In Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein, Shri Anupam Mishra documents the myriad, well-organised ways in which the people of western Rajasthan have harvested and managed water over centuries, through work of the utmost dedication, painstaking detail and community-led action. These systems have survived the test of time, and are present in most villages and towns of the desert state even today.

This path-breaking work in the harsh water-scarce conditions of the desert, was completely managed by the local communities, and serves as a guide to the rest of us, in organising to face and tackle the water crisis, that we face across the world today.

Shri Anupam Mishra has worked in the field of environment and water conservation for many decades, and is currently with the Gandhi Peace Foundation New Delhi. His books on the work of people/society organising themselves, to harvest and manage water - Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab and Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein, are considered landmark works in the field, and continue to inspire several individuals even today, to take up work on setting up and reviving such time-tested water harvesting systems.

Shri Anupam Mishra does not hold any copyright over books written by him. Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab has thus been translated through the initiatives of several inspired readers, into 19 languages including Braille. It is one of the only books after Gandhiji's autobiography "My Experiments with Truth", to be available in Braille. The total number of prints of Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab, has crossed 200,000 copies as of 2011.

Readers are thus welcome to further reprint, digitise, store, extract, copy, translate, transmit or use the books in any form they wish. Please do tell us about any such efforts you make or feedback you have on the books, at contact@indiawaterportal.org, and we will forward your mail to the author.

India Water Portal acknowledges the support of Sambhaav Trust and Anand Kumar Naidu Bangalore, in making this publication available in an electronic form. We are also grateful to the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology, for making the english translation available to us, to publish on the Portal.

Related content

1. "Radiant Raindrops of Rajasthan", is an english translation by Maya Jani, of the book Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein by Anupam Mishra, and is available for download in the Attachments section of this page.
2. "Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab", a book in Hindi by Anupam Mishra, is available on the India Water Portal here.
3. "The wisdom that was!", a talk in Hindi by Anupam Mishra, can be viewed on the India Water Portal here.
4. "The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting", a talk in English by Anupam Mishra, at the TED India 2009 Conference held at Mysore, can be viewed on TED here.
5. "Pani, hum aur Anupam", a talk in Hindi by Anupam Mishra on NDTV, can be viewed on the India Water Portal here.
6. Other articles, interviews and booklets edited / authored by him are available here.

"The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting", a talk in English by Anupam Mishra, at the TED India 2009 Conference