Dhurkeshwar ND 9A Inspirational Story...

STORY:

There was a large kingdom near a hill. A kind named Somapal ruled it. The whole kingdom and its subjects were gay and happy.

The king had a council of ministers. The main adviser to the king was a very intelligent man, Balraj. The king always took his advice on administrative matters. 

One day when kind Sompal was attending the court, a question arose in his hind. He thought of putting up the question of his courtiers. He asked them, “Tell me, what is it which is most precious and invaluable on the earth?”

A courtier said, “My lord,  I think gold is the most precious thing on the earth.”

The other courtier said, “Excuse me sir, I want to interrupt here. I feel that the most precious thing is diamond. Nothing is  more precious.”

Some other courtiers said, “Money is more valuable than gold or diamond.”

The king was not satisfied. Just then a courtier said, “ the most valuable and precious thing on the earth is a good son.”

The king seemed to be unsure of the correctness of the answers given to him. He asked his adviser Balraj, “Whose answer do you find correct?”

Balraj said, “,My Lord! According to me, the most precious thing is something entirely different from their description. Of course, there are many things which are very precious and invaluable. But at certain occasions the same precious things may prove to be worthless. I strongly believe that water is the most precious thing on the earth.”

The king became angry. He said, “How foolish? The diamond is the most precious thing. Almighty god has given us plenty of water in the form of river, pools, tanks etc. and you say that water is the most precious thing. I do not agree with you.” 

Balraj laughed and insisted that water is always the most precious thing for life. It depended on circumstances. The king asked him to prove his point. Balraj said that he would prove it at the right time. 

A few days later the king decided to go hunting. He took Balraj also. Balraj arranged for everything that was necessary. King Sompal chased and hunted animals for the whole day. By the end of the day he had hunted many wild games. Now king Sompal was feeling tired. He asked Balraj to arrange a neat and clean place where he could relax for some time. 

King Sompal hadn’t had a single drop of water throughout the day; he had been so busy hunting. He was feeling partially dehydrated. He asked Balraj to arrange some drinking water for him. But Balraj, instead of bringing water for him, presented the king with a tray full of diamonds. King Sompal became very angry with him and admonished him- “ I am dying of thirst and you are playing jokes on me. What shall I do with these diamonds? Throw them away and bring some water for me.”

Balraj said, “My Lord! I have proved my point. Now I need not tell you how precious water is.”

He gave him water. King Sompal drank the water and quenched his thirst. Now he had understood that water was the most precious thing.

I

WATER WARRIORS OF INDIA [who inspired to conserve water....]

1. AMLA RUIA, a Mumbai-based social activist, has transformed many lives in over 100 villages in Rajasthan by using traditional water harvesting techniques and building check dams. With a view towards creating a sustainable and permanent solution for conserving water in drought hit regions of Rajasthan, she founded Aakar Charitable Trust. Up until now, the Trust has helped in the construction of 200 check dams in 100 villages of Rajasthan, and impacted over 2 lakhS people who earn a combined income of Rs. 300 crore every year.

 AABIT SRUTI, runs a one-man NGO named the Drop Dead Foundation, which is saving tonnes of water by taking care of plumbing problems such as leaks that cause water wastage in Mumbai households. The 80-year-old does it all for free, with his team of one volunteer and a plumber. In 2007, the first year of the Foundation’s existence, Aabid visited 1666 houses on Mira Road, fixed 414 leaking taps free of charge, and saved about 4.14 lakh litres of water. His work has now inspired other people across the country to take up his example and help save water in their cities.

3. AYYAPPA MASAGI, has changed the lives of thousands of people by getting them to practise rainwater harvesting and water conservation. This Karnataka resident purchased six acres of land in a village in Gadag, a dry region, where he started planting rubber and coffee to prove that one can grow these crops irrespective of the amount of rain one gets. However, after failing several times and after years of research, he found that recharging borewells and practising non-irrigational agriculture methods could help more. Using these methods, he reaped a good harvest in the two subsequent years and then started spreading the message about these methods in neighbouring areas. Today, Ayyappa has developed thousands of conservation projects across 11 states and has also created over 600 lakes in the country

4. RAJENDRA SINGH, popularly known as ‘The Water Man of India,’ has been widely recognised and appreciated for his water restoration efforts in rural India. When Rajendra reached Rajasthan in the year 1959 to set up health centres in the region, he realised that people there needed water more than they needed health care. So he started working with the villagers to build mud dams called johads – a traditional technique of collecting rainwater. Today, after about 20 years of work, there are nearly 8,600 johads and other similar structures that collect water in the state, providing water to over 1,000 villages across Rajasthan..

5. SHIRISH APTE, The Malguzaars were local zamindars in eastern Vidarbha about two centuries ago and had constructed several tanks for water harvesting and provided water for irrigation. They constructed, owned and maintained these tanks before 1950, but after the zamindari system was abolished the state government took ownership of the tanks and started collecting water tax from those who used the tanks. The Malguzaars filed a case in the Supreme Court, after which more than 1000 tanks were left unattended for years. This was until Shirish apte, an executive engineer with the Minor Irrigation Division of Bhandara district in Maharashtra, entered the picture in 2008 and restored the first of such tanks in about two years’ time. This led to recharged groundwater levels and increased agricultural output and fish production in the area. And this eventually prompted the district administration to restore about 21 Malguzari tanks in Bhandara.

BY : DHURKESHWAR ND    9A