Meet Dr Rajendra Singh, the waterman of India

New Delhi, July 10: Rajendra Singh, also known as 'waterman of India' is an water conservationist and environmentalist from Alwar district, Rajasthan in India.

Born on 6 August 1959 at village Daula in Bagpat district in Uttar Pradesh, Singh After finishing high school, he enrolled for post graduation in Hindi literature, at another college in Baraut, affiliated with Allahabad University. Singh later joined government service in 1980, and started his career as a National Service Volunteer for education in Jaipur,from where he was appointed to oversee adult education schools in Dausa district in Rajasthan.

Singh runs an NGO called 'Tarun Bharat Sangh' (TBS), which was founded in 1975. The NGO based in village hori-Bhikampura in Thanagazi tehsil,near Sariska Tiger Reserve, has been instrumental in fighting the slow bureaucracy, mining lobby and has helped villagers take charge of water management in their semi-arid area as it lies close to Thar Desert, through the use of johad, rainwater storage tanks, check dams and other time-tested as well as path-breaking techniques.

Starting from a single village in 1985, over the years TBS helped build over 8,600 johads and other water conservation structures to collect rainwater for the dry seasons, has brought water back to over 1,000 villages and revived five rivers in Rajasthan, Arvari, Ruparel, Sarsa, Bhagani and Jahajwali.

Singh is one of the members of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) which was set up in 2009, by the Government as an empowered planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating authority for the Ganges (Ganga), in exercise of the powers conferred under the Environment (Protection) Act,1986.

The 60-year-old water crusader has also won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2001 and Stockholm Water Prize in 2015.