Watershed Development for Water Conservation in India

Rainfed farming is large, low-yielding and exposed to drought. Watershed work is the main tool the government uses for these areas.

1. How important is rainfed farming?

The WDC-PMKSY 2.0 guidelines say rainfed agriculture covers 51% of net sown area. It gives 40% of total food production.

The same page says what share of each crop rainfed areas account for:

• 44% of rice.
• 87% of major nutri-cereals and maize.
• 90% of minor millets.
• 85% of food legumes.
• 72% of oilseeds.
• 65% of cotton.

Yields differ sharply. Irrigated areas average about 3 tonnes per hectare. Rainfed regions average only 1.1 tonnes per hectare.

2. How much land is degraded?

The 2021 guidelines cite the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India, 2021. It estimates land degradation at 97.85 million hectares. That is 29.77% of the total geographical area.

The older Common Guidelines of 2008 gave a different baseline. They say about 146 million hectares are degraded and 85 million hectares are rainfed arable land. The total area they use is 329 million hectares.

The two figures come from different studies and different years. Quote the year with the number.

3. Why does groundwater come into it?

The 2021 guidelines say groundwater serves almost 60% of the nation’s irrigated area. It has fallen in several regions, and some are declared Dark Zones.

The guidelines add that spring-fed Himalayan and hill regions are in trouble too. They say almost 50% of an estimated 4 to 5 million springs in the Himalayan, Ghats and other hill regions are drying up.

4. How does NCERT define watershed management?

Watershed management is the efficient management and conservation of surface and groundwater. It involves preventing runoff and recharging groundwater through percolation tanks and recharge wells.

In a broad sense, it covers all natural and human resources within a watershed. Success depends largely on community participation.

Few projects have succeeded so far. In most cases the programme is still in a nascent stage.

The approach moved from separate area schemes to one watershed framework. Each step changed who plans and who pays.

5. What did the Hanumantha Rao Committee of 1994 change?

A Technical Committee under Prof. C.H. Hanumantha Rao was appointed in 1994. It assessed the Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) and the Desert Development Programme (DDP).

The Committee found the programmes were fragmented and run through rigid guidelines. It brought DDP, DPAP and the Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP) under a single umbrella.

Rural Development Ministry projects from 1994 to 2001 followed these guidelines. The Ministry revised them in 2001 and again in 2003 as the “Hariyali Guidelines”.

6. What was Hariyali?

A PIB release says Hariyali was launched on 27 January 2003. Its aim was to involve Panchayati Raj Institutions in watershed programmes.

Hariyali is a Central Government watershed project. It helps rural people conserve water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and afforestation. Gram Panchayats execute it with people’s participation.

7. What are the Common Guidelines of 2008?

The Common Guidelines were framed with the Planning Commission. They give one framework for all watershed projects of all ministries.

The 2008 text lists key features. Projects get a duration of 4 to 7 years in three phases: preparatory, works and consolidation. Project units average 1,000 to 5,000 hectares, and hilly areas get smaller ones.

The unit cost had been Rs 6,000 per hectare since April 2001. It was raised to Rs 12,000 per hectare in plains and Rs 15,000 per hectare in hilly and difficult areas.

8. What is the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)?

A PIB release of 13 December 2011 calls IWMP the integration and modification of three schemes. They are DPAP, DDP and the Integrated Wasteland Development Programme.

The Department of Land Resources says it implemented IWMP from 2009-10. It was amalgamated into the Watershed Development Component of PMKSY in 2015-16.

9. Where does watershed work sit inside PMKSY?

PIB says PMKSY was launched in 2015-16. It is an umbrella scheme with several components.

The Watershed Development Component is run by the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development. A 2022 PIB release says the Ministry of Jal Shakti runs the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme and Har Khet Ko Pani.

Per Drop More Crop was part of PMKSY until December 2021. After that, the Agriculture Department runs it under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

10. What did WDC-PMKSY 1.0 achieve?

A PIB release of 8 February 2021 gives the status on 31 January 2021. Of 8,214 sanctioned projects, 1,832 were handed to the States. The Department funded the other 6,382.

Of those 6,382 projects, 4,743 (74.32%) were reported complete. 409 were in the consolidation phase and 1,230 in the works phase.

