Waterman of India’s inspirational visit to Auroville

Dr Rajendra Singh, an award-winning environmentalist from Rajasthan, affectionately known as the “Waterman of India”, visited Auroville on Dec 29 and 30, ending the year on a positive water note. Winner of the 2001 Magsaysay Award and 2015 Stockholm Water Prize (known as the Nobel Prize for water), Dr Singh has worked with over 1300 rural communities in Rajasthan to restore seven rivers. He currently runs the NGO Tarun Bharat Sangh and travels widely to share his message of water conservation as a tool to mitigate climate change. 

Dr Singh spent his first day in Auroville visiting sites actively engaged in rainwater catchment and using a variety of techniques, such as rainwater harvesting on roofs, bunding, catchment ponds and more. In the morning he toured the work of Auroville projects Nadukuppam and Pitchandikulam, accompanied by Joss. This was followed by a walking tour of the Sacred Groves site with Manu, which has 400,000 litres of water catchment storage that was completely full at the time of the visit. In the late afternoon he saw the catchment ponds of Annapurna Farm and ended the day at Sadhana Forest. There he gave an impromptu speech to the residents and volunteers, prompting the team to share on social media, “We had an amazing visit from Dr. Rajendra Singh Ji, well known as Waterman Rajendra Singh. He walked through Sadhana Forest looking at our water conservation work, had dinner with us and then gave a presentation about his 44 years of water conservation efforts. His knowledge, experience and enthusiasm are incredible and left us all deeply inspired.”

The next morning, after a visit to the Matrimandir, Dr Singh met with players from the water sector of Auroville and the bioregion and discussed some of the challenges and opportunities here. Dr Singh focused on empowering people to initiate actions on their own, and not wait for government or decision-makers. As a first step, he emphasised the necessity of creating a water-literate community through educational initiatives. As the discussion concluded, Joss held up an instrument with multiple hooks on it. He explained that women used the instrument to retrieve their water pots that sometimes fell off their ropes and into the wells. Unfortunately these tools are not used as much these days, due to the dropping of water levels. Joss made the point that we must work together to raise the water tables, in much the same way women pulled water from the well. 

Dr Singh proceeded to lunch and a tour of Solitude Farm with Krishna, whose work in promoting local foods, such as rain-fed millets, connected directly to the work of Dr Singh. The post-lunch session was organised for and by Auroville youth at the YouthLink Hall, where Dr Singh discussed the key role that both women and youth have had in all of his community-led movements on water. 

In the late afternoon, he held a public presentation entitled “Community Driven Water Conservation as a Solution for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation”. Bhumika Hall was packed (despite the rains) and his talk was well received. [Find a link to his talk via AV Radio: https://www.aurovilleradio.org/talk-with-rajendra-singh-the-waterman-of-india/] Through a mixture of facts, anecdotes from his vast experience in the field, and striking images of desert landscapes turned into lush agricultural lands within 30 years, Dr Singh captivated the audience’s attention, driving home not only the relevance and necessity of water conservation, but also how this work connects to climate change. He spoke of the need to restore water bodies which in turn cool the land, ultimately helping to mitigate climate change. Toward the end of the discussion, Toine shared a ditty that he had composed during the time of the talk, inspired by Dr Singh’s message: “For healthy bodies we need water bodies. For water bodies we need healthy people, bodies who embrace the water bodies. Climate is water. Water is climate.”

The next morning, Dr. Singh made an impromptu visit to the restored water bodies of Puducherry, after an invitation from the District Collector. The last visit prompted Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi to write on her social media, “Puducherry blessed to be visited by Waterman of India, Mr Rajendra Singh, a Magsaysay Awardee. He visited the recovered water bodies along with the Collector Dr. T. Arun. He expressed his joy at seeing the work done in recovering water bodies and our water harvesting efforts in Puducherry and Karaikal.”

More than one person also noticed a curious connection between Dr Singh’s visit and the rain. December 30th saw an unusually heavy rainfall for this time of year, with Gaia’s Garden recording 62mm on Dec 30, 84mm in Invocation and 95mm in Aurogreen. There were points during Dr Singh’s talk at YouthLink that he had to shout over the sound of the pounding rains outside.

The organisers of Dr Singh’s visit hope that his inspirational presence and talks will move Auroville toward more water-positive actions in 2020.