Kasare village is like any other village. Rainfall is low. Terrain is undulating and difficult. Water was always a problem. There were no crops. People migrated to Mumbai and Pune for work. From such a situation, the villagers changed their village and also their lives. Water conservation through watershed development totally changed the scenario. Imaginative and high income generating cropping is the norm. Water is plenty. There are not even traces of poverty in any household; nor do farmers ever think of suicides here.
Gottigaripalli village is a remarkable story of collective triumph against nature’s adversity like low rainfall and difficult terrain. Kasare and Gottigaripalli villages are like our own miniature Israel. Transformed from once considered wastelands to present evergreen fields, agriculture is showering wealth on people here. Whereas Kasare and Gottigaripalli changed their destiny with intelligent watershed development and resultant water conservation, adjoining villages remain where they were; even...