Subharathi lives in a remote village in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh. Her village is surrounded by farm fields all around and a large irrigation tank in the middle. In the last few years there has been acute scarcity of water more so for drinking purpose. “Nature has been unkind to us and the rainfall has failed to bless the village. I am told this is all due to our negligence in respecting various forms of nature. I wish we respect and fear nature and offer it our daily prayers” she remarks. As the monsoon has been failure many wells including very deep borewells have started to give reduced amount of water affecting the crops. “I became very concerned when the wells began to give limited water and some of them went dry. A curse of nature I believed”. 

Her perception changed when the APFAGMS project started in her village a few years back. “I was told that they shared our concern on groundwater and informed me that they will not give anything in the form of material or money but can provide skills, knowledge and information”. They discussed community water issues not only of our village but also of surrounding villages. Subharthi was a keen learner and soon became a member of the village Groundwater Management Committee (GMC).

The role of GMC was to measure groundwater levels, quantity of water pumped from the wells, rainfall and water quality. “This was interesting and different to the things that I do at home and the farm. I looked forward to the GMC meetings and contribute to discussions. In fact, I could sit along with other male farmers. The project and our involvement in GMC gave us a new standing and social status”. As member of the GMC, they approached the rural water supply department and successfully addressed the issue of drinking water. This gave her the confidence to believe solutions to village problems could be solved by coming together and approaching the concerned department.

After regularly collecting water level, pumping data and rainfall data for a year a meeting was organised by the project with farmers from neighbouring villages of Upparavanka drainage. “It was in this meeting that we realised all the habitations belong to a single drainage family, so we all are kins. Those who are in the upper side of our habitation are the elders and the one below are the younger brother/sisters. We all have to respect each other and follow the family tradition of sharing and giving”. In this meeting all the data brought by the various habitations were entered into a single book as a joint family account and earnings/spending worked out. Many farmers who have been members for long were participating enthusiastically.