The dust from illegal mining (despite a Supreme Court ruling against the activity) rises in the air as the car negotiates a potholed road of Kotputli district in Rajasthan. The car’s air-conditioning cannot prevent the dust from reaching the nostrils and you wonder how the herd of cows outside on the road breathes in this claustrophobic environment.

But, luckily, Sikar district, our destination, is in better condition. Glimpses of greenery and clear skies are prevalent close to the area where we are to witness the impact of 22 check-dams built a distance away from each other over five years. Funded as part of its corporate social responsibility commitment by the DS Group, the aim has been to enhance the water table and turn around agriculture in this arid and water-deficit region.

“The Deepawas check-dam has changed a lot for us. The greenery set in only after its construction. Earlier we used to have year after year of drought,” says 70-year-old Phulidevi, recalling the dry and difficult days of her childhood here in Nim Ka Thana, Sikar.

The last three years had also been difficult with drought conditions prevailing. But this year, the scene has changed. The small rivulets that emerge from the now depleting Aravali ranges have turned into gurgling and sometimes even torrential rivers. “Nim Ka Thana had its most abundant rainfall in July after three gruelling years. The nine inches broke a 61-year record,” says Kanhaiya Lal from the Toda panchayat.

But to map the changes the check-dams have brought on the ground for the people here, the women are the best storytellers. “This Kali deh nadi rivulet has refreshed our wells that were running dry. Now they are full of water so it is easy for us to keep animals. Our village has around 400 cows and 300 buffaloes and we have better conditions to bathe and feed them,” says 32-year-old Vimladevi.

The youngest, college-going Kavita Meena, says that she now understands the importance of water in people’s lives. “Though we do not have tap water and come here to the dam site for bathing and washing clothes, many families from the village are now involved in the milk business and access to water makes animal husbandry that much easier. Every morning we have agents who come to collect milk from us and this gives us a bit of extra earning.”

Apart from rearing livestock, the group of women from Toda are animated about the large number of handpumps that have once again become operational, indicative of improved ground water conditions. “We are growing our own vegetables — brinjals, chillies, tomatoes — and don’t need to buy from outside,” says Mohinidevi, explaining how agriculture has also changed. “Thanks to the check-dam we have both a Rabi and Kharif crop, earlier even one was difficult to grow.”

Sikar is not the only area in Rajasthan where the DS Group has initiated water conservation. In Udaipur district, it is in the process of creating what it calls ‘Water Economic Zones’ through integrated watershed development. It has identified two watershed areas, Alsigarh and Kurabad, populated mostly by tribal communities where it aims to reach out to 19 villages and a population of 22,000.

In the first phase, the group will construct 24 anicuts, 45 earthen embankments and renovate eight existing water structures in an area of 2,605 hectares. Going forward, it will attempt to recharge the region with what it takes — constructing trenches, field bunds, recharge pits, deepening wells or intervening in agriculture and livestock.

“The goal is to transform the area and the lives of people here,” explains Bhavna Sood, Senior Vice-President - Communications, DS Group, which started its water initiatives in 2011 in Assam and later in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The writer travelled to Rajasthan at the invitation of DS Group

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