I have decided to ride 8000Kms across India via Western and Eastern Ghats to create awareness on Rainwater harvesting during monsoons. During this journey I will cover 12 states : Rajasthan-MadhyaPradesh-Gujrat-Maharashtra-Karnataka-Kerela-Tamilnadu-AndhraPradesh-Telangana-Odishal-Jharkhand-Bihar.

How:

On this journey I will be contacting different organisations/NGOs working on rainwater harvesting and with their help, I will select one village from each NGO for my campaign. I will be staying in each village for at least 2 days which will enable me to share my prior work experience as well as learn the local techniques and skills of the area with respect to rainwater harvesting.

The plan is to ride 300kms on day 1 and campaign for day 2 and day3. By following this 3 day pattern, I will cover at least 2 villages in every state in 90 days.
Start date:- 16.September.2016

  

With the acute shortage of water India is facing at the moment, water sources in both rural and urban areas need to be checked and harvested for human, animal and irrigational needs. It has been proven time and again that community based rainwater harvesting initiatives are the best solutions for this man-made calamity .
Being a motorcycle lover, I thought why don't I blend two of my passions i.e. working on rainwater harvesting in the rural communities and travelling across India on my bike. With my prior experience of working with rural community where I had mobilised a village and had initiated a massive rainwater harvesting project with the help of NGO (Barefoot College), I am confident that through this campaign, I would be able to spread awareness and make realise the difference rainwater harvesting initiatives can make in their lives. In this process, I am also hoping to learn different local techniques/skills that is unique to the rural communities.

The concept of rainwater harvesting is pretty simple. We all have been harvesting the heaven since our childhood. Just Close your eyes for a minute and remember the time when we all used to collect rain water in buckets running from our roofs. Although it was fun but it had a lesson in it. Tell me genuinely how many among us practice the same even today. It is unfortunate that we all have forgotten our teachings/lessons we had learned in our school, home and day to day life about importance of water. I hope that through this campaign, I would be able to revive these learnings and make a little difference to the lives of people.

About me:

Greetings,
I’m Shashank Singh, Mechanical engineer and motorbike fanatic currently working with an NGO named “Barefoot College” in Ajmer district of Rajasthan under the fellowship program “SBI-Youth For India. I have initiated community-based rainwater harvesting project to rejuvenate an old existing pond for the development of a cattle park. We are in the final phase of work and waiting for the arrival of monsoon.

Find story of pond rejuvenation, Village- Chota Narena.
http://www.thebetterindia.com/52331/pond-rejuvenation-rajasthan-chota-naraina-village/

Click on below link to find facebook album of my project work.
(Showing different stages of my work progress)

SBI Youth for India is a 13 month long programme that enables India's brightest young minds to work on rural development projects with experienced NGOs.Supported by State Bank of India, the fellowship offers the best platform in the country to follow your heart and help solve rural India’s most pressing challenges.
http://www.youthforindia.org/

The Barefoot College connects rural communities to solar, water, education, professions and advocacy to help communities and individuals take control of their lives and the wellbeing of their communities.
http://www.barefootcollege.org/ 

This page is created to sponsor my travel fund which includes fuel, maintenance, food, accommodation and events for community awareness. I urge you to contribute generously to my campaign. This is a journey of learning and sharing. Your contribution will enable me to reach thousands of people across India and create awareness about the precious resource that is Water.
Help me generate more awareness about my expedition via your network, tweet, share in social /print media. Please do not hesitate to contact me for more information. I want you to share this to at least five of your friends or you can offer me food and stay if I am passing by you.
I am currently in the planning phase (contacting organizations and final route map), and will update everyone once things become finalised.

Regards,
Shashank Singh
SBI-Youth for India fellow 2015-16
Barefoot college, Tilonia

Contact:
ssshashank18@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/shashank.singh.3950
7296847921
9556655285 (whatsApp)