More intense droughts have been observed over North and Northwest India and neighbouring Central India say the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are among the few water-stressed states that faced two droughts in four years. These states are also extremely vulnerable to climate change because of fewer irrigation facilities.

The tribal villages of Khalwa & Melghat regions of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are facing acute water problems due to soaring temperature. Less percolation capacity of the soil and undulating land terrains of the region leads to low water level within a few months post monsoon. Summers have always been challenging for the locals, since decades.

Despite acute water crises gripping these Korku villages; the parched residents have not yet lost all hope. Caritas India Sabal programme has been working extensively in 141 Korku villages for the last three and a half years to sensitise the masses on various soil water conservation methods to address the low water-level & percolation challenges.

Through Knowledge and Work, the programme team was able to mobilize more than 39,084 human days of work to build across 1249 water conservation structures covering 3228 cubic meter of land which primarily included farm bunds, water absorption trenches, de-siltation of check dams, wells and other water sources, gully plugs and construction of farm ponds etc over four months. As a response, the people were incentivized with food grains for their contribution to the initiative. The initiative was helpful in reducing migration up to 26% in all the 141 target villages. The female to male ratio of participation in the Knowledge and Work initiative was 2.85:1.

Considering the impact of the initiative and benefits learned from the collectivism, the inhabitants have come forward voluntarily to work on the issues sustaining the hope to overcome the dire situation in the near future. Under the voluntary initiative, the community has constructed 25 soil water conservations structures contributing 982 human days of work. The female to male ratio of participation in voluntary work without any incentives has been 1.46:1. This indicates that the participation of male volunteers has increased to 1.39 in the due course of time. The realization of collective effort and the necessity to address the plague of the water crisis has motivated the community to take the issues more seriously.