watershed development Management of local institutions

Abstract

The integrated watershed development and management has today emerged as cornerstone of rural development in the dry and semi-arid region of India. The Indian Council for Agriculture Research, ICAR became institutionalized in the form of The National Watershed Development Programmes for Rainfed Areas 'NWDPRA' in 1990. Based on the recommendation of the technical committee on drought prone area and desert development programme, headed by C.H. Hanumantha Rao, The Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) Government of India in the year, 1994, formulated common guidelines for watershed development programmes. The Ministry of Rural development along with Ministry of Agriculture MOA, Government of India also launched a new initiative in (2000) as National Watershed Development Programme for Rainfed Area under the Ministry of Agriculture. The revised new guidelines knovm as 'Watershed Area for Rainfed Agricultural System Approach, 'WARSA* - 'JANSABHAGITA' revised guidelines (2000).' To make the watershed programme more participated and equitable these guidelines came into effect first time in 2001, which allowed the participation of NGOs as programme implementation agency PIA. These common guidelines issued by the Ministry of Rural Development were radically altered and redefined and reused under the name 'Haryali' in 2003. The period (1995-2001) saw the implementation of first generation project under the Ministry of Rural Development and National Watershed Development for Rural Area (NWDPRA) on a very wide scale. The country has made significant investment in this approach. It is estimated that since mid- 1990's a total of Rs. 2400 Crores has been spent annually on watershed development in the country. In the next 20-25 years, Government of India has a target of treating 63 million heactares with an estimate of Rs. 76,000 crores. Today, the integrated watershed development programmes are being implemented in the rainfed area, drought prone area, desert area, non-forest, watershed area of the country. Almost, all the State government are involved in these programmes. These programmes are being funded and sanctioned by Central Government through various ministries and departments at national, state and regional level. Some foreign agencies like the World Bank and Indo-German-Bilateral Agency also funded the Watershed Project in the country. Therefore, the programme supported by these ministries under two sets of revised guidelines 2001, and Haryali 2003 make the advent of a new era and might be deemed the second generation of watershed development.