BENGALURU, Jan 17: Groundwater levels are in a critical state globally. India is the largest user of groundwater in the world – accounting for over 25 per cent of global extraction, with 256 Districts across India having critical/ over-exploited groundwater levels. On the other hand, heavy rainfalls have decimated the quality of soil and hence the quality of the crops grown by the farmers. Period 2017-21 saw an increase in spoilage of crops like sugarcane and rice in the areas surrounding Maharashtra. Taking into consideration the plight of farmers due to the overflowing of rainwater caused by deforestation, the government decided to compensate the farmers most affected by the floods.
PROJECT JALTARA JalTara is the vision of Sri Sri Ravishankar, the founder of Art of Living, to rejuvenate India from its current water problems. The project aims at bringing about a positive change in the fate of farmers and villagers to terminate the issues of over-flooding and drought in rural areas. The bold prospect aims at recharge of over 30 trillion litres of groundwater every year across India.
JalTara Project is a mindful initiative to solve India’s water scarcity problem. The focus is to train farmers and villagers, the most important stakeholders for this project, to enable them to conserve monsoon water every year and store them in underground aquifers– an integrated team of experienced geologists, watershed & project management experts for the purpose deployed.
THE APPREHENSIVE APPROACH BEHIND JALTARA
The JalTara methodology is quite impactful, and the problem lies in the adequate disposal of rainwater and efficient groundwater management. Groundwater is the backbone of the agriculture of India. It is a source of meeting over 80 per cent of India’s water and agricultural requirements, but in the past few years, the groundwater level has been descending quickly. Due to deforestation and a disrupted hydrological cycle in recent years, the availability has been hampered. It has led to multi-dimensional water stress situations in most of the villages and farms of India.
The approach of JalTara targets this problem statement effectively. People must rely on more than just groundwater to satisfy their hydrological needs, and rainwater needs to be managed efficiently. The concept of recharge pits is initiated to increase India’s groundwater storage by trillions per year and diminish the water crisis. The exemplary and relentless efforts of the sevaks at Art of Living have helped achieve a few litres, and there is more on the path to come.
EMINENCE OF THE PROJECT
JalTara aimed to expand its base to districts around the Maharashtrian vicinity in 2022. It has achieved the planned targets so far under the guidance of the Art of Living foundation. An increase in the water table or 12-14 feet has been observed with an impact of 6.06 lakh litres per pit & 30.3 Crore litre water per village. This enabled farmers’ ability to water more frequently & reduce the impact of waterlogged fields, resulting in increased crop yield by 42 per cent and increased farmer’s income by 120 per cent, even though not a single reported case of spoiled crops due to waterlogging was reported. The focus has been to educate the villagers about the long-term value of water rejuvenation through tree plantation, validating the ‘recharge pit in every arable plot’ methodology, and demonstrating the projected benefits. Simple, standard pits are massively scalable – digging 4.5 pits per hour.
About VVKI-Art of Living
The Art of Living is solving India’s water crisis, and the impeccable success of the project has recharged 30 million litres per year across India, erasing the water crisis for aeons to come.
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