Draupada walks 2.5 km every morning to fetch water. Then, she climbs into a dangerously deep well with nothing but a rope and a few pots.
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00:00I feel scared, right?
00:02I feel scared.
00:04I feel scared.
00:06I feel scared.
00:08Draupada walked 2.5 km,
00:10then trekked all the way to the bottom
00:12of the well just to fetch water.
00:14Not in some remote faraway land,
00:16but in Maharashtra, just a couple
00:18hours away from Mumbai, home to
00:20Bilinez and Bollywood. In Borichivari
00:22village of Nashik district, the only
00:24source of drinking water is a nearly
00:26dry, deep public well.
00:28You can drink.
00:30No, we drink.
00:32Here's the thing, every morning
00:34women like Draupada risk their lives
00:36literally to collect water.
00:38No harness, no safety net,
00:40just a rope, some metal pots and
00:42sheer desperation. And it's not just
00:44her, the scene looks like a pilgrimage.
00:46Children, youths, women rushing
00:48to the well, buckets tied to ropes
00:50dangle like lifelines into the well.
00:52Back in 2019, the government promised
00:54every rural home would get a
00:56household tap connection under the Jal Jeevan
00:58mission.
01:00But that promise still runs dry
01:02in villages. The deadlines
01:04here, but the taps in many villages
01:06still missing. The officials
01:08say that they address the gap by sending in
01:10water tankers, but the villagers don't
01:12find it sufficient. In fact, the men
01:14in this village are often rejected for
01:16marriage because women say there's not enough water
01:18here.
01:22In 2023, a village
01:24Sarpan said this crisis had been going
01:26on for over a decade.
01:28According to the mission's official dashboard,
01:32Maharashtra claims about 90% coverage
01:34of tap connections in rural households.
01:36But there's a catch. Coverage
01:38doesn't mean supply. A 2022
01:40functionality assessment revealed,
01:42in Parbani district, 96%
01:44households received water regularly,
01:46but only 73% got potable water,
01:48and 84% of families paid for the service
01:50even if water didn't come daily.
01:52Now, zoom out. India is the largest extractor
01:54off-ground water in the world. By 2050,
01:56our per capita water availability may fall
01:58to 1140 cubic meters, dangerously close
02:00to being water scars.
02:02In December 2024, the Centre told Parliament
02:04that Maharashtra is switching to pipe
02:06distribution instead of open canals
02:08to reduce leakage. They've also
02:10started water audits to track usage
02:12and losses. But let's be honest,
02:14what use is an audit if
02:16will be available in the future?
02:18In December 2024, the Centre told
02:20parliament that Maharashtra is switching
02:22to pipe distribution instead of open canals
02:23use is an audit if women still have to
02:25rattle down a well to drink. This is
02:27a contradiction of two Indias.
02:29In one, rooftop pools.
02:31In another, bucket queues at 6am.
02:33So, until women like Draupada
02:35can turn a tap into their home,
02:37Hargharjal is just a line on paper.
02:39It's a good thing.
02:41It's a good thing.
02:43We have to have to have to have to have to have to
02:45be a little bit more.
02:47We have to have to have to have to have to
02:49take water as far as possible.
02:51That's why the government
02:53wants us to have to have water.