RSSB Test 5

Water management is arguably the most critical and existential challenge facing Rajasthan, a state whose arid and semi-arid character, reflected in its position as the state receiving the lowest average annual rainfall of any major state in India, creates a condition of structural water scarcity that pervades all aspects of life, agriculture, and economic activity in much of its territory and has shaped the culture, technology, social organisation, and historical trajectory of its communities in profound and lasting ways. The annual rainfall across the state varies enormously from the extreme aridity of the Thar Desert in the west, where districts like Jaisalmer and Barmer receive less than one hundred and fifty millimetres of rainfall in the average year and may receive virtually nothing for several consecutive years, to the relatively better-watered southeastern districts like Jhalawar and Baran that share the more humid subtropical climate of the Malwa plateau and receive over eight hundred millimetres annually, creating a gradient of water availability that fundamentally determines the agricultural potential, population density, and livelihood options of different parts of the state. The traditional knowledge systems and water management techniques that the communities of Rajasthan developed over centuries of living with this challenging hydrological reality represent one of the great achievements of indigenous environmental engineering and deserve to be studied, respected, and replicated as models of sustainable resource management. The johad, a traditional earthen check dam or community pond constructed in the natural drainage path of monsoon runoff to slow, capture, and store rainwater, has been used for thousands of years across the Aravalli region to recharge groundwater, provide drinking water for livestock and humans, and support irrigated cultivation in the immediate vicinity. The kund, a circular covered underground cistern whose inner surface is carefully waterproofed with a lime plaster that combines lime with natural adhesives such as gum and jaggery, captures and stores rainwater that falls on or runs off a specially prepared paved catchment area in the courtyard of a household or community, providing a clean, cool, and protected supply of drinking water of remarkable purity maintained for long periods without spoilage. The baoli or vav, the step well that combines below-ground water storage with a monumental architecture of descending steps, columned galleries, and ornamental friezes, is one of the most elegant and sophisticated vernacular engineering solutions to the challenge of providing consistent access to groundwater whose level drops during the dry season, with famous examples including the Chand Baori at Abhaneri in Dausa district and the Rani Ki Vav at Patan in Gujarat demonstrating the extraordinary aesthetic refinement that skilled craftsmen brought to a fundamentally utilitarian infrastructure project. The nadhi, a smaller local rainwater harvesting pond common in the grazing lands of the desert region, provides water for the pastoral communities and their herds of camels, cattle, and goats during the long dry season. These traditional systems, which had fallen into serious disrepair and neglect during the era of canal irrigation expansion in the twentieth century when communities came to depend on government-supplied surface water and groundwater pumped by electric tube wells, are now being systematically revived, desiltated, and restored as the limitations of centralised water supply systems in the context of declining groundwater tables and increasing demand have become apparent. The Rajasthan government has invested in multiple institutional mechanisms and programme frameworks to support water conservation, including the Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan campaign, the MNREGA-funded construction of water harvesting structures in every village, the Atal Bhujal Yojana for community-based groundwater management in overexploited aquifer areas, and the promotion of micro-irrigation including drip and sprinkler systems that reduce agricultural water consumption by fifty to seventy percent compared to flood irrigation while maintaining or improving crop yields. Climate change projections consistently indicate that the already challenging hydrological situation in Rajasthan is likely to worsen in coming decades, with increased variability of monsoon rainfall, higher evapotranspiration due to rising temperatures, and more frequent and intense drought episodes, making sustained investment in water harvesting, storage, distribution, and demand management an urgent long-term priority for the state's economic development and social stability.