Dhola thare desh main, moti Marvan Aant

Daroo Milti Mokali Paani ki Nahin Chhant

Oh, Beloved! In your land it is tough for brides due to perennial scarcity of water.Thus laments a new bride.

And Aakash Ganga, River from Sky, was born to alleviate the perennial scarcity of drinking water by harvesting domestic rainwater. In subsequent years, Sustainable Innovations and its partners perfected Aakash Ganga to be holistically sustainable ― economically, culturally, organizationally, socially, technologically, operationally and environmentally, for example.

Journey: During 2003 - 2008, Aakash Ganga (AG) journeyed through experimentation, incubation, and pilots. In July 2003, the Rajasthan Association of North America (RANA) provided the seed capital to launch Aakash Ganga. In 2006, AG won the World Bank's Development Marketplace Award in its global competition. Same Year, National Science Foundation, intrigued by AG's holistic design, gave a grant to University of Virginia to research AG's capacity for scaling. In 2007, the Indian Prime Minister's Office (PMO) encouraged Sustainable Innovations to submit a plan for implementing AG in the "dark zone" of Rajasthan. Now, the 100-village plan is being evaluated for implementation as a public-private-community partnership (PPCP) or social enterprise by 2011 - 2012.  

Accomplishments:

- Implemented Aakash Ganga in 6 villages (Lasedi, Kakreu Kalan, Harinagar, Indrasar, Raila, and Pilani) to provide drinking water to 10,000 people.

- Government of Rajasthan signed a letter of intent to implement Aakash Ganga in 50 villages as a public-private-community partnership providing drinking water to 125,000 people for generations, in perpetuity.

- Developed a two-tier social enterprise model for full cost recovery and self-sustainability.

- Set up a repository for data gathering (water utilization, monitoring) and knowledge dissemination.

- Built capacity for large scale implementation of AG in both rural and urban areas.

Partners: Sustainable Innovations has assembled a team of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for implementation and technology development.

Indian Institute of Health Management Research, India (www.iihmr.org): IIHMR was founded 20 years ago by Dr. Ashok Agarwal, Chairman, of Transport Corporation of India. It coordinated the implementation of Aapani Yojana to supply drinking water to 370 villages in collaboration with Germany and Rajasthan Government. Regularly, IIHMR undertakes projects for such international organizations as WHO and UNICEF. IIHMR oversees AG’s implementation in the villages, procurement of materials, government liaisons, resolution of conflicts, progress monitoring, and financial controls.

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, India (www.bits-pilani.ac.in): Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani, is an all-India Institute for higher education. It was founded by Mr. G. D. Birla, an eminent industrialist. Its Centre for Development of Desert Technologies is adopting advancements in drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and watershed management for Rajasthan. The Institute has the facilities and faculty to undertake technology development and to provide technical expertise. BITS leads the engineering team, design of Aakash Ganga’s network, construction methodology, water quality monitoring, knowledge repository, and technology development.   

Bhoruka Charitable Trust (BCT) (www.bctngo.org): BCT collaborated with other NGOs to implement Aapani Yojana. a drinking water project, in 370 villages. BCT is dedicated to social-economic transformation of rural and remote areas of India. It excels at community mobilization, working with local governments, managing labor force, and micro-financing.

Samagra Vikas Sansthan (SVS): SVS is a young and sharply focused organization with impassioned individuals. Its operations are restricted to a part of Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan. Its workers, mostly volunteers, have a strong bond with the local communities, habitations, and hamlets.

AG has qualified several Rajasthan-based organizations to built capacity for future growth.