World Water Day 2016

With water resources dwindling at a rapid rate globally and its predicted serious impacts on economies and livelihoods, World Water Day 2016 celebrated every year on March 22, has aptly chosen as its theme this year '

South India's rivers are rain-fed unlike those in the North, which are glacier-fed due to the contrasting topography and climate. Unlike the Himalayan system, many of India’s peninsular rivers dry up during the hotter half of the year, leaving lips and fields equally parched. As cities and towns flourished on the banks of rivers or otherwise, the importance of having a perennial water source to provide for the burgeoning population only increased. 

"A job isn’t just a job. It’s who you are". That quote seems to define the five people who are being honoured for their extraordinary dedication in ensuring water to the people in Nagaon and the newly declared Hojai district of Assam.

“This is my business, I am nobody’s slave,” says Kapal Nishad. He is one of the over two million migrants who came to Punjab over 20 years ago. Many worked in Ludhiana's industries and Mandi Gobindgarh while others spread out to harvest wheat, sow paddy or pluck cotton over the state's 42 lakh hectares of farmland. Comparatively fewer worked on construction sites, roadside eateries or pulled rickshaws.

The theme for the 2016 UN World Water Day is 'Water and Jobs'. What is your opinion of the chosen theme?

Chinna, 35, harvests fish and is engaged on a piece rate basis by the local contractor who has rights to fishing in the village tank in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. At times, Chinna also uses family labour to complete his work. A Bestha by caste, he is witnessing rapid changes in his livelihood in places like his village where long-established fishing communities exist as their right to livelihood is significantly dependent on establishing the right of the communities over water resources--tankwater, in this case.