In Rajasthan’s Chambal, wives of ex-dacoits lead revival of water sources and hope

Karauli: Until about 15 years ago, Sampatti Devi and many women like her in Rajasthan’s Karauli district lived in constant fear, dreading the day their husbands might not return home.

Repeated droughts, driven in part by declining rainfall linked to climate change, had turned their lands barren. Water sources dried up, crippling agriculture and animal husbandry, the lifeblood of their livelihood.

With no other way to survive, many men were forced into dacoity, hiding in jungles and risking their lives every day to evade police. Karauli’s average annual rainfall dropped from 722.1 mm (1951-2000) to 563.94 mm (2001-2011), according to government data.

But in the 2010s, something remarkable happened. The women, weary of fear and despair, resolved to reclaim their lives. They convinced their husbands to come out of the jungles and give up arms.

Together, they began reviving old, dried-up ponds and constructing new pokhars (water bodies) with the help of Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), an Alwar-based NGO dedicated to water conservation since 1975.

“I would have been dead by now. She convinced me to come back and start farming again,” recalled Jagdish, Sampatti Devi’s husband, now 58, who surrendered his weapons and chose peace.

Pooling every penny earned over the years by selling milk, they built a pokhar at the base of a hill near their village, Alampur, in 2015-16.

When the rains came, the ‘pokhar’ was filled and for the first time in years, their family had water, enough to sustain them for a longer period.

“Now, we grow mustard, wheat, pearl millet and vegetables,” says Sampatti Devi, sitting proudly on the pokhar’s embankment. She even rents it out for water chestnut cultivation, earning about Rs 1 lakh each season.

Over the years, TBS and the local community have together built 16 such pokhars in the forest surrounding the village and around 500 across the entire district, each capturing runoff from the slopes.

Karauli, once among Rajasthan’s worst-hit dacoit areas, witnessed a transformation.

Karauli district is part of the Chambal region, which extends across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It has historically been notorious for dacoity due to its rugged terrain, ravines and forests that provided hideouts for dacoits.

“With community-led conservation efforts, stability is returning,” said Karauli Superintendent of Police Brijesh Jyoti Upadhyay.

He says rainfall in the region is erratic and leads to periods of both water scarcity and intense short-term downpours.

“Karauli faces droughts during dry times and flash floods when it rains heavily, like last year, when the monsoon brought over 1,900 mm of rain.”