This paper presents data on how water-based social work involving check dams and lift irrigation in villages could enhance rural development activities that will benefit poor farmers in western India. The irrigation water provided to farmers through check dams and lift irrigation systems have ultimately transformed infertile drylands into productive agricultural lands, revived rivers during the dry season, recharged groundwater, sustained natural ecosystems, and alleviated poverty among rural tribal communities. The model highlighted in this paper has remarkable potential to be replicated in other water-scarce regions of India and elsewhere in Asia, Africa, and South america to solve future social conflicts related to irrigation water.

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