R. S. Kurothe

People’s participation in watershed management programmes: Evaluation study of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in India

People’s participation in watershed management programmes is an important strategy of government of India for making watershed programmes successful. Participation of local beneficiary farmers is mandatory in planning, implementation and maintenance of watershed development projects as per common guidelines issued by Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched holistic watershed development programmes on 2nd October, 2006 to help farmers in the six distressed districts of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in India. Therefore, there is a need to know the level of participation by the local people in government sponsored watershed management programmes. The study was conducted during 2011 – 2012 in this Vidarbha region of Maharashtra to measure the extent of people’s participation in NABARD Supported Holistic Watershed Development Programme (NSHWDP). In this paper a detailed structured three-point-continuum schedule was developed by the investigators regarding various aspects of participation by local people in soil and water conservation for watershed management programme. People’s Participation Index (PPI) was also designed to compute the extent of people’s participation. Data for this study was gathered through personal interviews from farmers of six selected districts in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Findings of this study indicated that the extent of people’s participation in planning was 63.7 per cent, in implementation was 57.7 per cent and in maintenance was 75.1 per cent. It shows that the extent of people’s participation in NSHWDP in the six distressed districts of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra was moderate during watershed programme planning and implementation phases, whereas, high level of participation was exhibited during maintenance phase.

Socio-economic and Conservation Measures in Ravine-affected Areas of Gujarat: Policy Interventions

Most of the agricultural land resources are under the threat of degradation. The lack of scientific management practices, socio-economic issues, and non-implementation of policy initiatives are considered to be the major causes of degradation of resources. Further, the stakeholders are economically not in a position to invest in conservation technologies, which are too costly to afford for resource-poor stakeholders. In fact, poor economic condition of the stakeholders inhabiting ravine ecosystem prohibits them to make large-scale investments on the conservation of these resources. Since we have to meet the needs of ever-increasing population for food and other livelihood requirements, therefore, society can ill afford to leave any piece of land including degraded ravines unattended due to environmental benefits accrued from this ecosystem. A productive utilization of such degraded lands is called for with conservation of natural resources as the major objective. This warrants investment on rehabilitation of degraded eroded lands in general and ravines in particular. During successive plan periods beginning the Second Five-Year Plan, funds have been allocated by governments for land development including resource conservation under various government schemes. These have benefited some areas however; the wider impact of these investments is yet to be observed on the ground. One of the reasons, among many, has been reported to be the slow pace of adoption of conservation measures by marginal and small farmers who are in majority in ravines. While policy interventions to address the problem of degraded land have largely been a part of broader programs and schemes of the government, the present study builds a case for policy interventions specific to ravine ecosystem.

Cost of Siltation in Sardar Sarovar Reservoir: Implications for Catchment Treatment

Estimates on lost reservoir capacity in India provide an alarming picture. There are several instances of soil erosion and sedimentation with run-off water. The cost of sediment removal from a large reservoir may be high, in addition to cost of dam construction. The present article estimates the loss to economy by siltation of Sardar Sarovar reservoir through loss of electricity generation and agricultural productivity. The article also suggests adoption of intensive soil and moisture conservation measures on scientific lines from protection viewpoint.