Jal Chitra : An Introduction
AF-11-July-2002
Jal-Chitra: An Introduction
Dr. Vikram Vyas
Scientific Resource Centre
The Ajit Foundation, 396 Vasundhara Colony, Jaipur 302 018
Email: visquare@satyam.net.in
Panchayat &
Village
Voluntary
Water
Village
Gram Sabha
School
Organisation
Jal-Chitra
Conceptual Framework
"The village will have its own waterworks, ensuring clean water supply. This can be
done through controlled wells or tanks."
M. K. Gandhi, Harijan, 26 July 1942
The last half-century has been marked by attempts to solve various problems of rural India without
involving local communities in any meaningful way. The solutions have always been imposed from above
through the medium of all pervasive and centralised bureaucracy. This has resulted in the dying of local
traditions and institutions while the alternatives that have emerged have been, at their best, less than
adequate. With the advent of the Panchayat-Raj amendment to the constitution there is a glimmer of
hope. Panchayats, or the local village parliament, now have a limited say in the use of the development
funds for the village; further Panchayats themselves are accountable to the village through the institution
of Gram-Sabha or the village assembly. Both these institutions are in their infancy and are subject to all
the imperfections of the current political and social climate; still they remain our best hope. They can be
the first step on the road leading to Swaraj.
It is in this context that the Ajit Foundation started in 1994 a Scientific Resource Centre with the task of
developing tools based on mathematical modelling and information technologies (IT) that can help
Panchayats manage their own water resources. The problem of meeting the water needs of a rural
community is a complex human problem. In solving this problem IT can potentially play a useful role, but
how to harness this potentiality is a question that has not received the attention it deserves. Jal-Chitra,
which is software for managing water resources of a village, is a continuing attempt on the part of The
Ajit Foundation to answer this question. The first attempt of The Ajit Foundation towards the use of IT for
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rural water management was the development of a mathematical model for determining the reliability of
rainwater harvesting systems with covered tanks against recurrent draughts. In 1997 this model was
converted into an easy to use free software Sim-Tanka.
A serious risk in the use of IT for rural development is that it can become a case of a solution searching
for a problem. In fact the development of Sim-Tanka suffered to an extent from this pit-fall. Sim-Tanka
was developed with the intention of helping a rural community design a reliable rainwater harvesting
system using the past rainfall data. In a technical sense the software is indeed very useful, but the fact
remains that while Sim-Tanka was received positively by various research organisation and was also given
a fair amount of publicity in the press, its actual use in the building of rainwater harvesting systems, at
least in Rajasthan, has been insignificant.
The development of Jal-Chitra started with the recognition of this failure of Sim-Tanka. More specifically it
was the reluctance of the Barefoot College, Tilonia, to use Sim-Tanka in their program of constructing
rainwater harvesting systems that initiated the process of trying to understand what kind of information
and analysis is truly useful to a rural community. A continuos debate and dialog between the developer of
the software and its eventual user marked this process, which soon became a collaborative project
between the Ajit Foundation and the Barefoot College, Tilonia. An equally useful dialog was established
with some of the members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), who have been pioneers in
the fight for the right to information. What was solicited most from this dialog with MKSS was how to
ensure that the information provided by Jal-Chitra becomes accessible to the entire village.
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The result of this dialog was recognition that
maintenance activity in that month, and if
there are three sets of information that can assist
available it also keeps record of the water quality
a Panchyat in managing its water sources:
test. The information so entered is then used to
generate monthly water budget, and various
1. An estimate of monthly water budget of the
maintenance and water quality reports. These
village.
reports are in Hindi and can be printed and
2. A way of keeping track of the maintenance
shared with the village at large.
work required for the various water sources.
3. A community based water resource map of the
village providing information about the access
to water
Community Map of the Village
showing water sources
Further, to ensure transparency and
accountability all this information has to be
available to the entire village in Hindi.
