Until about 15 years ago, Sampatti Devi and many women like her in Rajasthan's Karauli district lived in constant fear, dreading the day their husbands might not return home. Pics/PTI
Repeated droughts, driven in part by declining rainfall linked to climate change, had turned their land barren. Water sources dried up, crippling agriculture and animal husbandry, the lifeblood of their livelihood
With no other way to survive, many men were forced into dacoity, hiding in jungles and risking their lives every day to evade the police. Karauli's average annual rainfall dropped from 722.1 mm (1951-2000) to 563.94 mm (2001-2011), according to government data
In the 2010s, something extraordinary unfolded. Tired of living in constant fear and despair, the women decided it was time to take control. They persuaded their husbands to abandon the jungle, lay down their arms, and return to a life of peace
Together, they began reviving old, dried-up ponds and constructing new pokhars (water bodies) with the help of Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), an Alwar-based NGO dedicated to water conservation since 1975
When the rains came, the pokhar filled and for the first time in years, their family had water, enough to sustain them for a longer period. Karauli, once among Rajasthan's worst-hit dacoit areas, witnessed a transformation
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