NAME OF THE SCHOOL

PROJECT DETAILS

NAME OF THE STUDENT:

CLASS: X

SECTION:

NAME OF THE UNIT: “INDIAN RIVERS AND WATER RESOURCES”

PROJECT NAME: “HIWARE BAZAR”

SUBJECT: SOCIAL STUDIES

INDIVIDUAL / GROUP:

BOOKS/REFERENCE:

GUIDE TEACHER NAME: ABHINAND PRAKASH

SUBMITTED ON:

SIGNATURE OF THE TEACHER

INTRODUCTION:
Techniques and Ideas followed by the existence of Hiware Bazar will be
Introduced in this project.

AIM:
I have taken up this project with the aim of fully knowing about the Water
Conservation processes adopted by Hiware Bazar.

COLLECTIOIN OF INFORMATION:
I have collected this information from our social text book, newspapers, and the
internet.

RECORDING OF INFORMATION:
Hiware Bazar is a village in the Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra, India. It is
noted for its irrigation system and water conservation program, with which it has
fought the drought and drinking water problems

The village experienced mass exodus during the severe drought in 1972. However
the village experienced a turnaround after 1989, Popatrao Baguji Pawar, the only
postgraduate in the village contested for the post of gram panchayat sarpanch and
won. He managed to get the illicit 22 liquor retail outletsclosed, secure bank loans
for farmers and started rainwater harvesting, water conservation and management
programs, which involved building 52 earthen bunds, percolation tanks, 32 stone
bunds and nine check dams. Its development plan was based on village Ralegan
Siddhi, 35 km away, also in the same district, turned around by Anna Hazare. By
the 1990s, reverse migration started as families started returning home. In 2012, the
village with its 235 families and an overall population of 1,250, had a monthly per
capita income Rs. 30,000, up from Rs. 830 in 1995, plus it had 60 families with an
annual income of over 10 Lakh rupees.
In 2012, the joint state and central government plan was announced to establish a
national-level centre for training in panchayat raj system for watershed
development, sanitation and capacity building at the village, to be built at a cost of
Rs 12-crores.

Hiware Bazar lies in the drought-prone Ahmednagar district. Prior to 1989, the
village was facing several problems such as migration of the villagers to the nearby
urban areas, high crime and scarcity of water.

In 1990, after Popatrao Pawar was elected as the sarpanch (village chief), the village
used funds from government schemes and launched a program to recover its past
glory. The village is conceptualized and planned after Ralegan Siddhi, another
village noted for its conservational initiatives.

The villagers implemented a drip-irrigation system to conserve water and soil, and
to increase the food production. They avoided crops like sugarcane and bananas,
which require a high use of water. The program included rainwater harvesting,
digging trenches around the hill contours to trap water, afforestation and building
of percolation tanks.
These initiatives were complemented by a program for social change, which
included a ban on liquor, adoption of family planning, mandating HIV/AIDS
testing before marriages and shramdaan(voluntary labour for development of the
village).

The initiatives greatly improved the socio-economic conditions in the village, and
the village was declared as an "Ideal Village" by the Government of Maharashtra.
At the "National Ground Water Congress" in New Delhi on 11 September 2007, the
village received the "National Water Award" by the Government of India.

CONCLUSION:
It is here that village institutions like those in Hiware Bazar hold the key. While
every village may not be able to curtail the use of water or control cropping
patterns, it is clear that local leaders will have to find ways of dealing with
sustainability. They know that the failure of rains is inevitable. The question is if
they can make sure that when the rains fail, drought is not inevitable.