Newsletter No. 65;
IRBMS
transportation and irrigation projects along the country wide watersheds program after program
river valley can be started, and the flow of the river had been envisioned. Current spending on such
can be controlled easily. programs is estimated to be roughly four billion US
In a study by the Central Pollution Control Board, dollars per year with numerous watersheds.
Kolong River has featured among 71 most polluted Despite the level of attention and funding receives
in the country. watershed practitioners do not have a clear
understanding of the overall effectiveness of
watershed
Special Feature:-
programs,
contributing
Why the failure of Watershed programs
are so high in India.
to
the
how
overall
these
programs
ecosystem
and
hydrology cycle and how it is impacting poverty
reduction and human welfare, which watershed
In the last episode of this article various Govt. of interventions are most beneficial, and how to
India Initiated watershed programs during last 40 adjust programs for near and long-term climate
years has been discussed. These programs either risks. Furthermore, there is a lack of understanding
aimed to improve agricultural yields in rainfed of how revitalized ecosystems might improve
regions, or to conserve soil erosion but over the resilience to climate change and conversely, how
past forty years, watershed programs has evolved increasing rural dependence on climate-sensitive
from a top–down, technical, and bureaucratic agricultural income might increase vulnerability.
approach to a participatory approach including Indian
social, encounters many problems and constraints; some
ecosystem
interventions.
based
Unfortunately
with
it
is
technical
more
on
watershed
management
program
are listed below;
beneficiary centric than participatory ecosystem (a)
based approach. based on water conservation for a rainfed area
It was never river basin level water conservation
program for restoration of river basin ecosystem,
as a result in spite of such money consuming
programs, present time India is facing one of the
worst water crisis in it’s history. It clearly suggests
that the last four decades Govt. led programs did
not fulfill the objective and purpose for which the
India’s watershed programs are primarily
where there is very little canal irrigation is present.
Therefore
watershed
development
practices
considering River basin and catchment become
secondary.
(b)
Rainfall uncertainty and poor economic
conditions act as a major constraint and thus
prevents the farmers in rainfed areas from making
7
Integrated River Basin Management Society