- 3 months ago
India is staring at a severe water emergency. This InDepth documentary by India Today travels across the country to expose the grim reality of a nation running dry.
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00:02Music
00:08Music
00:12Music
00:30Water, pure water, the gift of the earth.
00:42It gives every blossom and creature its birth.
00:58But when the wells empty and rivers run dry, the green of the valley fades under the sky.
01:12It falls as a whisper a soft summer rain to wash over fields and to heal the parched plain.
01:24It gathers in rivers, it races and leaps, then rests in the ocean where blue life breathes.
01:38It slips through fingers and quenches thirst.
01:42It washes away grime and brings summer mud.
01:51But in aridity, petals wither and dust arise, for when water vanishes, the living dies.
02:03Ancient riverine country, India is running dry.
02:19Tajiva's Glacier in Gandharbal district of Jammu and Kashmir is one of the main tourist attractions.
02:25At an altitude of 9,186 feet, it has always been a striking silvery scene set against emerald meadows and
02:34a clear blue sky.
02:38In summer of 2012, a half-day hike around this glacier was the first introduction to a glacier for two
02:45young boys.
02:47Fourteen years later, in another June, the meadow has lost all its glacier cover.
02:53Tajiva's glacier used to feed the Synth River, covering a massive 52 square kilometers, has shrunk to 2.5 square
03:01kilometers only.
03:05Today, it's a relic, merely a remnant of a large glacier.
03:10Even the name of this place, Sonmarg, means in local language as Sone Ki Ghaati.
03:17Because of these very mountaintops, because in sunshine, they glitter like gold.
03:24And you have everything here.
03:25You have lush green forests, you have mountains, you have snowfall, snow everywhere.
03:31And then you also have gushing streams and waterfalls.
03:35So, all that you really associate with a beautiful tourist location.
03:40But unfortunately, as far as this eco-fragile zone is concerned,
03:45Tajiva's glacier, according to experts and various environmental reports,
03:50has lost 95% of its surface area.
03:55Meaning, over the years, it has literally vanished.
03:58It's just 5% today.
04:00And even I can tell you safely, in fact, I had come around 5 to 6 years back.
04:07And in fact, in 10, 15 years back, also I had come to this very place.
04:11And the footprint of this glacier used to be right where we are right now.
04:17In fact, it was massive.
04:18It was spread all over the ice.
04:20And today, as you can see, there is absolutely no glacier visible.
04:24This is an alarming situation when we see that this cryosphere is melting at such an alarming pace.
04:32So, this will make the impact on all our sectors of the agriculture sector,
04:37horticulture sector, hydropower generation.
04:39This will impact all the sectors of the economy.
04:44And another thing that we are seeing that most of the glaciers, not only the Tajivas glacier,
04:49the other glaciers of the Kashmir Valley are under severe threat.
04:52They are melting.
04:53They are receding at a faster rate.
04:56More than 2,000 kilometers from Sonmar,
05:00two villages in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district,
05:03Jogidi and Bahiradi fought each other fiercely
05:07while the area was baking at more than 40 degrees centigrade.
05:13Guns and bombs were used.
05:15Police vans were ransacked.
05:17The reason is water.
05:45Villagers of Jogidi were protesting against alleged illegal mining,
05:49in Bahiradi.
05:50This, they claim, has disrupted water supply to their village.
05:55With depleting ground water, people in this area are starved for water.
06:02In the neighboring state of Bihar, more than 160 kilometers away,
06:07Chandan Dam in Bihar has water up to 10 feet only,
06:11far less than its 50% capacity.
06:13At its peak, the dam can store water beyond 100 feet.
06:17With the potential to irrigate roughly 68,000 to 80,000 hectares of farmland,
06:23Chandan Dam serves three districts of the area.
06:26This summer is exceptionally bad.
06:29All hope monsoon will help the reservoir recover.
06:47Built in 1968, Chandan Dam lacks proper maintenance.
06:52It has four gates.
06:53Last monsoon, all four gates did not work.
06:57So water went back to the river.
06:59Things have not improved much a year later either.
07:03When the dam is full, the level is 500 feet.
07:08There will be 10 or 84 hectares of water.
07:11If there is more water, it will spill the water out,
07:14and it will go out to the river, and it will go down in a few days.
07:18In the last time, the dam was tilted the gate,
07:43This adds stress to the region's water demand
07:46for agriculture to daily needs.
07:49Ground water pumping has become predominant in several regions,
07:55especially in urban areas as well as in agricultural regions.
08:02So, for instance, if you look at the case of Punjab,
08:05we pump a lot more, almost more than the mean annual rainfall.
08:10That means if we take entire rainfall that occurs and recharge groundwater,
08:19then also we may not be able to match the recharge
08:24versus what we are pumping from groundwater.
08:31India holds nearly 18% of the world's population
08:35but commands access to only about 4% of global freshwater resources.
08:41Maspur is a small village near the twin mining city of Dallirajhara
08:46in the Balot district of Chhattisgarh.
08:48It's a difficult trek of seven kilometres from Bastar's Antagarh.
08:53Meandering through narrow trail in the hills of Bastar,
08:57this region was once out of reach and under complete control of Naxas.
09:01The wars that they have been facing since independence,
09:05they do not have simple access to drinking water
09:08and how they are making arrangements for it,
09:11that's the story which is going to take centre stage just in a while.
09:15But our struggle for us is to reach that particular village of Maspur,
09:20which is in Antagarh.
09:21We have just started the trek of this small mountain
09:25and it's a 3 to 3.5 kilometre long stretch and trek that we have to do.
09:31And in fact, remember, we are just going to do the story and leave from here.
09:36But this is the everyday struggle of the people of Maspur
09:39because the kind of struggle that we are going to do today
09:43just to give you the story,
09:45the administration regrettably couldn't do this needful measure
09:52just to give the people what they needed all these years.
09:56It's just going to be done.
09:57For people like Subay Singh, this is not trekking.
10:00It's a way of daily commuting.
10:03How far is this?
10:04This is warm,
10:06we are getting so many kilometres and we are getting up.
10:10We are getting up very calm.
10:12We are getting up and we are getting up.
10:12We are not going to get up and we are not going to get up with them.
10:17Does this have to come and get up and get up?
10:19Yes, it's going to come and get up.
10:36The electricity poles took years to reach Maspur.
10:40It now awaits electricity to arrive.
10:43By these poles across the hillside,
10:46women of this area make an arduous journey as evening approaches.
10:50Not for work, not for cooking, but for water.
10:55Twice a day, every day.
10:57They walk miles and almost always in half darkness
11:00to fetch drops of life from a small pool trapped between rocks.
11:05It's stagnant.
11:07But that's the only source of water for these people.
11:33People fall sick.
11:35In monsoon, this water source turns muddy.
11:37With no other option available, this pond is their saviour.
11:42means land.
11:49If it were units of water, there would also be a tax on water.
11:54How often does it involve the job of a land-old
12:05where it will goеть to the coll Hungary?
12:08For many years, they've already taken out of the building,
12:11and they've also taken out of the building.
12:16We've done a big job for this in 30-35 years.
12:25But we've gotten to come to come to come to come,
12:27and we've come to come to come to come.
12:31I don't know how much time will I am in the time here?
12:54Their applications and appeals await the nodding green signal through red tapes of the administration.
13:04They have been sanctioned by 120-190, which has been made by Gram-Panchet Agency.
13:11Some of the cities were asked to get a solution.
13:16They have been sanctioned by 2-4 days after 2-4 days.
13:19They have been sanctioned by 15 June in any situation.
13:24They have been sanctioned by Raja Shasana and Mani Mukhe Mandarajji.
13:29They have been sanctioned by Nurdish Prattu.
13:33Not very far from Maspur, Dali Rajhara is known as the iron ore capital of Chhattisgarh.
13:41Iron extracted from these hills has helped build industries, cities and livelihoods.
13:47But in a cruel twist to the tale, people living in the shadow of mining wealth struggle for something as
13:53basic as water.
14:03The municipality supplies water twice a day, but locals say it is insufficient.
14:23The government launched the Jaljiivan mission in 2019 to ensure water reaches each household in the country by 2024.
14:36Utawa village in Thad district, Madhya Pradesh.
14:40Jaljiivan mission pipes are laid, but there is no water supply.
14:44Women traverse difficult terrain to reach the water source to quench thirst, to serve daily needs.
14:51LIKE ARRI Shiva
15:50This is the first time of the day of the day of the day.
15:51The water is not free-flowing either. It takes two hours for the pit to fill up. Women wait patiently
15:58till then.
16:21The water is not free. We also have the water to fill up.
16:29The water is not free. It is free. When we work on the farm, we will get the water to
16:33fill up.
16:34How much time do you go to the pool?
16:35We go to the pool at 6-7.
16:376-7.
16:395-7.
16:41How much time do you go to the pool?
16:4512-11.
16:472-6.
16:50The hard part of this is not climbing down to this pit, but to climb up with litres of water
16:56filled containers.
17:00India Today correspondent faulted and climbed up the whole route with her load of water.
17:14The village is just 60 km from the Dhara district headquarters. Yet inter-departmental blame game ensures failure of the
17:22Jaljiwan mission here.
17:23The village is still 2 years ago. But due to this winter, the water was being reduced. The water was
17:36reduced.
