THOUGH Haryana is an agriculturally developed state, its Rewari
district is poor and handicapped by lack of drinking water,
sharp gander inequality and educational Rewari averages 65 cm of
rain annually, not enough for efficient fuming and its salinity
is such that cultivating the undulating stretches of the
Arivall! hills is a tough proposition. Farmers have increased
their use of chemical fertiliser five-fold since the 1970s and
all they can expect from the land are meagre harvests of
mustard, bajra and jowar. Traditionally, Haryanvis depend on
ponds and johads (check dams) for their water needs, but with
the advent of tubewells and the subsequent collapse of community
control, the ponds have silted up and the check dams have
eroded. The water-table has now fallen more than 11 m and is
highly saline and so potable water is scarce. In the early
1980s, the state government provided piped water to many
villages, but the supply is too erratic and Chintamani Devi of
Mayan village says the taps there are often dr