Women take on the Art of Living initiative to restore Nagnadhi River

Rivers are the life force of the planet. As for India, the country depends on them as one of the major sources of agricultural practises. The remarkable efforts of the women of Tamil Nadu have brought back one such river from the brink of extinction. It is the Naganadhi River in the Vellore District of Tamil Nadu. Naganadhi, a seasonal river in Tamil Nadu, has completely dried up in the last 20 years. That is when The Art of Living, under the vision of Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, launched the River Rejuvenation Project to revive the river basins across the country. It started in 2014 with a team of technical experts, including scientists, geologists, and volunteers, who surveyed the rural areas of the Vellore district to implement the Naganadhi River Rejuvenation Work as a part of water scarcity management in the country.

Constructing recharge wells and boulder check dams was essential to rejuvenating the river. Initially, around 20,000 women took up the challenge to revive dried-up rivers through the project.

As the word spread, the tally rose to 44,000, with volunteers enrolled under MGNREGA getting involved in the scheme of things. These women volunteers worked tirelessly under the guidance of The Art of Living to dig wells and build and place cement rings.