Abstract

Water has always been essential to life and livelihood in India. There are about 99 million individuals in the nation without access to safe water. Water scarcities in indigenous communities, particularly for women, are made worse by climate change and growing deserts. In India's drought-prone regions, particularly in Bundelkhand, EU financing for empowered hundreds of thousands of women volunteers to work toward securing water security. Due to repeated monsoon failures that resulted in drought, the availability of water in the Bundelkhand region has been progressively worse over time. The populace is seriously at risk from a lack of water for irrigation and drinking. Woman of all ages who have issued a clarion call for water security in their communities are known as "Jal Sahelis" or "women water fighters." These female volunteers have been organised and trained on topics relevant to water resource planning, management, and conservation by Welthungerhilfe and their partner Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan. The volunteers are a part of the Jal Jan Jodo Abhiyan, a countrywide initiative that seeks to implement India's Right to Water. Today, 7 districts in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are home to almost 500 Jal Sahelis who have been trained and put to work. They swiftly respond to water problems in their villages while wearing identical blue saris. To restore traditional ponds in villages, they have repaired handpumps, constructed check dams with government funding, and organised "shramdan," or voluntary contributions by the community. State and national governments, notably the Jal Shakti (Water Resources) Ministry of the Government of India, have praised them for their successful efforts in resolving water concerns. In short, in this paper I have tried to tell about the relationship between water and women empowerment through case study of Jal Sahelis.

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