Rajendra Singh (born 6
August 1959) is a well-known water conservationis from
Alwar district,
Rajasthan in
India. Also known as "waterman of
India", he won the
Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in
2001 for his pioneering work in community-based efforts in water harvesting and water management. He runs an
NGO called '
Tarun Bharat Sangh' (
TBS), which was founded in
1975. The NGO based in village Kishori-Bhikampura in Thanagazi tehsil, near
Sariska Tiger Reserve, has been instrumental in fighting the slow bureaucracy, mining lobby and has helped villagers take charge of water management in their semi-arid area as it lies close to
Thar Desert, through the use of johad, rainwater storage tanks, check dams and other time-tested as well as path-breaking techniques. Starting from a single village in
1985, over the years TBS helped build over 8,600 johads and other water conservation structures to collect rainwater for the dry seasons, has brought water back to over 1,000 villages and revived five rivers in Rajasthan, Arvari, Ruparel,
Sarsa, Bhagani and Jahajwali.[2][
3][4]
He is one of the members of the
National Ganga River Basin Authority (
NGRBA) under
Ministry of Environment,
Govt. of India, which was set up in 2009, by the
Government of India as an empowered planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating authority for the
Ganges (
Ganga), in exercise of the powers conferred under the
Environment (Protection) Act,1986.[5] In 2008,
The Guardian named him amongst its list of "50 people who could save the planet".[4]
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajendra_Singh
- published: 15 May 2014
- views: 211