To make the most of the country?s watershed programme which is aimed at checking the diminishing productivity of wastelands and utilise these land towards agricultural activities, the government has decided to double the financial allocation for taking up watershed works from the current Rs 6,000 per hectare to Rs 12,000 per hectare.

The Cabinet nod to hike the allocation for the watershed works was cleared recently just prior to announcement of the model code of conduct for the forthcoming general elections. Under the new measure which would be formally affective after the new government takes charge at the Centre, even the allocation for the watershed works to be taken up in the hilly areas has been increased from Rs 15,000 per hectare at present to Rs 18,000 per hectare.

After the hike in allocation for the watershed works, the allocation under the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) will have to be hiked to Rs 2,400 crore for 2009-10 from the current allocation of Rs 1,825 crore for 2008-9.

The department of land resources (DLR) under the ministry of rural development administers IWMP across states for conservation of rainwater, which eventually helps productivity of land, brings in additional area under agriculture and creates employment opportunities in the rural areas. The Centre allocates 90% of fund while states share the rest.

?As we have already spent allocation for the current year, the rise in allocation for watershed works would be also for the pending projects,? said DLR secretary Rita Sinha.

The rise in allocation for the watershed works follows recommendations of various committees including Hanumatha Rao (2000), S Parthasarathy (2006) and inputs from the state governments that through watershed works, the potential of around 85 million hectare of agricultural land in rainfed areas out of the 142 million hectare of net cultivated areas, can be harnessed for increasing agricultural yield. Till last year three watershed programmes namely Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), Desert Development Programme (DDP) & Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP) used to run concurrently for checking the diminishing productivity of wasteland and loss of natural resources. However, to ensure optimum use of resources and integrated planning, the Planning Commission had decided to merge all the three programmes into a single programme titled IWMP from April 2008.

Recently, in a major move to decentralise planning process to the grassroots level and prevent delays in clearance of projects, the government has already decided that all new centrally funded watershed projects would be henceforth finalised and approved at the state level. This has been done to cut down bureaucratic delay and also take up watershed works on the basis of local needs.

Under the new guideline approved by the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), a nodal agency to monitor watershed projects, the states have been empowered to sanction and oversee the implementation of watershed projects supported by the government.

Earlier as many five ministries -rural development, agriculture, environment and forest, water resources and panchayati raj usually used to sanction and implement watershed projects as per their own guidelines and had separate accounts.

Double whammy

• Even the allocation for the watershed works to be taken up in the hilly areas has been increased from Rs 15,000 per hectare at present to Rs 18,000 per hectare

• The allocation under the Integrated Watershed Management Programme will have to be hiked to Rs 2,400 crore for 2009-10 from the current Rs 1,825 crore for 2008-9

• The Centre allocates 90% of fund while states share the rest