End-line evaluations of 2,457 completed projects showed better surface water and groundwater. They also showed higher productivity, vegetation cover and household incomes.

The 2.0 version runs on guidelines issued in 2021. It changes the money, the timeline and the type of work.

11. What are the headline terms of WDC-PMKSY 2.0?

The Government approved WDC-PMKSY 2.0 on 15 December 2021. The project period is 2021-26.

The physical target is 49.50 lakh hectares. The indicative Central outlay is Rs 8,134 crore.

12. How are costs and funding shared?

The unit cost rose from Rs 12,000 to Rs 22,000 per hectare for plain areas. It rose from Rs 15,000 to Rs 28,000 per hectare for hilly and difficult areas. It is up to Rs 28,000 per hectare in IAP and LWE districts.

The Centre and State share costs 60:40. For hilly States and the North-East, including Sikkim, the ratio is 90:10. For Union Territories, the Centre pays 100%.

The project period was cut from 4 to 7 years down to 3 to 5 years.

13. What are the three project phases?

The guidelines set three phases:

• Preparatory phase: up to 1 year.
• Works phase: 2 to 3 years.
• Consolidation and withdrawal phase: up to 1 year.

The guidelines say the phases should not be read rigidly. Some Phase III activities can begin in Phase I or II.

14. How is a project budget split?

The guidelines give a head-wise split of each project budget:

• Administrative management cost: 10%.
• Monitoring and evaluation: 2%.
• Preparatory phase: entry point activity 2%, DPR preparation 1%, institution and capacity building 3%.
• Works phase: natural resource management 47%, production system 15%, natural resource governance 2%, livelihoods and micro-enterprises 15%.
• Consolidation and withdrawal phase: 3%.

States may set aside 25% of the scheme outlay as a flexi-fund. The State-level committee must approve its use.

15. What is new in the approach?

The guidelines call for a shift away from mainly engineering treatment. They want more biological and agronomic measures such as trees, cropping systems and soil moisture.

They also stress water productivity, crop alignment and diversification. Farmer Producer Organisations and User Groups are given a larger role. Rejuvenation of springs is added as an activity.

DoLR sums up the guiding aim as Ecology, Economy and Equity.

16. How does the ridge-to-valley approach work in the rules?

The 2008 Common Guidelines call for a multi-tier ridge-to-valley sequence. The forests and hills in the upper catchments are treated first, where water sources originate.

In the upper reaches, the Forest Departments and Joint Forest Management Committees lead the work. The intermediate slopes above farmland are the second tier. The plains and flat areas are the third, with labour-intensive works.

The 2021 guidelines say the ridge-to-valley approach should conserve soil and water. This raises Soil Organic Carbon.

17. What is a springshed, and how is it treated?

A springshed is the area that feeds a spring. NITI Aayog recommended adding springshed rejuvenation to WDC-PMKSY 2.0. DoLR says it is now an activity within the approved cost.

The guidelines list the steps:

• Identify the springshed and its aquifer recharge zone.
• Treat both the recharge zone and the runoff catchment.
• Count the households that depend on the spring.
• Monitor spring discharge and water quality at planning, implementation and impact stages.

18. What is a participatory water budget?

The guidelines say watershed plans must include participatory water budgets. They are carried out once each in the pre-rainy and post-rainy seasons.

The community discusses the data. It then decides rules for groundwater extraction, sharing and crop choice. The rules last only if the Gram Panchayat institutionalises them.

19. Who pays for which structure?

The unit cost mainly covers soil and water work on private land. It also covers farming systems, livelihoods, FPOs and climate adaptation.

Water harvesting and plantations on community land may preferably be met from MGNREGS and afforestation programmes. So are the diversion of water from distant sources and treatment of forests in upper catchments.

The rules put villagers at the centre. A Gram Sabha committee holds the project, and expert teams help it.

20. What is the Watershed Committee?

The Gram Sabha forms the Watershed Committee. It is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. It can alternatively be a sub-committee of the Gram Panchayat chaired by the Sarpanch.

It has at least eleven members:

• Five represent user groups and Self Help Groups.
• Three come from the FPO.
• One is a Gram Panchayat member.
• One is from the Watershed Development Team.

The committee needs at least two women and two SC/ST members. The Chairperson or Co-Chairperson must be a woman. The Secretary is a paid functionary.

