"Jal Mahotsav" (Water Festival)

7th -
JAL MAHOTSAV
(Water Festival)

Date
14th Sept., 2009
27th, 28th & 29th October, 2009

Supported By
UNICEF

In Contest of "Jal Mahotsav" (Water Festival)

Bal Bhavan Jaipur is continuously making efforts to make the people aware of water conservation for the past 7 years. And it becomes rather more important to make the children understand the importance of water, who would be the future citizens of India. Bal Bhavan Jaipur Believes in children, it believes that these are those tinkling stars who would give light to many planets, many people, whoever comes across them. future water scarcity is the top most leading problems today, which these children will face in future; in it's fuller extent if not taken seciously. Therefore, we started spreading our message of water conservation though children only.

Bal Bhavan Jaipur has successfully associated many children from different strata and schools in past 'Jal Mahotsav'. It gives children the opportunities to think, analyze, understand the current problem and allows them to express themselves through creative writing, speech, innovative games, dance, drama, songs, scientific innovation, drawing etc.
Current problems such as scanty rainfall, exhausting water-resources, pollution of water-bodies & depleting ground water level will lead us to such a condition where we may feel desperate to have drops of water to drink. If these children understand this problem to the slightest extent and even if they save a litre of water per day, 13000 children associated to 7 Jal Mahotsavs can save 13000 liter per day, 39000 liter per month & 4680000 liter per years.

Workshops
(A four day celebration)

First Stage - 14th September, 2009

One day workshop was organized in Bal Bhavan Jaipur on 14th Sept.,2009 in the guidance of our guest, a famous writer, painter and National Sharad Joshi Awardee Mr. Amrit Lal Vegad. Mr. Vegad discussed with children about the beauty of Narmada, pollution of the river and the remedies to solve the water crisis in India. The result of his provoking discussion was that the children expressed themselves through 'drawing & painting' showing ways to save water, depicting scarcity of water, pollution of rivers and other various ways to save water.

Second Stage - 27th to 29th October, 2009
1st Day - 27th Oct., 2009
Creative Games Based On Hand Washing

The Second stage of 'Jal Mahotsav' was started on 27th Oct., which was a hand washing day in India. Various creative games were played by students based on understanding the importance of hand washing. One game was played in a team on the idea of saving water and the other was collecting litter and putting it in proper dustbins (message was environmental cleanness), followed by hand washing with soap to protect one from several diseases. This workshop was organized under the guidance of Dr. C.P. Singh, Principal, BNCPT College, Udaipur, for the students of class 3rd to 5th. Our "SANKALP" children presented a song which explains the steps of proper hand washing.

Elocution
Topics:-
1. Young people's contribution to judicious use of water.
2. My own efforts for water management.
3. 'Bin Pani sab Soon' (Importance of water in Indian culture).
4. Involvement of young citizens in water management programme necessity or nuisance.

Above topics were given to the children to express their views for 4 minutes. The resource persons who discussed & shared their views with children were Mr. Shubu Patwa, Mr. Arun Tiwari, Smt. Anjana Khilnani & Dr. Madhu Pant, children explained various ways to save water.

Project Making and presentation
Assistant Director of B.M. Birla Planetarium Mr. Sandeep Bhattacharya and Mr. Mohan Kumar were theresource persons who explained the children about different techniques of water conservation with minimu expenses. Children made on the spot projects in groups showing rain water harvestiong in house & buildings, collection of free-flowing water in cities to be used and reused to make it more usable.

Banner Making

Understanding the perspective of Dr. Jag Mohan Mathodia, an eminent painter and professor of Rajasthan School of Art, children of various schools painted the cloth banner in the groups, with the imagination and ideas of saving water and different aspects depicting scarcity of water along with the situation of exhausting water resources and their result in 2050. Other resource persons for the workshop were Mr. Rakesh Vyas and Mr. Chandra Pal.

2nd Day - 28th October, 2009
Creative Writing

Second day of the workshop was held for 'poem and story writing' under the guidance of Dr. Madhu Pant a writer, ex-director National Bal Bhavan, New Delhi. Dr. Pant discussed and explained the children about the basic needs of story and poem writing such as choosing appropriate words, rhyming words, making meaningful sentences, flow and continuity of the theme etc. Later she shifted to the topic - Water, explaining the utility of it . Apart from rote learning by books the children could themselves imagine the basic nature of water, that teaches us to be kind, generous, compassionate, useful, adjustable soft as well as hard/tough. Children explored the different topics on water and finally all settled down to write on the topic - "Bolta Ghara" (Speaking water pot). Quite a number of stories and poems were written by them in a very imaginative manner.