Database of water sources and
The defining feature of Jal-Chitra is its ability to
water demand
allow a user to draw a community based water
resource map of the village. The map is
interactive so by clicking on any of these sources
Water budget, maintenance and
user can enter information about amount of water
water quality report
available from that source, details of any
Figure 2 Conceptual Outline of Jal-Chitra
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Jal-Chitra at a Glance
• Uses Hindi as the language for interacting
• The farm records also suggest the optimal
with the user.
water irrigation required depending on the
crop planted and the amount of rainfall.
• Allows user to draw an interactive
community based water resource map of
• Generates future monthly water budget
the village.
based on the past records, as more monthly
records are kept the corresponding
• Allows the community to keep a monthly
estimates become more reliable.
record of the amount of water available
from each of the water sources.
• Informs community as to how much of its
annual water need is being met from
• Facility for keeping record of water quality
underground water. It also estimates the
testing.
approximate amount of recharging that is
taking place.
• Facility for keeping record of maintenance
work required and the maintenance works
• Finds out the reliability of covered
that has been done.
rainwater-harvesting systems.
• Estimates the water demand for domestic,
• Estimates the amount of rainwater
livestock, and agriculture uses.
harvesting done by the village and
compares it with total potentiality of
rainwater harvesting in the given village.
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Who Will Use Jal-Chitra?
Since the aim of Jal-Chitra is to provide a tool for
sources. This requires finding the discharge rate
the village community, it naturally raises question
of handpumps, the area of the water cover in the
how will the various rural communities access Jal-
rainwater reservoir, the average depth of water in
Chitra? The tentative answer that has emerged
the reservoirs. For more advance use it also
from the testing of Jal-Chitra at the Barefoot
requires maintaining meteorological records like
College, Tilonia and with Mazdoor Kisan Shakti
the rainfall.
Sangathan (MKSS), Devdungari is that two kinds
of institutions have to be involved. Firstly, to
These records can be kept by the school children,
involve voluntary organisations those are working
and the process of keeping these records can
directly with the village Panchayats and have an
become a part of a child's education. The
access to a computer. Their role is that of an
involvement of the village school in the use of Jal-
intermediary and one that will change once
Chitra not only allows the school children to
Panchayats themselves have an access to
participate in the development of the village but
computers.
also gives them an opportunity to apply some of
the abstract concepts from elementary
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly the
mathematics to real life situation. This has the
village school has to be involved in the use of Jal-
potentiality of making the learning of science and
Chitra. The minimum information that Jal-Chitra
mathematics more interesting, relevant and
needs for it to be useful is the monthly record of
rooted in the child's own environment.
the amount of water available from various
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Testing of Jal-Chitra
Since January 2002 Jal-Chitra is being used in
Using this information Jal-Chitra generate
more than a dozen villages of Rajasthan. The use
following monthly reports
of Jal-Chitra in these villages roughly follows the
following steps.
• A monthly water budget of the village.
• Maintenance report, indicating water sources
1. First a rough community map of the village is
that require some form of maintenance.
drawn on a paper.
• A maintenance log of every water source in the
2. Survey of all water sources is done.
village, showing all the repair works done on
3. Survey of village is done to determine
that source.
approximate human and livestock population.
4. Water sources are then marked on the paper
It is hoped that these reports will be shared with
map
the village community during the Gram-Sabha.
5. The village community map showing all the
water sources is then drawn on the computer
To make a full utilisation of all the tools
using Jal-Chitra.
incorporated in Jal-Chitra requires a basic hydro-
6. Information about each of the water sources is
geological survey of the village and an
then connected with the map of the village in
incorporation of the monthly meteorological
Jal-Chitra.
records. Unfortunately this information is not
7. Every month a survey is done of all the water
available for the villages where Jal-Chitra is
sources to determine if they are functioning or
currently being tested. Incorporation of these
not, kind of repairs required, and approximate
records and an independent validation of the
amount of water being withdrawn from each of
monthly water budget generated by Jal-Chitra are
the sources.
some of the pressing future tasks.
