This article has been published in partnership with Tata Capital.

For years, uncertainty shaped everyday life in Manganallur village, where farming depended almost entirely on rain.

“When there was no water, we could manage only one crop,” Krishna (62), a farmer from Manganallur village in Tamil Nadu, tells The Better India. “Because of that, I had to send my two sons for temporary work outside the village.”

Water scarcity influenced every decision in Krishna’s household. Wells ran dry before harvest season, rainfall was unpredictable, and groundwater levels were unreliable. With farming unable to sustain the family year-round, migration became unavoidable.

“We didn’t want to leave agriculture,” he says, “but without water, we had no option.”

That began to change in 2017-18, when work under the JalAadhar programme — an initiative by Tata Capital — reached Manganallur. At first, the community was unsure. Plans to restore tanks, build bunds, and harvest rainwater felt extensive and unfamiliar. But the approach was different from what villagers had seen before.

Instead of starting with construction, the partner organisation National Agro Foundation (NAF) began by listening.

“For any watershed project, the first step is understanding the village through the community itself,” explains Agalshri, Assistant Director of NAF. “Local knowledge combined with technical planning makes the solutions last.”

As tanks were desilted, bunds were built, and rainwater-harvesting structures put in place, the impact unfolded gradually. Rain that once flowed away was now stored. Even small showers began to make a difference. Over time, groundwater levels improved, and water remained available well beyond the monsoon months.

For Krishna, the change showed up in his fields.

Over the last two years, he has been able to cultivate two to three crop cycles, even in a year of below-average rainfall. With water security came the confidence to invest in farming again, and to welcome one of his sons back home to work on the land.

Manganallur’s journey reflects what long-term water conservation can achieve when communities are placed at the centre. It is one of many such stories captured in Tata Capital’s decade-long CSR journey, now brought together in a coffee-table book that traces how villages once constrained by scarcity are rebuilding their futures around water.

Why India’s water challenge needs long-term solutions

India’s water crisis is rooted in its heavy dependence on groundwater, which supplies nearly 85% of rural drinking water and over 60% of irrigation needs.

Erratic rainfall, prolonged dry spells, and over-extraction have pushed many regions into water-stressed and overexploited categories, making farming and daily life increasingly uncertain. In dry and semi-arid regions, water........

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