Water Man calls for corporate funding

lakshmangarh, rajasthan: this year's ramon magsaysay award winner rajender singh has appealed to industrial houses to contribute funds for water schemes in the desert state's rural areas. speaking at a two-day workshop here on "water for rural rajasthan and conservation of ecology," singh said: "along with indigenous technology, national funds would cover the requirement of the day." singh's non-governmental organisation, the tarun bharat sangh, is active in many parts of rajasthan in building "earth dams" and in other schemes to provide water to the villagers for drinking and irrigation.the workshop was organised by the modi institute for education and research (mier). representatives from ngos, working in the remote villages of rajasthan, participated in the workshop, along with members of stree shakti - "the parallel force", divya chaya trust and representatives from the corporate world like "greening for rajasthan" and the "marwari institute for entrepreneurship". rekha mody, founder-member of the divya chaya trust and stree shakti, stressed on involving the media, educational institutions and nris for mobilising funds. amla ruia from the "greening for rajasthan" assured the forum of corporate support. she also announced the support from the times foundation. madhuka gupta from the united nations development programme promised that subsequent activities of the "water movement" would have the undp's support. sharad joshi, deputy director of cecodecon, said that various strategies should be followed to tackle the water issue and school children must be associated with these schemes. "students should be initiated to become water guards," he suggested. joshi proposed that a "water award" should be established for people working for solving water problems. the workshop set up a core committee to carry forward the ngos' movement. the core group chose pratiba jain from mier as convener for the subsequent activities of the movement. the committee would meet in jaipur in early october to review the progress.