The 2.5 acres that he inherited from his father are V Chinnalagu's most prized possession. But 20 years ago, it was just a bald patch of land. "I left the land barren for two decades because the irrigation tank was dry," says the 61-year-old villager in Kesampatti, 35km from Madurai. "If the monsoon was good, the tank filled up partially. But it would dry up quickly and the crops wilted."
He avoided paddy, for it needs a lot of water. "Whenever I tried to grow something, I ended up with losses," he says. But, Chinnalagu couldn't bring himself to sell his land. "Even if I had decided to sell, no one would have bought land in a water-starved area." His wife, Chinnamal, worked as a daily-wage labourer to support their family of four. In 1994, the Dhan Foundation approached the villagers, Chinnalagu among them.
"They offered to deepen and reclaim the tank." The foundation said that if the village contributed a quarter of the cost it would take care of the rest. "We hesitated initially, but ultimately agreed." Chinnalagu pledged his wife's jewellery with a pawn broker and contributed his share of Rs 5,000. The tank was deepened and a sluice built. "After 20 years, I grew paddy on one acre and reaped 40 bags."
Now, the tank retains water for five months after the monsoon. Chinnalagu has repaid his debts and is now a circle treasurer of Dhan's Vayalagam Federation. He says the groundwater table has risen and he now plans to dig a well. Last year, he made an investment of Rs 22,000 to cultivate paddy on about 1.5 acres and made returns of Rs 42,000.
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