Tarun Bharat Sangh

Tarun Bharat Sangh of Alwar is well-known for its work on reviving traditions of water harvesting. But few know abut the economic advantages of the water harvesting structures it has built and promoted in villages. For every RS 100 invested in small earthen check-dams known as Johads, the economic production in villages has risen by RS 400. And all this prosperity has come through the use of only three per cent of the total rainwater.
The dense forests disappeared under the railway tracks, in the form of sleepers. The then Maharaj of Alwar, in 1930, under the influence of British, sold them out to contractors to obtain timber for the railroad.
Railways did not improve the living conditions of the people in any way. The people lost control over their common lands - and then the forest itself, a long night mare began. Migration was the only chance of survival. But the story was to take a better turn , when five young men of TBS descended on the Thanagazi block of the district. Their one line agenda was to fight 'injustice against the people' and to 'clean the society of all evils
Mangu lal Patel, an old man of the nearby village of Gopal pura told them to dig tanks and build johads., Which they did and got results. The people of the region had a rich tradition of building Johads, small earthen check-dams which capture and conserve rainwater, improving percolation and ground water recharge.
At present, TBS has 3000 water harvesting structures in 650 villagers of Alwar district to its credit. Its greatest symbols are five rivers of the region, which have started flowing perennially after decades of drought, a direct result of conserving water in johads.

benefits harvesting structures
The foremost benefit of the water harvesting structures is conservation of rainwater, which helps in Recharging of ground water by harvesting each single drop of rainwater. This not only preserves water for use during the drought but also leads to rise in the water table in the adjoining areas of the structure especially in the wells existing in the fields.
Easier availability of the water in these drought-affected regions result in drastic improvements in the life of the people of these areas. This makes irrigation possible throughout the year and open new avenues of the income for them. This will be an effort towards reducing poverty that emphasizes poor people to become self-reliant.

Over All Impact Earlier Farmers were not able to cultivate even one single crop a season but now they are able to cultivate a maximum of 2 crops a season. Agricultural production has increased. Even for getting drinking water females had to travel quite a distance to have access for water. But now due to these water-harvesting structures there much of the time is saved which they utilize in doing other productive works. Cattle's, Goats and other animals in the villages and wild animals in the Sariska region come to these Johads for drinking water. Apart from these water table in the wells has also increased and helped in recharging of the Ground water. Earlier, 80 % men in the working age group use to migrate for employment as laborer but now they all stay in the village itself and do cultivation in their land which earlier use to be uncultivable.