Management Of Watershed Development In India

India being predominantly agricultural country is rich in natural resources and biodiversity. However, more than half of the agriculture is rainfed where delayed, deficient or erratic ranges lead to severe reduction in crop production. Increasing natural resource productivity is crucial to enhance livelihoods and reduce poverty in rural areas which demands for sustainable development of natural resources. In view of the conservation of land and also combating desertification as well as development of wasteland is imperative to ensure food security while conservation of water resources is important for water recharge, maintaining soil moisture and sustaining vegetation coverage. The watershed development programmes focus on conservation of natural resources and combating desertification as well as increasing potential of irrigation in rainfed areas and development of wasteland. National Watershed Development Programme began in 1995 was the first significant initiative to develop rainfed areas. There has been paradigm shift in watershed development in India. The focus has been shifted from development to management besides merger of all the existing programmes of watershed development into integrated watershed development programme in recent past. Government has also accorded high priority to the holistic and sustainable development of rainfed/degraded areas based on watershed approach. There has been massive investment in watershed development programmes both by government and international donor agencies. The watershed development programmes have positive and long-term impact on agriculture, poverty alleviation, conservation of natural resources and overall community empowerment. Against this view point, present study has been carried out to assess the impact of watershed development programmes in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Present book has been planned in seven chapters. Chapter 1st is introductory one which describes the agro-climatic conditions, evolution and review of watershed development programmes. Chapter 2nd is concerned with theoretical perspective of watershed development. Chapter provides a theoretical framework of watershed development, literature review and highlights the major research studies in this field. Chapter 3rd is concerned with performance of watershed development programmes in India. The chapter has provided a depth analysis of physical and financial performance of desert development programme, drought prone area programme, integrated wasteland development scheme and integrated watershed management programme. Chapter 4th deals with profile of selected states. Chapter focuses on agro-climatic features, land use pattern, land degradation, water resources and physical and financial performance of watershed development programmes in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Chapter 5th is related with socio-economic profile of respondents. Chapter 6th is concerned with management of watershed development programmes. It deals with the aspects of planning and training, social and institutional dimensions, earth work, impact and sustainability, etc. Chapter 7th is concluding one which provides analysis of major research findings and policy recommendations.

CONTENTS: Watershed Management: Global & Indian Perspectives; Reorienting the Watershed Development Programme in India; Technologies & Tools for Management of Watersheds; Watershed Management to Counter Farming System Decline: Towards a Demand Driven System Oriented Research Agenda; Economic Rationale, Subsidy, Cost Sharing in Watershed Projects; Urban Watershed Management: Sustainability, One Stream at a Time; Sustainable Practices in Watershed Management: Global Experiences; Arizona NEMO: Integrated Watershed Management & Planning; Challenges to Decentralization of Watershed Management: The Case of New South Wales, Australia; Evaluating Watershed Projects in India; Watershed Development, Panchayats & Village - Based Institutions: An Assessment of Institutional Capacity; Equity in Watershed Development: A Case Study in Western Maharashtra; More Water, More Health in Darewadi Village.

Watershed management has evolved and passed through several developmental stages. Realising the importance of watershed management, great efforts have been made by the government in preparing implementation strategies and the technical institutions have also introduced the subject in their curriculum at senior undergraduate and postgraduate levels of civil and agricultural engineering. Since this is a multidisciplinary subject, it finds place in environmental science and forestry curriculum as well. The book, comprising of 16 chapters, provides comprehensive coverage of the subject. Covering the concepts and principles of watershed management, the book discusses watershed characteristics, causes of watershed deterioration, soil erosion and soil–water relationship, management of natural drainages in watershed, wasteland, landslide and land drainage management, arable and non-arable land, design flow and design storm and effect of watershed on the community. Chapters on flood routing through channels and reservoirs in watershed and flood damage mitigation management in watershed add further value to the book.

Social aspects / Institutions / Development projects / Watershed management

The Green Revolution that transformed irrigated agriculture elsewhere in India had little effect in the rainfed, semi-arid regions. Agricultural productivity remained low, natural resources were degrading, and the people were poor. In the 1980s and 1990s, planners turned to watershed management to develop rainfed agriculture while conserving natural resources. By the late 1990s, India was spending US$500 million a year on watershed development projects. Strategies ranged from the purely technical to those that emphasized social organization. Little systematic analysis exists, however, on the success of the different approaches. This study, based on a survey of 86 villages in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra states, attempts to fill that information gap by evaluating the projects' relative success in raising agricultural productivity, improving natural resource management, and reducing poverty. In looking at the question of what approaches enable a project to succeed, it uses both quantitative and qualitative analysis to compare project and nonproject villages before and after the projects were implemented. The authors find that projects involving the villagers in planning and decisionmaking performed better than their technocratic, top-down counterparts, but projects that combined participation with sound technical input performed best of all. All projects faced difficulties in ensuring that poor people shared the benefits of watershed development.

Contributed papers presented at the National Seminar on Watershed Management for Sustainable Development, organized by Dept. of Economics, Sri Venkateswara University on March 21, 2000.

The book deals with the strategies followed for planning, implementation, monitoring & evaluation and maintenance of structures etc for integrated management of watersheds in different rain fed agro-ecological regions in India. Various agencies involved in execution of watersheds like NWDPRA, MoRD, ICAR/SAUs, International Donors and NGOs were taken into consideration to study the successes and failures of watershed management programme in rehabilitation of arable and non-arable lands particularly in rain fed areas on sustainable basis through participatory watershed approach. SWOT analysis was also done in case of selected watersheds. This book will be of immense help to all those who are actively involved in watershed management programme. The policy makers, planners, researchers, soil conservationists, extension workers, progressive farmers and students associated with management of natural resources will also be benefited.