New Delhi, March 12 -- Poornima Devi hasn't forgotten those harsh summer afternoons when she, along with the other women of Neeche Mohalla (colony) had to listen to abuses hurled at them as they walked past men to fetch water for their families. The only community dugwell in their colony in the Jharia coalfield area of Jharkhand had gone dry and was filled with muck.

Walking to a dugwell in the neighbouring habitation meant setting their self-respect aside and keeping their heads down till they got back home with pots of water. It was a daily nightmare and they suffered it for years till they decided to take matters into their own hands and desilted and revived their dugwell.

"Water used to be the biggest problem of our lives. As we wa...