“Jal hi jeevan hai”

Dheeraram Kapaya leads the Van Utthan Sansthan—a federation of committees that protect land resources. He is a Bhil tribesman from Rajasthan’s Udaipur district, a region that has witnessed a decades-long movement to protect forests and pasturelands and recognise them as community resources. Dheeraram is also an activist and artist and uses folk songs that he composes to create awareness about social issues—ranging from malnutrition to environmental degradation. Listen to this song that he composed to encourage his community to conserve water and other natural resources.

Dheeraram Kapaya is an activist and an artist and leads the Van Utthan Sansthan (forest protection society) established by Seva Mandir.

Sneha Philip leads content development and curation at IDR.

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Know more: Read about commons and why they need to be protected here.

Do more: Connect with the author at [email protected] to understand more about the Van Utthan Sansthan.