Rajendra Singh: Reviving Rivers with Mud and Community

Early life

• Rajendra Singh was born on 6 August 1959 in Daula village, Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh.
• He is widely called the “Waterman of India”.
• He trained as a graduate in Ayurvedic medicine and surgery.

A change of path

• He joined government service in 1980, working on adult-education programmes in Dausa district, Rajasthan.
• He resigned in 1984, tired of bureaucratic apathy toward rural development.
• He sold his belongings and moved to Alwar district.

Tarun Bharat Sangh

• He settled near Bhikampura village and joined Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS).
• TBS was founded in 1975 by students and professors of the University of Rajasthan. Singh did not found it.
• He became chairman in 1985 and redirected it toward water conservation.

The first johad

• A village elder, Mangu Lal Meena, urged him to revive a neglected johad at Gopalpura.
• A johad is a traditional earthen check dam.
• It holds monsoon rain and lets it soak slowly into the ground.
• This refills wells and aquifers, instead of letting rain run off.

The scale

• TBS has built more than 11,000 such structures.
• They stand in over 1,200 villages across 19 districts of Rajasthan.
• Rajasthan is India’s most water-stressed state.

Rivers revived

• Five dry rivers flowed again: the Arvari, Ruparel, Sarsa, Bhagani and Jahajwali.
• The Arvari began to flow in 1990, after being dry for more than 60 years.

Awards

• Ramon Magsaysay Award, 2001, for Community Leadership.
• Stockholm Water Prize, 2015, often called the “Nobel Prize for water”.

Arvari Sansad

• On 28 December 1998, villagers formed the Arvari Sansad, or “River Parliament”.
• It draws representatives from over 70 villages and meets twice a year.
• It sets rules on fishing and water use.
• On 28 March 2000, the President of India honoured its work. This was reportedly the first such recognition for a community that revived a river.

Later honours

• Jamnalal Bajaj Award, 2005.
• The Guardian named him among “50 people who could save the planet”, 2008.
• Sanctuary Nature Foundation Lifetime Service Award, 2025.
• He remains TBS chairman and works on water and river revival worldwide.

Two ways to protect rivers

• Medha Patkar resisted a big dam. See Medha Patkar and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
• Singh rebuilt small village structures. Both are community-led.
• Similar reformers: Baba Amte and Ela Bhatt.
• Cities face a related problem in CapaCITIES.
• Policy background: Climate Change, EIA and Renewable Energy.
• Village society: Structure of Indian Society.

What to remember

• The Arvari took 5 years to turn perennial: it flowed in 1990 and was perennial by 1995.
• TBS is based at Hori-Bhikampura village, in Thanagazi tehsil of Alwar, near the Sariska Tiger Reserve.
• Singh became a member of the National Ganga River Basin Authority, set up in 2009.
• Counts differ by source: some say over 8,600 structures in over 1,000 villages, others say over 11,000 in 1,200 villages.