MP: Teacher on water conservation mission with brush and words

In a remote corner of Madhya Pradesh, a government school English teacher is waging a one-man water conservation battle, armed with paint, brush and words.

In a remote corner of Madhya Pradesh, a government school English teacher is waging a one-man water conservation battle, armed with paint, brush and words.

Teacher Rajkumar Mahobia paints a wall of a school in Umaria district. (HT photo)

Meet Rajkumar Mahobia, a government teacher in Umaria district who has painted thousands of walls with couplets and slogans related to water conservation.

“I started painting walls and writing slogan on them since 2010, I have painted thousands of walls and now aiming other districts of Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand,” he told HT.

“I believe that awareness is best way to conserve water for our future generation.”

Mahobia paints slogans and couplets on walls for about four hours daily.

“Two hours in the morning, I search a wall where I can paint slogans and then in the evening after returning from school, I search walls in the rural areas,” said Mahobia.

He is now so popular in the area that people call him home to paint slogans on their walls.

“You can see his slogans in every part of Umaria, even in remote villages 60 km from the district headquarters. His work is tremendous and inspiring for all the residents of the district,” said Santosh Kumar Dwivedi, an activist.

The teacher said he started six years ago when he dreamt of children dying because of water scarcity.

“In the dream, I ran all around the district to search water, but found no water. The next day, I decided to start this missing to spread this message of water conservation,” said Mahobia , who from Katni district and is from the family of Alha and Udal, the famous poets of Bundelkhand.

“I am just extending their values to this generation by painting slogans for water conservation,” said Mahobia, who was awarded by the district administration recently.