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Villages in which Jal-Chitra is being Tested
Village
Panchayat
Organisations Involved in Testing
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Tikawada
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
2
Bhwada
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
3
Mundolav
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
4
Kadha
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
5
Balapura
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
6
Kacharia
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
7
Udaipur Kuhrd
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
8
Udaipur Kla
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
9
Kheda
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
10
Godiyana
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
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Ragunathpura
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
12
Kadampura
Silora
Barefoot College Tilonia
13
Kadampura
Srinagar
Barefoot College Tilonia
14
Hurde
Srinagar
Barefoot College Tilonia
15
Nabab
Srinagar
Barefoot College Tilonia
16
Todgadh
Todgadh
MKSS, Todgadh Panchayat &
Todgadh Government High School.
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For the testing of Jal-Chitra in Silora Panchayat,
to its envisioned mode of usage. The high school
the collection of the monthly information is the
students collect the monthly data of the amount
responsibility of the workers of the Barefoot
of water available from various water sources and
College Tilonia. Ms Lalita, who had formal
Vivek Ramkumar, a member of MKSS, then
education only till lower high school and does not
enters the information into Jal-Chitra. Testing of Jal-
know any English, records the collected
Chitra in Todgadh also involves Tejaram who is the
information in Jal-Chitra. Some of the reports
head of the Todgadh Panchayat. It is hoped that his
generated during the course of this testing are
involvement will teach us how best to incorporate
included below as computer screen shots. The
Jal-Chitra into village Panchayats.
testing of Jal-Chitra in Todgadh is of particular
importance as it is being done in a manner close
Figure 4 Schematic Community Water Resource Map of Kacharia
Drawn by Ms. Lalita of the Barefoot College Tilonia
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Figure 6 Report generated by Jal-Chitra showing the
Figure 5 Monthly Water Budget for the Village of
water sources that require maintenance in the village
Kacharia for the month of May
of Kacharia
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Future Outlook
Even the limited use of Jal-Chitra has validated the basic premise behind its development. For example,
the records of handpumps maintenance and their maintenance log are vividly bringing out the water
situation in various villages. Once these reports are shared with whole of the village through Gram-Sabha
then, hopefully, one will be able to see the use of Jal-Chitra as an advocacy tool.
There are still many unanswered questions whose answers will emerge only after a more extended use of
Jal-Chitra. One particularly important issue that has to be understood is how should Panchayat use the
monthly water budget, which is generated by Jal-Chitra, in its planning and water management exercise.
The development and the use of Jal-Chitra have suggested two related projects. One there is a need for
documenting the experience of developing, testing and of using Jal-Chitra so that the lessons learned
from this work can be carefully analysed and shared with the wider community. Secondly, based on the
testing of Jal-Chitra and through a continuous dialog with the members of various Panchayats where Jal-
Chitra is being used, the development of a new version of Jal-Chitra has to be started. It is hoped that the
future development of Jal-Chitra will take place with in the paradigm of open and free software, so that
users, software developers, and planners from all over the world can collaborate in its continuos
development.
Obtaining Jal-Chitra
Jal-Chitra is free software meant for Panchayats and voluntary organisations working with them. To
obtain a copy of Jal-Chitra please contact The Ajit Foundation.
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Acknowledgements
Jal-Chitra is a result of collaboration between the Ajit Foundation, Jaipur and the Barefoot College, Tilonia.
I am grateful to my colleagues at both these organisations. At the Barefoot College, Tilonia, I am
particularly grateful to Ms Lalita for her insistence on the Hindi version of Jal-Chitra and for her diligent
testing of it. I am also grateful to Vivek Ramkumar of MKSS and to the students of Todgadh High School
who have been involved in the testing of Jal-Chitra in Todgadh.
My views on the use of information technology for rural development have been greatly influenced by my
conversations with Bunker Roy, Dr. Kamla Chowdhary, Laxman Singh, Prof. Narendra Singhi, Nikhil Dey,
and Prof. Vijay Vyas, I would like to thank them all for sharing their insights with me.
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