From Struggle to Solution How a Grassroots Organization and the Administration Together Changed the Face of Bajna’s Villages
This summer's punishing heat bore down hard on rural life in the Bajna block of Ratlam district, Madhya Pradesh, and no one felt it more sharply than families in villages where the handpumps had sat broken for months. As temperatures climbed, so did the thirst of the land, and the desperation of those who depended on it. Eighteen villages were in especially dire straits, with thirty-four handpumps out of order, forcing women to walk long distances just to fetch a pot of water.