DNA (March 24, 2018)

Aamir Khan’s Midas touch is not limited to his films or box-office collections, but it also positively impacts his social initiatives. While the actor prefers to not speak about it, Paani Foundation’s ‘Satyamev Jayate Water Cup’ has grown to achieve what they set out to do in the last three years. Says a source, “It has only got bigger and better with every passing year. It has been an initiative that has produced amazing results.”

AN ANNUAL RITUAL
The source adds, “Nobody knows about this, but Aamir has been doing shramdaan (voluntary labour) for the foundation every year.” The Water Cup started in 2016 with just three talukas. Today, however, almost 1/4th of villages in Maharashtra are participating in it. The source says, “In 2018, over 9,000 villages from 75 talukas will be competing for the Water Cup. Because of his phenomenal work in this area in Maharashtra people in even the remotest of places not only know about Aamir, but also look at him as an inspirational figure.”

ALWAYS ACTIVE
The actor, who is often busy shooting, has a team that helps him with the work that the Foundation has undertaken. However, he remains an active participant at all times. While Reena Dutta, Kiran Rao, Satyajit Bhatkal, Swati and a huge team handle the daily proceedings of the initiative, Aamir joins them via video conference to take important decisions regardless of which part of the world he is in. The source says, “He has shown great enthusiasm and passion for this initiative. The idea is to have a drought-free state and all this by training the people themselves about watershed development.”

ABOUT THE SATYAMEV JAYATE WATER CUP...
It is essentially a competition between different villages to see who can do the maximum work for watershed management and water conservation in the period of the competition. The Water Cup creates a platform for villagers to apply their learning from the foundation’s training programme and make their villages water-abundant.