A view of the Serni river in Rajasthan's Karauli. The river has come back to life through years of water conservation efforts. In drought-hit Karauli, Rajasthan, women led a water revolution, reviving ponds and rivers, ending dacoity, restoring farming and bringing peace back to once-parched villages.
Women bath and wash clothes on the banks of the Serni river in Rajasthan's Karauli.
Children swim in Serni River, in Karauli district of Rajasthan.
Jadish, a former dacoit turned farmer, surveys the pond his wife helped create in their village in Rajasthan's Karauli district.
Children learn to swim in the Serni river in Rajasthan's Karauli.
Jagdish, a former dacoit, returned to farming thanks to his wife’s water conservation efforts, in Rajasthan’s Karauli district.
Roshan Lal’s family member shows his death certificate; he died of silicosis at 42, in Karauli, Rajasthan.
Lajja Ram, a former dacoit, bathes his buffaloes, in Rajasthan’s Karauli district.
Ranveer Singh, a grassroots worker with the NGO Tarun Bharat Sangh and played an important role in convincing people to take up water conservation work, sits in the backdrop of a revived waterbody, in Karauli, Rajasthan.
Siyaram shows a borewell brimming with water after years of community-led water conservation efforts, in Karauli, Rajasthan.
Prem, 55, the wife of a former dacoit, gave up four bighas of her own land to build a pokhar (pond) on the edge of her village in Rajasthan's Karauli district.
Children look at an abandoned sandstone mine, in Karauli district of Rajasthan.
