Drought Duty was a unique attempt at bridging the increasing gap between rural and urban India and an effort to engage the young students with ongoing crisis of farmers and villagers. The campaign saw young students taking time out for a week-long internship in drought affected villages of India and to get a first hand experience of the problems being faced by a at least quarter of country’s population.

It was an initiative of Swaraj Abhiyan in collaboration with National Alliance for People’s Movement, Ekta Parishad and Jal Biradari, coordinated by Jai Kisan Andolan and Youth for Swaraj (Y4S) of Swaraj Abhiyan. The campaign saw active and enthusiastic participation of youth from across the country. Stretched across six weeks and spread in six states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Drought Duty saw an overwhelming response from over 500 youth nationwide, at a short notice for coming forward and helping their fellow Indians is an assurance that the urban and rural divide can be dissolved. Over 30 villages were visited by 13 different batches of students and youths where the work of information dissemination regarding people’s rights & entitlements, survey and water resource mapping was carried out.

The objective of Drought Duty was to help the urban youngster understand and feel the pain of farmers who produce our bread and butter with the hope that this initiative would be a step towards the convergence of the two Indias. The teams visited villages which did not have minimum basic necessities and they lived the same life as local villagers to understand the exact problems faced by villagers every day. “This campaign revealed the reality of working strategy of Indian government which is not so beneficial in uplifting the poor conditions of villagers. The government is passing new schemes for the people but they aren’t getting proper benefits. Proper measures are not being taken to inform the local people about these schemes”, expressed Ashish who was one of the interns. The drought duty teams connected local people with government officials to solve temporary problem of the village. Another intern, Khusnud Shahidi mentioned “Government officials were very positive about drought duty team’s findings and supported in mitigation of temporary problems. Although this program was for short duration but impact on the people is expected to be long lasting.”

“The fact which has come to light is that a few decent showers are not “the answer”. The teams learnt, dishearteningly, the downward spiral of drought, failed crops, debt & poverty, alleviating which requires organized effort on part of Government & villagers both”, voiced Shreela Sen, an intern.

The campaign concluded and certificates of participation were distributed to the young interns. DroughtDuty is a silver lining in the government’s and society’s response to the sufferings of rural poor and farmers. It has raised hope that the youth of India is concerned and committed to work for the betterment and development of agriculture and villages. Swaraj Abhiyan will continue to provide platform to the students and youth of the nation who are ready to shoulder responsibility for a better India for all.