Usha Gaikwad hails from a small village in Khargaon, Maharashtra. When I spoke to her, she told me a little bit about how difficult it was to get water before she got her water connection. She used to spend more than an hour, which meant her other work got delayed. She was not able to complete household work on time or spend enough time with her children.
Now, she has a water connection in her house, and the time she spends collecting water is practically negligible. Since she used her loan from Milaap to get the connection, she said that she spends more time with her children, and goes out to work in the fields without taking days off.
