Immortal English bard Coleridge sang, “Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”, which is true and eternal. Our good old Mother Earth is not a Japanese toy of yesterday and it needs to be protected by preserving and using water which is life. Dr Rajendra Singh, popularly known as the Waterman of India, was on a two-day visit to Odisha recently. By education and training, he is a doctor in Indian medicine. He joined a government job but relinquished it in order to serve the society and the nation. The water issues of the arid Rajasthan posed a challenge to him and the young Gandhian Rajendra accepted it with a rare vision. Years of deforestation and mining had converted the once-fertile Alwar district into a barren land with a dwindling water table and minimal rainfall. Giving emphasis on traditional water conservation system, he changed many dry rivers into perennial streams. The river Aravri after 60 years flowed again owing to his efforts. He played a pivotal role for constructing 375 check-dams in the river. Under his leadership, rivers like Ruparel, Sarsa, Bhagani and Jahajwali were revived after decades. Dr Singh today is a household name in all States of India where there are rivers. In south India, he is very much active now in Krishna and Kaveri regions. As a water conservationist and environmentalist, he has bagged the coveted Ramon Magsaysay Award and the Jamnalal Bajaj Award. British English daily The Guardian bracketed him in its list of 50 people who could save the planet. He has won the Stockholm Water Prize, an award known as the Nobel Prize for water. He is bestowed with the Ahimsa Award by the UK-based Institute of Jainology. He was in Bhubaneswar last week to inaugurate a seminar in the context of “Save Mahanadi Movement”. In an interview to The Pioneer, he spoke to Sugyan Choudhury on many issues concerning river problems.

What’s the sum total achievement in India during four decades of your movement ‘Nadi Bachao Andolan’?

My joys know no bounds as I have resonated 13 rivers, two in Maharashtra, two in Karnataka and nine in Rajasthan. We have constructed 13,800 dams, check-dams and annicuts to raise the groundwater level in order to make rivers of the Indian subcontinent flowing perennially. We have just used a very simple science of the river. We have made a system where water can walk. We make dams and the water can go down, thereby we control the evaporation loss. When we control water evaporation, water is reserved and we construct dams. When the groundwater level comes up, the river flows. You can change the course of history in a small period, but when you are changing the course of geography, it requires time. My first river Arvari took 12 years to resonate; and after having created 600 water bodies, my rivers started flowing as the groundwater level came up.

Do you have plans to resonate almost all the rivers of India?

My first agenda is to seek cooperation of the people, river activists, intellectuals who love the river. ‘If the health of the river is OK then my health is OK’, this should be the attitude of one and all towards the river. If the river water is clean and if it is flowing perpetually then our health would be alright. That is why I have started a river literacy movement called ‘Aao Nadi ko Jane’ (Come and know the river). You have to learn from the river; and that is why I have started a ‘Nadi Pathshala Movement’. We are continuously doing such movements throughout the country. If people can understand the character of the river, they will start loving the river. That is how we are building river cadres like river warriors, river activists, river lovers, river creators, river resonators and river conservators. We have all these cadres everywhere in our country.

How did you start your movement in Maharashtra?

We initially recruited seven types of cadres to reach our mission in Maharashtra, where we started a river literacy movement. The cadres are Gram Jal Sevak at the village level, Jal Doot at the block level, Jal Premi at the district level, Jal Yodha at the division level and Jal Nayak, who knows all about the water system of the State. Some honest government officers take the responsibility as Jal Karmis. Finally, the women communities which are really committed to the conservation of river are called Jal Prahari. Today, my heart dances in joyous delight to see my rivers like Agrani and Mahakali perennially flowing in Maharashtra which took me just nine years for completion.

What is the source of your inspiration to work for water?

It is very simple. When there was no water, young men and women migrated to other places for work. When the rivers are resonated, when water flows perennially, these youths no longer migrate and they live with their old parents getting deeply involved in productive agricultural activities with smiles on everyone’s face. That is how I have reaped a rich dividend; and I am inspired to work more and more.

For such a huge enterprise, wherefrom do you manage your finances?

I never take a single pie from any Government, either the Centre or the State Governments. I never ever avail a single pie covertly or overtly from any corporate house and never allow corporate houses like Ambanis, Adanis to enter into my work areas. I have constructed 13,800 small dams by now across the country only with the people’s voluntary participation. I never desire any governmental aid towards my mission.

What’s your opinion regarding the conflict between Odisha and Chhattisgarh relating to the Mahanadi and how it can be resolved?

I have met your CM Naveen Patnaikji three times and he is a nice person with a positive bent of mind and eager to solve the problem. I am of the opinion that the Odisha-Chhattisgarh dispute is not as serious and complicated as Kaveri and it should be resolved by both the Governments amicably. I do not believe in the court or tribunal solutions.

If any offer comes to you to solve this dispute, what can you do in outside-court settlements?