Specially Written for Vikalp Sangam

The Mewat region, home to the Meo Muslim community, is often unjustly stereotyped as backward and lawless, yet a closer look reveals a community deeply rooted in traditional ecological wisdom. This article explores the transformative work of Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), an NGO that has rejuvenated over 16,000 traditional water bodies, including Johads and revived dead rivers including Sairni, Tevar, Jahajwali, Tildeh, Ruparel, Agrani, Bhagani, Sarsa, Arvari, Maheshwra, Sahibi across Rajasthan, Haryana and Maharashtra, without relying on modern civil engineering. Through collaborative efforts, TBS and the Mewatis have not only built resilient water infrastructure but also challenged prevailing misconceptions, proving that their eco-centric practices offer valuable insights for addressing today’s global climate and water crises.

The Stereotype attached to the Meos in India

The Meos are the muslim ethnic group which resides in the Mewat region (both cultural and geographical region), which includes Nuh, Palwal, Faridabad and Gurgaon districts of Haryana, the Alwar and Bharatpur districts of Rajasthan and a few areas of western UP in North Western part of India. Historically, through the colonial era, they have been stereotyped as violent, bloodthirsty, robber, and lawless communities. The colonial ethnographers criminalized meos for their strong resistance and mass participation in the First War of independence. Unfortunately, the stereotypes attached to the community persisted in the post-independence era as well. Meos are still considered as backward, illiterate and violent tribes of the Aravali Mountains. In 2018, Niti Aayog released a report giving baseline ranking of 101 aspirational districts in India based on 49 indicators (81 data-points) from the 5 identified thematic areas- Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure. The Mewat district (now no more a district) of Haryana was listed as the most backward district in it (Report by The Print, 28th March, 2018). But are these parameters sufficient to claim that the Meos are a backward and ill-informed community? What if our parameters are not inclusive?

Deconstructing the myths around Meos

‘‘Meos are sweet like Mewa (sweets), they are very hardworking and honest. They have worked tirelessly to conserve their rainwater and change their own fate without any government support”, said Rahul Singh, head of the watershed management, TBS Neemli Centre. He added that in more than two decades of his work in Mewat region, he has never seen communities hindering their work, they heartily welcome and support them to the best of their capacity. Ayub Contractor, who is a Meo himself, has been working with TBS for more than two decades and states that the stereotype around Mewatis is politically constructed, it has no connection to reality. Another volunteer, Saroj Saini shared that although she faced several challenges while working in the field, the situation has changed over the years. Now the girls of Mewat aspire to be independent, bold and working women like her. More women and girls are coming up to work on water conservation as they are the most vulnerable in scarcity of water. 

TBS’s Plan of Action in Mewat

The action plan of TBS was simple yet unique. The volunteers of the organization visited the villages in the Nuh district of Haryana, like Agon, Pathkhori, Pathrali, Gyasni Vaas etc, where they found paucity of water and possibilities of catching running rain water. The volunteers engaged the villagers in discussions, highlighting the advantages of harvesting rainwater through empirical evidence, and thus the solutions were arrived at through a participatory/collaborative approaches. Once the communities are motivated the work is half done and it is essential to highlight that this motivation decides the fate of the water bodies once made. TBS helped the villagers in selecting a site for Johads, deciding on the technical aspects of shape, size, location of overflow etc along with the villagers. The organization took care of 2/3rd of the cost of construction, and the other 1/3rd was covered by the villagers through ‘shramdaan’ i.e. a voluntary contribution involving physical efforts influenced by Gandhian ideals. 

Needless to say, the social and environmental activists of Mewat, like Shri Haji Ibrahim (Waterman of Mewat), Mrs. Maumadi (Iron Lady of Mewat) helped the organization in buidling channels with the local communities and motivated the villagers to commit themselves to water works for their future generations. 

Are Mewatis Illiterate or Knowledge Holders?

Tarun Bharat Sangh organized the school camps on water literacy for the students of secondary and senior secondary schools. It was a two day camp where the students and teachers were hosted at the TBS’s ashram in Neemli, Rajasthan. The plan was to take students to the field to show them the water structures built by the organization, to show and teach them about the flora and fauna of the region. It was heartening to see female students participating wholeheartedly given the somewhat true stereotype of women being kept within bounds. In a surprising but pleasant twist, the students and their teachers were well aware of the flora and fauna. Soon the camp turned into a training session for the volunteers like myself. The students shared interesting facts about ‘Rookdi’ (locally found herbs) available in the foothills of the Aravali mountains spread across the Northern Indian states of Rajasthan and Haryana. They were also well versed with the common property resources of their villages and the methods of its governance at the community level.

While collaborating with the community elders, we received valuable insights regarding the catchment area, ponding area, and the shape, size, and location of the johads. The elders understood the quantity and pressure of water flowing down from the mountains, which influenced the design of the “paal” or boundaries of the pond. When the pressure is high, the design takes on a convex shape, while low pressure results in a straight boundary. In the case of natural depressions, the shape is typically concave. It is a popular fact that in more than 16,000 water bodies constructed and repaired by TBS, none has been done by the civil engineers. None of the water body has been constructed by the concrete materials, the boundaries of the water bodies in Mewat region have been built by the raw materials found in the foothills of Aravali which are rocks and sand. In these many years no water body has been damaged. The knowledge possessed by local communities also played a crucial role in site selection. By observing the types of vegetation above ground, the elders could identify the kinds of fractures lying beneath the surface. If the goal was to create a water body that retained water above ground, they would construct it over unconfined horizontal fractures. Conversely, if the objective was to recharge groundwater, they would seek out confined vertical fractures. This understanding of geo-hydro morphology came naturally to the Mewatis, though they expressed it in their own colloquial language.

Isn’t this knowledge worth considering by our modern scientists, who are finding solutions to the global water crisis? 

The Mewatis are leading an alternative pathway of development which is guided by the philosophy of Gram Swaraj. The epistemic base of their knowledge is not based on extraction from nature but rather on deep respect and care towards their ecology. If we wish to build climate resilience, we need to shed our conventional colonial mindset and ignorance towards local communities of Mewat, treat them as knowledgeable communities, share and learn along with them to solve the burgeoning issue of climate crisis.    

About the Author

Puneet Kumar is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. He works to analyze the politics of knowledge behind the conditions of urban water bodies in Delhi. He also volunteers with TBS.

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