YMWS, in collaboration with Irish Aid and Femi, Holland, has commissioned 148 Tube Wells in as many as 136 villages to provide clean drinking water to help prevent children from constantly falling ill due to water-borne diseases. Access to clean water and safe sanitation, therefore, correlate closely with other critical targets such as reducing child mortality and improving gender equality and enrolment in education.

Meeting Point

Water is also a strong integrating component in rural Bengal. The tube-well sites in the villages are often a ‘meeting point’ where the women folk articulate their concerns and problems. In many instances poor landless women are heading the campaign for fresh water and community social reforms.