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Watershed
Development Programs
 atershed
Development as a priority of the Government of India.
After over ten years of experience with wasteland development the
Government of India has introduced in 1995 a policy for rain fed
areas particularly in the arid and semiarid zones under the title
of Watershed Development. Two Ministries at the Central level -
Rural Development and Agriculture, are financing Watershed Development
Programmes in the country. Since 1999 the Department of Land Resources
has coordinated the activities. The states have different institutional
set-ups for the implementation of the programme.
 Watersheds
have become recognised as a key and discrete development unit in
rural development. India implements one of the largest watershed
development programmes in the world. Some 28 million hectares of
degraded rain fed land comprising of nearly 20,000 micro-watersheds
have been covered so far and about 15 million hectares is envisaged
to be covered under the 10th five-year plan (2002-07).
The Integrated Watershed Development Programs have clearly established
that they are an important vehicle to achieve increases in production
and availability of food, ewfodder and fuel; restoration of agro
ecological balance and; in improving the livelihood status of the
village communities.
Watershed Development Programs have brought out certain changes
in livestock production systems also, involving shift from extensive
system with low productive stock to stall-fed systems with relatively
high producing animals, using increased quantity of forages, improved
use of Common Property Resources including upper marginal areas,
improvement of livestock management systems. However the livestock
– watershed interaction is not well understood and generally
neglected in strategy and policy, particularly with reference to
addressing the issues on rural poor and poverty and gender.
The government of India has approved policy guidelines for watershed
development, which became effective from 1995 and have been revised
during 2000. The Ministry considers livestock as a major contributor
to the livelihood in the arid and semi- arid areas, though the guidelines
stipulate soil and water as the focal topics. Livestock issues are
addressed only indirectly through fodder production. At state level
the situation in variable. For instance, in Karnataka the Department
of Watershed Management has recently introduced a livestock officer
in its interdisciplinary Watershed management team. Andhra Pradesh
is now following suit.
 Guidelines for Watershed
Development Programmes
Reports for Watershed
Development Programmes
Studies of Watershed Development Programmes
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28pp - 67Kb)