17:36The water is reduced in the Nalukub. We have started working from the Panchat community.
17:39So, we have started with the water.
17:43We have not been able to do water.
17:46In this year, we have been able to fill the water in April.
17:53But, we have been able to fill the water in the water.
17:58We have been able to fill the water in the water.
18:03So, we can get water from the ground.
18:08over 600 million indians face high to extreme water stress according to niti ayok's composite
18:15water management index as many as two lakh people die every year from inadequate access to safe
18:22drinking water across the fertile plains of punjab and haryana the once abundant groundwater that
18:30powered the green revolution is rapidly vanishing decades of intensive paddy wheat cultivation
18:37unchecked tube well extraction inefficient canal systems industrial pollution and climate pressures
18:44have pushed the water table into a steep decline in many areas in fasilka district of punjab the
18:51crisis has boiled over into open protest farmers in villages like buhar and kalarkhira along the
18:59canal bearing the same name are furious that tail end areas receive little to no canal water
19:06despite government claims of reaching every field in mansa the water table's relentless drop has forced
19:14farmers to button traditional engines and monoblock motors submersible pumps are now sunk 200 to 300 feet
19:22deep using specialized techniques
19:47Manpreet Singh of Sangroor has been witness to the crisis gripping many Punjab
19:51industries. Decades of large-scale paddy cultivation have accelerated groundwater depletion.
20:42Punjab's world-renowned Basmati rice, priced for its aroma, long grains and high market value,
20:49with record exports contributing significantly to India's Basmati trade has become one of the biggest
20:55contributors to the state's deepening groundwater crisis. It requires high-water intensive cultivation,
21:02consuming approximately 4,000 to 5,000 litres of water per kilogram produced,
21:08with a heavy dependence on groundwater irrigation in the region.
21:38Punjab is fighting hard, but the time is not ticking in its
21:41favor.
21:42But tell me that you will face the crisis in the country, when you consume ethanol consumption,
21:48which is increasing from the direction of your report, and if I am not correct, I will tell you.
21:55In that report, it says that one of the 10,000 litres of ethanol production needs more water.
22:02This is double than what Punjab does for paddy. Punjab has approximately 5,000 to 5,000 litres
22:09per day. This is the type of water. There is an effort now that it is supply, ICR
23:01In the neighbouring state of Haryana, another crisis is brewing.
23:05Charki Dadari is staring at a severe water shortage, with a water table plunging 10 to 15 feet annually.
23:13It has risked the fertile area turning into a desert.
23:38There was no plant in the garden.
23:43There was no plant in the garden.
23:45There was a cotton main crop here.
24:03foreign experts keep raising the red flag
24:06there are contrasting realities as well in rotak and sonipat water table has
24:36paradoxically risen due to canal irrigation and the 1995 floods but the
24:41water is largely saline unfit for drinking or irrigation
24:58near sonipat there are villages that face acute drinking water shortages
25:08and contamination from factory effluents
25:39The ground water tables
25:41Decline is not just an agricultural issue
25:44It threatens food security, public health and rural economies in India's bread basket
25:57India is the largest user of ground water in the world
26:00Consuming over 25% of the global total
26:03And 70% of that ground water is now contaminated with fluoride, arsenic, nitrate or uranium
26:10Per capita water availability currently stands at 1486 cubic meters
26:17Already below the international water stress threshold of 1700 cubic meters
26:24It is projected to fall to 1140 cubic meters by 2050
26:30Well into severe scarcity territory
26:33By 2030, Neeti Ayog estimates the demand will be double the available supply
26:40The River Rhine ancient country depends on its glaciers in the north to feed its rivers and monsoon water in
26:47the south
26:47To energize the peninsular water bodies
26:50With glaciers melting and a not so normal monsoon warning
26:54The road ahead looks grim
26:56This year may turn out as a deficit year, rainfall deficit year or drought year
27:02So our agriculture will more likely survive on the cost of pumped groundwater
27:10Now these years put additional pressures on groundwater sustainability and groundwater system
27:17So effort should be made or being made to recharge artificially
27:26And recharge to the aquifers from where we are pumping directly
27:33Indian cities, be it Mumbai by the Arabian Sea or Hyderabad in the middle
27:39Chennai by the Bay of Bengal
27:40All suffer from water shortage in the summer
27:43And then get routinely flooded every monsoon
27:46The paradox of the situation heads home when the taps run dry
27:51But roads turn in canals
27:53When glacier cover recedes
27:55And farmers cry
27:56When women risk life for water on a daily basis
28:00Because though surrounded by water
28:02India is running dry
28:04Fast and furious
28:13The paths of all of theClub
28:14The fcc medical officials
28:14The
28:15S
28:15E
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