“If you work for water, you are working for every dimension of development,” says Maulik Sisodia, the executive director of Tarun Bharat Sangh, a water-focused Indian development NGO. Tarun Bharat Sangh has been focused on spreading simple water-saving steps such as rain-water harvesting to local communities across the arid reaches of India’s Rajasthan state. But Maulik says it is now becoming clear that the organization has to influence national water policy if India is to adapt to rapidly declining water resources. “Water security comes before food security,” Maulik says, noting that government policies on privatization of national resources should be stopped. Sisodia represents a new, younger leadership for Tarun Bharat Sangh, and he is eager to spread the word.
