MUMBAI: India, the second most populous country in the world, is staring at a severe water crisis as it nears ‘Day Zero’ conditions when the taps run dry. Time is running out and there is an urgent need to act now. While the government and social organisations are focusing on various water projects, the issue has reached a point that it needs the support of its citizens to snowball this cause into a national movement.

PaaniKaTeeka, a project created by IdeaHive Media Pvt Ltd, a social enterprise currently focussing on Water, Education and Job Creation has partnered with the legends of Advertising and Music - Piyush Pandey and Louiz Banks - for a music based project to make the voice of water reach every corner of the nation. The duo, who will be reuniting after the iconic ‘Mile Sur’ anthem, have garnered the support of music industry leaders like Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal, Shaan, Vishal Dadlani, Harshdeep Kaur, Neha Bhasin, Pankaj Udhas, Salim Merchant, Sivamani, Mame Khan, Rakesh Chaurasia, among others to join hands with the campaign for water consciousness.

“Music has the capacity to bridge cultures and create a momentum unlike any other art form. If you look back in time, artists have always risen to the times and needs of the nation. And when it means coming together to create a unified voice to conserve water, which is a precious natural resource, it is only natural that we, as artists, take it upon ourselves to drive efforts collectively to help our water-stressed nation. PaanikaTeeka is a great initiative and a step in the right direction to create long-term sustainable ways of preserving water and promoting water-protecting ecosystems,” said veteran musician Louis Banks.

“It’s a blessing to be able to get the support of industry leaders and domain experts who have believed in our vision with PaanikaTeeka. The objective of the campaign is to make this project a citizens’ movement and work towards a water-secure India,” said Dilip Moorkoth, Founder PaaniKaTeeka and the Director of IdeaHive Media Pvt Ltd.

PaaniKaTeeka has designed an integrated project, which will work at multiple levels of advocacy and impact at the grassroot level. It is aimed to bring support to 1000+ villages of India as one of its major impact mechanisms, besides working on bringing a behavioural change across the nation. PaaniKaTeeka has partnered with Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) as its knowledge partner, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and Emergy Enviro (A SINE IIT Bombay Company) as its Advisory and Technical partners who will work closely to make this project into a national movement.