When Singh was growing up in Laporiya, the land was very barren, there were few trees, and a lot of out-migration. "People were going out of the village to other places – to towns," he said, "and they would also bring back a number of diseases [such as tuberculosis] with them."
"Around 1950, there was just one pond, Ann Sagar," Singh said. It was the irrigation reservoir and lifeline of the village. But because there was no plantings protecting the pond, its embankments broke in heavy rains and all the water would flow out. "The water in the wells dried up, and there was no moisture in the soil," Singh said.
"When it would rain, the entire water would flow out of the village . . . go into the river. In spite of there being rain, it was like the land was absolutely dry. There would be no moisture in the soil."
Laxman began by studying the system for water management in Laporiya. In the mid-1970s, he recruited a friend and the village priest to help him began repairing the embankments around the Ann Sagar. "But we knew we couldn't even do it in 10 years," he said.
They convened a meeting in the village. "We told people, 'Here is this pond that has broken, and either we are going to rebuild this pond or leave the village.' We told the people that we have worked today, and, 'Please, all of you come and cooperate with us.'
"Slowly the numbers started increasing. The next day there were eight to ten people. The next day there were 30. The 30 of us worked for 5 to 7 days. Then we had another meeting and asked the rest, 'Are you not concerned with your own village?'
"The plan then was made and it was decided that everyday 60 people would work at the pond. This work continued for two months, and at the end of two months, the
embankment around the entire pond was properly built. We created an atmosphere. We worked and we told others you should cooperate with us, and they told others, and this is how we created the whole atmosphere.
"We first built the embankment around the pond and then we had more meetings. And we decided to raise the land around the pond by two meters. Everyone worked, and we did this around three ponds."
In less than a year, the entire village had begun to volunteer and take part in planning a comprehensive model of water management that went much beyond the repair and construction of its ponds to include irrigation of the 300 hectares of land that the villagers owned collectively. As irrigation improved, so did the harvests.
"The main problem of the village was drought, and lack of water in the village," Singh said. "Less water meant not proper irrigation, not proper harvest – it affected the economy. The main cause for the situation deteriorating so much is basically because people were not giving proper attention, they did not know how to conserve the water. There was nobody to guide them – nobody to teach them how to do it. So we then realized that if we can stop this migration aspect, and if people would remain in the village – learn new techniques of irrigation, how to conserve water – [then] automatically it would also have a good effect on their health, because they would grow better crops."
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