India Tales: farmers had to build a canal. How did they raise the money?

Reeling from three straight years of drought, farmers of Horti village in Vijaypur district, Karnataka, decided to act. What did they do? They dug a canal, 15 feet deep and 60 feet wide, to harvest rainwater. The effort was spectacularly successful: after just the pre-monsoon showers, the canal is filled to the brim.

The farmers were helped in their endeavour by the NGO Suryodaya. The canal was estimated to cost Rs six lakh to build. The farmers collected Rs 3 lakh, and for the rest the NGO put them in contact with the crowd-funding company Fuel Dream. The farmers were skeptical whether the company would help them, but they were in for a surprise - Fuel Dream collected the money in just 10 days as against the target of 45 days. They immediately set to work and by the first week of June, the canal was ready. The next week, the skies opened up and filled the canal.

"We have never seen so much water collected in this area before. All farmers will benefit from this," said a visibly excited villager. "Let me tell you, three generations will not forget what we have done."

The success has also encouraged Suryodaya to launch a similar project in the drought-hit Murta village of Usmanabad district. According to the NGO, 75% of the funds required for the project have been already collected.

The menfolk of Detakalan village in Aligarh district, UP, are in trouble: their women have warned to break their legs if they come home drunk. Apparently, the warning has even frightened "drunkards" from nearby villages.

According to the police, the women have been fuming ever since a liquor shop was opened in the village some months ago. "They have even staged demonstration in front of the shop, complaining that life has been severely disturbed since it was opened," said a policeman who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak. "The drunkards who gather at the shop often pass dirty comments at them. So the women have declared that neither will they allow the liquor shop to run nor will they allow the drunken members to enter home. If a husband tries to enter the house in an inebriated state, the wife will deal with him severely."

The village pradhan Omvati Devi said that men "are taking money and other household items to buy liquor. And when they reach home in the evening in a drunken state, they misbehave with their wives and children. The drunkards abuse women and girls walking on the road. For this reason, we have sent a representation to district collector to get the shop closed."

The "mystery" surrounding the murder of a jeweller's wife in Baikunth Dham, Indore, has been solved, or so the police claim. According to DIG Santosh Kumar Singh, Rajkumari Kataria, 54, was killed by Sonu Sarkade, 35, who worked as a security guard at a nearby school.

"Rajkumari used to call the security guard for sundry domestic jobs and she had called him on 31 May to fix something in her bathroom. Sonu asked for Rs 3,000 for the job but the lady said she would pay no more than Rs 300. An argument ensued and after a scuffle, Sonu stabbed the lady with a knife," the DIG said.

"Sonu confessed that he was intoxicated and had gone to her house with the intention of stealing money. He was hoping to find at least Rs 50,000. He had planned to kill the woman if the she caught him stealing. After stabbing the woman, he tried to open almirahs but did not succeed. He ran away from the scene after changing his blood-stained shirt. He threw the blood stained-shirt and the knife in the drain behind Lal Bagh."

The woman's relatives and neighbours have questioned the police's story, however. "If he had come with the intention of stealing money and other valuables, why did he not take anything especially when the keys of almirahs were found at the place of murder?" asked a relative.

The Gaikawad Fort on in Surat, Gujarat has reemerged - from under water. The fort was submerged when Ukai dam was built in 1972. It has not been seen since save once in 1997. "Like in 1997, the scorching heat has greatly reduced the water level in the dam and so the fort has started surfacing," an official at the dam said. "As of now, the wall of the fort and the gun mounted on it are visible. People in large number are coming to see the fort."

The fort was built by Pilajirao Gaikwad in 1728-29 on a hill he had captured from the Bheels of Songarh in 1719. The Gaikwads built their "main palace" inside the fort.