We have been seeing the Palaskheda village over the years. We used to pass through the village and wondered how the farmers struggled with crop yield to carry on with their lives in their Kaccha Makans.

India is an agriculture-based country, and many farmers here still need to manage to build a 'Pakka Makan' for themselves and their families. The primary reason is insufficient profit due to the irregular crop yield through their farming practices, as they need a solution for water crisis.

Nivrutti Palve was among such farmers who had a kachha Makan until JalTara showed its magic. After the implementation of the project, as his income doubled, Nivrutti Palve decided to build a 'Pakka Makan' for himself and interestingly named it after JalTara as a gesture of thanking the Art of Living for bringing out the project to farmers like him, who needed support to grow their cultivation.

Survival with minimal income prior to JalTara

Nivrutti Palve, a farmer in Palaskheda village not long ago, lived with his elderly mother in a Kaccha Makan. His condition was critical as farming didn't bring enough for Nivrutti to provide well for his family. Excessive rains in the area made it difficult for him to cultivate and trade enough crops to meet his family's needs. Not only was waterlogging ruining the crops, but it was also reducing Nivrutti's chances of living a happy and satisfied life.

A blessing in the form of The Art of Living JalTara Project

The farm needed to be in better shape, and Nivrutti's opportunities for improving things for himself were close to none until the JalTara project was announced. Nivrutti's village was one of the four villages where the JalTara pilot project was carried out. The Art of Living JalTara Sevaks encouraged Nivrutti & therefore recharge structures were built on his farm, and soon, the stagnation and accumulation of rainwater stopped as all of it seeped into the underground water aquifers through the JalTara recharge structures. The groundwater level thus increased, ensure the availability of water throughout the year which lead him to cultivate and sell more crops during the year, moreover there was zero crop spoilage due to waterlogging.

Exuberating with joy, Nivrutti could now make his dream come true by building a 'Pakka Makan' in his village Palaskheda. In his words, "Not too long ago, around 90% of the houses in the village were mud houses, but today around 70% of the houses are made of concrete."

Not only has Nivrutti improved his crop yield and built a concrete house, but he also named the home after 'JalTara' as a tribute to the scheme for turning things around for him as a farmer.

JalTara has impacted the village of Palaskheda and has brought prosperity to all the farmers who have adopted The Art of Living JalTara method on their farms. Many such stories exist in India today, where farmers cannot produce and trade much because of unfavourable conditions, which are a significant obstacle in producing sufficient crops. Potentially, so much can be grown and cultivated, but adverse conditions like waterlogging and lack of underground water are some of the common challenges that every farmer faces due to the water crisis in India.

The Art of Living JalTara Project is emerging as one of the most successful water scarcity solutions in the country and has become an effectively used water conservation project in Maharashtra among many states, intending to cover the whole nation.

JalTara aims to reach 1, 00,000 villages and build 5 Crore Recharge Structures over the next 5 years in India, and solve the problem of water scarcity. The objective is to fight the water crisis by building simple water recharge structures, as seen in the figure below.

People like Nivrutti make it even more remarkable when they acknowledge it. They appreciate the cause this project is fighting for: to solve the water crisis and make farming more manageable and profitable, thus, making life better for numerous farmers like Nivrutti Palve across the country.

Hear it from Nivrutti Palve himself as he shares his journey of building a concrete house after the intervention of The Art of Living JalTara.