Precis (Summary) Writing – 4
Creative Writing – 30
Reduce the word count of the write-up to one third without missing out any important point. Give a title to your precis.
The passage [264 words]
It is just the onset of summer and mercury is already touching 42°C in Bundelkhand. Water has evaporated from most rivers and ponds. Tube wells and handpumps have gone dry here, in, one of the most underdeveloped regions of central India. Even urban households get brief water supply once in three days.
Water is the most precious item, found Mongabay-India while travelling through Jhansi, Lalitpur and Tikamgarh, three water-stressed districts in the hilly and plateau terrain of Bundelkhand which is spread over six districts in the states of Madhya Pradesh and seven districts in Uttar Pradesh.
“There is no water left for irrigation and drinking water is likely to vanish in the next two weeks, like previous years,” said Rani, a resident of Rajpur, Talbehat tehsil of Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, about 370 km from the state capital Lucknow. “All 650 families here are having sleepless nights anticipating the hardships in coming days. Monsoon is still two months away and we would have to rely on water tankers once again.”
But just 15 kilometres away, in Chandrapur village, a part of the same tehsil, 170 families are comparatively more relaxed. A check dam, built by a women’s group, Jal Sahelis (women friends of water), five years ago, is full of water collected during monsoon. The water is being used extensively for irrigation and domestic purpose in the village.
Started in 2005 from Madhogarh in Jalaun in Uttar Pradesh, the network of Jal Sahelis across 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is reviving water harvesting structures and traditional water bodies through community participation.
The precis [97 words]
At temperature touching 42°C, Budelkhand stretching across MP and UP reels under severe water shortage. With dry ponds, rivers and pumps, Jhansi, Lalitpur and Tikamgarh have become the most parched districts of this backward area.
With water stock barely adequate for a week, nearly 650 families of Rajpur in Lalitpur in UP wait breathlessly for the monsoon.
In contrast, nearby Chandanpur has a check-dam to store rain water for summer needs. It was built by women volunteers of the village. The volunteers known as Jal Sahelis resurrect old water bodies. Nearly 200 villages have such community effort.