City-based Nimala Niketan College of Social Work has devised an innovative mobile app to connect donors across India for providing drinking water to drought-affected districts in the state. Christened ‘Jal’, the free android-based app will be launched on Wednesday and can be downloaded to ‘donate’ drinking water.
In April this year, as reported by The Hindu , the institution along with NGO We the People had executed the ‘Save Water, Share Water’ campaign which focused on collecting drinking water from Mumbai homes and distributing it in worst-affected Beed district. Young volunteers collected one bottle of drinking water per family from housing complexes in Goregaon (West) and donated them to the needy in Mankhurvadi in Beed district. In all, they distributed over 15,000 litres of water through the campaign.
After the successful intervention, the Nirmala Niketan team then joined hands with Elgo Consulting and Centralogic Solutions to develop the mobile app. “A person using the app can choose the quantity of water and the amount of money they wish to donate. The app allows donations between Rs. 75 to Rs. 225 for quantities ranging between five and 20 litres of water. One can donate up to Rs. 20,000,” Dr. Manasi Bawdekar, associate director (Research) at Nirmala Niketan said. “The Project Jal initiative will initially target people within the country. We haven’t made it open for international transactions. Once we get all clearances from the banks for foreign transactions, it would be open for those living outside India. We have already tied up with a few local companies at the district level for purchasing water and supplying it to remote villages,” she added.
The project will target Latur, Beed and Satara districts and will cover nearly 30,000 villagers in these districts.
The app allows donations between Rs 75 and Rs 225 for quantities ranging between
five and 20 litres
Dr Manasi BawdekarAssociate director (Research), Nirmala Niketan