Creative Performance - Group Song
Children of different schools performed group songs in context of saving water,preserving it and singing the words of its glory. Young singer Ms. Namrata Sharma sang a song 'Pani ki kahani' (Story of water) written by Dr. Madhu Pant.

3rd Day - 29th October, 2009
Creative Performance - Dance & Drama
Last day of the workshops was celebrated with dance & drama. Children explained the water crisis through short plays. Mr. Bani Prasad Sharma as a resource person shared his views with children. Dance like bhawai, 'Ganga bahti ho kyu' etc. were presented showing river being polluted and water being exhausted. Mr. Roop Singh Shekhawat appreciated the performance and guided performance.

Resource Persons
01. Mr. Amrit Lal Vegad - Writer & Painter
02. Dr. Madhu Pant - Writer & Ex-Director, National Bal Bhavan, New Delhi
03. Mr. Shubhu Patwa - Environmentalist, Journalist, Bikaner (Rajasthan)
04. Mr. Arun Tiwari - Water Conservation Activist, New Delhi
05. Mr. Sandeep Bhattacharya - Assistant Director, B.M. Birla Planetarium, Jaipur
06. Dr. Jag Mohan Mathodia - Painting Artist, Professor, Rajasthan School of Art, Jaipur
07. Dr. C.P. Singh - Principal, BNCPT Collage, Udaipur
08. Mr. Beni Prasad Sharma - Sr. Stage Artist, Jaipur
09. Mr. Roop Singh Shekhawat - Flok Dance, Bhawai Dancer
10. Mr. Mohan Kumar - Young Scientist
11. Ms. Namrata Sharma - Young Singer & Musician
12. Dr. Sushil Nandal - Sociologist.
13. Mr. S.L. Mehra - Stage Artist
14. Mrs. Anjana Khilnani - Sociologist
15. Mr. Rakesh Vyas - Creative Artist
16. Mr. Chandra Pal - Creative Artist

Volunteer's
01. Mr. Chaitany Vyas
02. Mr. Rajesh Sharma
03. Mr. Rajendra Bhati
04. Mr. Puran Mal Chouhan
05. Mr. Vinod Jangid
06. Mr. Nathu Ram
07. Mr. Govind Tiwari
08. Mr. Ashwani Sharma
09. Ms. Neelam Khichi
10. Ms. Suman Yadav
11. Ms. Sheweta Mehra
12. Mr. Kush Vyas
13. Mr. Hitendra Kumar
14. Mr. Manoj Kumar
15. Ms. Manju Rathore
16. Ms. Prakriti Khilnani
17. Mr. Bunty Kumar

Participating Schools -
More than 2000 children from 26 goverment & non-goverment schools participated in the "Jal Mahotsav".

Encouragement & participation certificate distribution

More than 2000 students from 26 schools participated in Jal Mahotsav 2009. Ms. Shikha Wadhwa of UNICEF distributed the awards and certificates to the talented children and participating schools.

Selection of "VARUN DOOTS" and Oath Ceremony
10 efficient and best students were selected amongst all as 'Varun Doots' (Water Ambassador). These little angels will spread the message of water conservation in their schools and society. Water resource Minister of Rajasthan Mr. Mahipal Maderna pourd water in the palms of these water ambassadors and then the oath was taken to save water while Ms. Namrata Sharma recited a shloka.

Conclusion & Outcome

The main objective of Bal Bhavan Jaipur to make the children aware and alert about the environment, nature and our cultural values so that they turn up to be responsible citizens of future India. To save our life line, Bal Bhavan Jaipur is continuously making efforts through 'Jal Mahotsav' to conserve water. The associated schools send their representative children to Bal Bhavan Jaipur in these workshops where they learn, train and present themselves and then pass on this message to their peers, families and society. We hope these children will bear the fruits of our efforts in future and will shape our country.
Our time, the efforts of children regarding conservation of water in the form of stories, poems, poster and banners have collected in Bal Bhavan Jaipur. This Collection may be transformed into publication of a book, which may bring awareness in society in winder perspective.
The total number of schools participated in this water festival is 26. The rough average numbers of students in each school is 1500. Thus we can say around 39000 children went through the selection process to attend "Jal Mahotsav" and during this process they learnt about our water problem. The rough average of teachers in these 26 schools is 16 so around 400 teachers were involved in the preparation of Jal Mahotsav.
The greatest benefit of this 'Jal Mahotsav' is a selection of 10 students as "Varun Doots" (Water Ambassadors) who will continuously work and spread the message in their respective homes, schools and in the society.
This water festival provides active learning through different activities. Their result might be obvious only after 10-15 years. Jal Mahotsav is a small step towards sustainable development.