Manisha Pawar is getting guidance, advice and a lot of help in the cultivation of brinjal, watermelon & chilli crops on her land and she expects to be financially self-sufficient in the near future. But other than advice, the fields where she grows her cash crops also needs a steady supply of water. Thanks to Hindustan Coca-Cola’s Integrated Watershed Management Project, this too has been taken care of. Hindustan Coca-Cola, last year, launched a water project in 38 villages that can positively impact 5,200 families and a population of around 30,000. In partnership with Action for Social Advancement (ASA) and local governmental agencies, this trio is constructing farm ponds to ensure supply of water. Eight of these farms ponds conceptualized by Hindustan Coca-Cola and implemented by ASA are already constructed. Manisha Pawar’s farms benfit from one of these ponds. The other ponds are in the villages of Bela, Mardanpur, Pathakheda and Dhaniyajan in Hoshangabad. The parties are parallel working to provide safe drinking water to 3,700 families. 

Since the project is an integrated watershed management project, there are more than 100 self-help groups comprising of the villagers, have been formed, 64 of which are linked to banks, making them eligible for bank loans. It has played a significant role for these people, especially because there aren’t any other such plants in the vicinity.

The project has already helped improve ground water conditions, community management systems and human development indices like health, education, housing etc. along with increasing agricultural income for these people. It has helped them become self sufficient.