Ahar Pyne Bachao Abhiyan (ABPA)

The traditional watershed structures like the ‘Ahars, Pynes and Pokhars have been the life line of agriculture especially in drought prone South Bihar. The depletion of these structures and various kinds of misuse and reckless exploitation of the rain fed short rivers of this region are major causes for water scarcity in agriculture as well as for continuously lowering water table. The ‘Ahar Pyne Bachao Abhiyan’ is a civil society led mass movement educating the masses on the role of traditional watershed structures in sustainable agriculture as well as bringing together various stakeholders for rejuvenation and renovation of traditional watershed structures. ABPA puts efforts to find synergies and convergence among the efforts of the government, the civil society and the farming community especially in the programmes like IWMP, Soil Conservation, Water Harvesting, Surface Water Usage, Preservation of Traditional Water Bodies and so on.