯, and that with zero experience, it would take me years to understand the farmers¡¯ issues and address their problems,¡± he went on to say.?
¡°I worked on 80 projects across India, with other NGOs as stakeholders. We attempted to blend technical knowledge based on scientific data with traditional knowledge of the locals to bring long-term sustainable solutions on water security,¡± he continued.?
¡°The rainwater harvesting system lacked a scientific approach and did not always help to recharge groundwater. Also, it involved heavy expenses. Groundwater recharge demands understanding of aquifers, mapping of hydrogeology and finding sources. I started thinking of a solution that increased recharge of existing, low yielding or dry borewells drastically and made them sustainable."?
His efforts have helped villages save 165 crore litres of water and that is just amazing.?
The man his doing his bit to help those in need. We need more people like him.
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