Newsletter No . 64 ; Year Program / Policy / Guideline Major objective ( s ) Relevant Institution
IRBMS
2008 Common Guidelines for Watershed Development
( Neeranchal ) released17
Promote a fresh framework to guide all WSD projects in all departments and ministries .
National Rainfed Area Authority ( NRAA ) and Planning Commission
2009 Integrated Watershed Management Programme
( IWMP ) 18
2011 Revised Common Guidelines for Watershed
Development released19
2013
Revisions added to 2008 Common Guidelines ( known as Neeranchal Guidelines ) 20
Consolidated three programs : IWDP , DPAP , and DPP . Programs adopted a cluster approach focusing on a cluster of micro-watersheds ( 1000 ha to 5000 ha scale ).
Provide amendments to the 2008 guidelines based on clarifications and suggestions .
Add new features to the 2008 Common Guidelines to ensure momentum to the IWMP while strengthening its innovative features .
( Source : World Resources Institute , Working Paper , December 2013 )
By the late 1990s , annual expenditure on watershed development in India approached almost an equivalent of $ 500 million ( Rs 2500 crores ), yet very little information is available on the success or failure of these different projects . The National Sample Survey ( NSS , 1994 ) reported that despite the extensive programmes carried out to provide drinking-water to rural areas , 1,40,975 villages ( 24 % of India ’ s total ) still had a drinkingwater problem . In 1994 a technical Committee under the Chairmanship of Prof . C . H . Hanumantha Rao , was appointed to assess the Drought Prone Areas Programme ( DPAP ) and the Desert Development Programme ( DDP ) with the purpose of identifying weaknesses and suggesting improvements . The Committee made a number of recommendations
MoRD
NRAA and Planning Commission
MoRD
and formulated a set of guidelines that brought the DDP , the DPAP and the Integrated Wastelands Development Programme ( IWDP ) under a single umbrella . The watershed projects taken up by the Ministry of Rural Development ( MoRD ) from 1994 to 2001 followed these guidelines . The Central Govt . in 1999-2000 had announced the creation of a Watershed Development Fund ( WDF ) with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development ( NABARD ).
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Editor- Sujit Choudhury , Published by Girija Sankar Chattopadhay , IRBMS , assisted by Nilshikha Das (© Integrated River Basin Management Society )
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Integrated River Basin Management Society