Jharkhand: How tireless effort of 170 villagers to conserve water earned PM Modi's praise

The villagers of Ara and Keram villages have done wonders through an indigenous formula of Loose Boulder Structure (LCB).

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Ara and Keram villages in Ranchi have become models for the country after Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the people of the two villages for their exemplary efforts in water conservation and management.

The villagers of Ara and Keram villages have done wonders through an indigenous formula of Loose Boulder Structure (LCB). It is nothing but to arrange boulders to stop the wayward and torrential flow of waterfalls from mountains and allow the percolation of water through the pores of the boulders towards a definite direction leading to their agricultural field.

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The innovative initiative just required the labour of the villagers. Nearly 170 villagers worked at a stretch for three months between April to June and achieved the results.

Ramesh Bedia, gram pradhan, beamed after their rigorous effort got recognition and brought a kind of accolades for the villagers. He said that being praised by the prime minister himself in his Man ki Baat programme on Sunday made the villagers feel on the cloud nine.

A villager, Baburam Gope, was visibly happy and boasted that these two villages have always been ahead in innovative thoughts. He told India Today TV that the villages understand the importance of trees and had even launched a campaign against deforestation.

Come every year on April 14, all the villagers come out to tie a "rakshashutra" on the trees to affirm their protection.
Some locals said that a river flows close by but "unfortunately we could not use it water for irrigation as it often gets dried up".

"So we just thought to channelise the flow of water to our fields through LBS. Now we reap a rich harvest twice a year," one of the locals said.