21. What do the PIA and Watershed Development Team do?

A Project Implementing Agency (PIA) supports the village bodies. It builds a Watershed Development Team (WDT) of experts.

The guidelines say a PIA should have one WDT for each project of about 5,000 hectares on average. The State Level Nodal Agency can set finer norms.

22. How do farmers contribute?

The 2008 guidelines require a Watershed Development Fund (WDF). The minimum contribution is 10% of the cost of natural resource work on private land. For SC/ST, small and marginal farmers it is 5%.

Both texts set a share for individual-benefit activities. General-category farmers pay 20% and SC/ST members pay 10%. The 2021 text states it as a share of the total activity cost. The money goes to the WDF.

23. What is the role of NRAA?

The National Rainfed Area Authority is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. It was constituted on 3 November 2006.

The 2021 guidelines make NRAA the Knowledge Partner of the Department of Land Resources. It helps with area prioritisation and new technology tools.

24. What does Ralegan Siddhi teach?

NCERT presents Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmadnagar, Maharashtra as a national example. In 1975 the village was in poverty and illicit liquor trade.

A retired army person began watershed work there. It began with a percolation tank whose leaking embankment villagers repaired. Seven wells below it swelled with water in summer.

Villagers banned open grazing and sugarcane. They encouraged pulses, oilseeds and other low-water crops. NCERT notes that fertiliser and pesticide use is still very high.

The scheme period ends in 2026. Recent releases show progress and the push for a post-2026 plan.

25. What did the 1 September 2026 review say?

DD News reported a review by the Union Rural Development Minister on 1 September 2026. Under WDC-PMKSY 2.0, 1,220 projects covering 52.93 lakh hectares have been sanctioned.

The total sanctioned cost is Rs 12,404 crore. The Central share is Rs 8,134 crore. Of that, Rs 6,955.75 crore (85%) has been released.

Reported results include:

• 1.24 lakh water harvesting structures built or rejuvenated.
• About 1.40 lakh hectares moved to two or three crops.
• Another 3.08 lakh hectares with protective irrigation.
• 28.50 lakh farmers benefited.
• 1.45 lakh hectares covered with afforestation, horticulture and planting.
• 2.85 crore person-days of work generated.

The Minister called watershed development a key means to a “Drought-Free India”.

26. What happened in 2025?

On 13 January 2025 PIB announced 56 new projects costing Rs 700 crore. They are in 10 States and cover about 2.8 lakh hectares. Each project is about 5,000 hectares, and smaller in hill States.

The same release says 1,150 projects covering about 50 lakh hectares were sanctioned in 2021-22 at Rs 12,303 crore.

Watershed Yatra was a mass outreach campaign. The 4 February 2025 release says it covers 805 projects, 6,673 Gram Panchayats and 13,587 villages in 26 States and 2 UTs.

27. What are Watershed Mahotsav and Mission Watershed Punarutthan?

The National Watershed Conference was held on 10 and 11 November 2025 in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. A PIB note before the event lists its agenda: a review of WDC-PMKSY 2.0 progress and talks on the roadmap beyond 2026.

The release says the Minister was to inaugurate Watershed Mahotsav on 11 November. It also says a drive to restore assets from earlier projects would be launched. That work is to use MGNREGA funding.

A PIB release of 25 November 2025 uses the name Mission Watershed Punarutthan, apparently the same drive. It is meant to maintain and repair structures built under WDC-PMKSY 1.0.

28. What are Neeranchal and REWARD?

Neeranchal was a World Bank project approved on 17 July 2014 for nine States. Its cost was USD 357 million, with USD 178.50 million from the Bank.

A 2019 World Bank paper says it performed poorly. Only USD 1.06 million had been disbursed. India asked on 22 July 2019 to cancel the undisbursed USD 177.28 million.

REWARD is a newer project. A World Bank press release of 10 December 2021 announced a USD 115 million loan. It gives USD 60 million to Karnataka, USD 49 million to Odisha and USD 6 million to DoLR. DoLR says the programme runs from 2021 to 2026.

29. Which UPSC Prelims 2014 question tested the Integrated Watershed Development Programme?

Official key (Series A, Q56): C. The key sheet for Series A shows “No. of items dropped” as “NIL”.