after three years of drought and the government's indifferent attitude, villagers in Rajasthan are gearing up to combat the situation through intensive water conservation. Two meetings were recently held under the aegis of Alwar-based Tarun Bharat Sangh (tbs), a non-governmental organisation. On December 23, 2000 at Khoili, around 400 women and 200 men took part in a meeting and vowed to conserve water. Some of the women, who had taken part in water conservation efforts earlier, discussed ways and methods of addressing the problem.

"Development can come only through the proper management of water and afforestation plans,' said Rajendra Singh, secretary of tbs . At another meeting organised by tbs at Rewali on December 25, 2000, around 400 people from 80 villages decided that the gram sabhas (village council) and women groups would work together to drought-proof the villages. It was also decided that a memorandum would be given to the Rajasthan's chief minister to stop works like road building as part of relief programmes. "We have got little response from the government,' says M S Rathore of the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur.