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The guidelines framed by the Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources, Government of India are detailed as under:
1. Objectives of Watershed Development:
Under National Watershed Development programme the various objectives may be as below:
i. To develop wastelands/degraded lands on watershed basis.
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ii. To promote overall economic development and improvement in respect to socio-economic condition of the poor and disadvantaged sections inhabiting the programme areas.
iii. To restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing the natural resources (land, water and vegetative cover).
iv. To encourage village community for sustained community actions for operation and maintenance of the assets created and further development of potential of the natural resources in the watershed, and simple, easy and affordable technological solutions.
v. To generate employment, poverty alleviation, community empowerment and development of human and other economic resources for the villagers.
2. Implementation of Project:
The implementation of watershed development programmes is through various agencies such as Zilla Parishads (ZPs)/District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA). However, in the interest of watershed development programmes the projects can also be implemented through any department of the state Government or autonomous agencies of Central Government or State Governments, provided that they should have the approval of the Department of Land Resources, Government of India.
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3. Watershed Selection Criteria:
The following criteria may be followed in selection of watersheds for their management/development:
i. The unit area of watershed should be about 500 ha. However, if on actual survey, the area is slightly less or more area than 500 ha then the total area may be considered for development. Also, the small contiguous watersheds of 500ha may be taken up for development.
ii. If the boundary of watershed, falls in two villages, then watershed should be divided into two sub-watersheds with the designation of their respective names. But the development work in both the sub-watersheds should be done, simultaneously.
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iii. The watersheds having acute shortage of drinking water, must be given priority for their development.
iv. The watersheds having majority of dependent population of scheduled castes/scheduled tribes, should be selected for development.
v. Watershed with preponderance of non-forest wastelands/degraded lands should also be selected.
vi. Watersheds with preponderance of common lands should be selected for development.
vii. In the watershed, where the payment of actual wages is very less than the minimum prescribed wages, should be taken into consideration for development.
viii. The selection should be made for those watersheds, which are contiguous to another watershed that has already been developed/treated.
ix. The watersheds, where assured people’s participation is through raw materials, cash, contribution on labour etc., operation and maintenance of the created assets are there, should also be counted for development.
4. Development of Forest Lands in Watershed:
In watershed development the development of forestland is also an important component.
The forest farming as the part of watershed development should be accomplished under following set of norms:
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i. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) will give the sanction of technical treatment plan.
ii. As for as possible, the Village Forest Committees (VFC) existing in the watershed should do the implementation of programme. For this work the Village Forest Committee should be treated equivalent to Watershed Committee.
iii. The Micro-Watershed Development Plan for the forest areas should be in the conformity with the Forest Conservation Act and the approved working plan of the area.
iv. In the watershed where relatively large proportion of area is under forestlands, the district level Forest Department should be encouraged to take up the development of work as Implementation Agency (PIA).
v. The forest official should be as a member of the watershed.
5. District Watershed Development Committee:
Formulation of this committee is for assurance at district level for smooth functioning of watershed development activities. This committee will be headed by the Chairman, Zilla Parishad or DRDA as the case may be.
The committee will consist of following members:
i. CEO/PD, ZP/DRDA and district level officers of the departments associated to the watershed development projects.
ii. One representative of the State Remote Sensing Centre.
iii. One member from the relevant research and training institutions in the district.
iv. One NGO representative.
v. At least two prominent women workers; and one prominent social worker.
vi. The CEO, ZP/PD, DRDA will be the Member Secretary of the DWDC.
The functions of District Watershed Development Committee will be as under:
i. To advise and assist the ZP/DRDA on matters regarding selection of PIAs, members of Watershed Development teams, training, community organization, publicity campaigns and other such items/ activities to approve the action plan for watershed development projects in the district.
ii. To conduct meeting at least once in a quarter year to review the progress of the watershed development projects; assist in resolving management and administrative problems; guide in implementation; identify policy issues if any in reference to the State Government /Government of India. ZPs/DRDAs or any other institution.
iii. The ZP/DRDA at district level shall have the right and responsibility to monitor and review the implementation of the programme.
iv. The CEO/PO of DRDA/ZP shall maintain the accounts of watershed development projects and shall sign all the statutory papers such as UCs, audited statements of accounts, progress reports, bonds etc.
6. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) and Their Role:
In Watershed Development Programmes the Zilla Parishads and other Panchayati Raj Institutions shall play a key role, wherever the DRDA will be given responsibility for implementation of watershed programmes. The Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Parishad shall be one of the members of the DWDC.
The functions of PRIs shall be as below:
i. Monitoring of the implementation of programme.
ii. Review on implementation of the programme.
iii. Providing guidance for improvements in the administrative arrangements and procedures with a view to ensure convergence of other programmes of Ministry of Rural Development, i.e., JGSY, SGSY, 1AY, CRSP, Rural Drinking Water Supply etc.
At village level the involvement of Gram Panchayat shall be very important in implementation of the programme, community organization and training programmes.
The Gram Panchayat can use its administrative authority and financial resources to perform following functions:
i. To support and encourage the formation of SHGs/UGs.
ii. To operate and maintain the assets created during project period and the common property resources.
iii. To ensure that the funds from other developmental programmes of MoRD are used to supplement and complement the watershed development programmes.
iv. To review and discuss the progress of watershed development programme.
At village level the Gram Sabha will approve the watershed action plan, which will be a part of annual action plan of Gram Sabha. All the informations regarding action plan, funds earmarked for various activities, expenditure details, works progress and future action plan will be given to the Gram Sabha by the Secretary, Watershed Committee.
The ZP/DRDA will be given full right to get recovery of fund from the person, institutions/organizations/individuals, and take appropriate action under law, if the project is not properly implemented or the funds have been mis-utilized or not spent as per guidelines.
Apart from Gram Panchayat, the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis are also for implementing the watershed projects as Project Implementation Agency, if they desire. But they have to follow the norms prescribed for PIAs.
7. Project Implementation Agencies (PIA):
The watershed committee will implement the watershed development projects at field level adopting the guidance of the state governments and government of India under overall supervision and guidance of Project Implementation Agencies (PIAs). The ZP/DRDA shall be administering the watershed development programme.
Regarding programme implementation the PIA shall be responsible for following actions:
i. The PIA shall normally be assigned 10-12 watershed projects covering the area of 5000-6000 hectares.
ii. It will engage four members of Watershed Development Team (WDT).
iii. The PIAs will motivate the Gram Panchayats to pass necessary resolutions for public contributions.
iv. Conducting Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercises.
v. Preparing development plans for the watershed.
vi. Undertaking community organization and training for the village communities.
vii. Providing technical guidance and supervision of watershed development activities.
viii. Inspect and authenticate the project accounts.
ix. Undertake action research to adopt low-cost technologies and/or validate and build upon indigenous technical knowledge.
x. To monitor and review the overall project implementation and set up institutional arrangements for post-project operation and maintenance.
If feasible, the/ZPs/DRDAs may implement the project through combination of Government and Non-Government /Project Implementation Agencies, where the Non Govt. PIA & biophysical activities by Government PIA may do community mobilization.
The NGO can select PIA, only, if it has been active in watershed development works, or any similar area developmental activities in rural areas for few years. The numbers of PIAs may be more depending on the cluster of projects, provided that the NGO has requisite capacity and capability, both. The NGO should generally not given more than 12,000 ha area to develop in a district, and 25,000 ha in the state.
The imposing of acreage limitation there must be encouragement of more NGOs for watershed development. However, preferences is always given to those, which have already done basic exercises in identifying the villages/ watersheds/areas, where they want to do the work. As precautionary measures the black listed NGOs by CAP, ART or by other Departments of State Government and Government of India should not be appointed as PIAs.
8. Watershed Development Team (WDT):
The WDT is the multi-disciplinary team. Each PIA shall carry out its duties through Watershed Development Team. The WDT is empowered to deal 10-12 watershed development projects.
And it may have at least four members; one from each of the following disciplines:
i. Forestry/Plant science
ii. Animal sciences
iii. Civil/Agricultural engineering; and
iv. Social sciences.
In addition, at least one member of WDT should also be a woman. The academic qualification for a WDT member is professional degree. Amongst members, one shall be the project leader.
9. Self-Help Group (SHG):
Various features of Self-help Groups are outlined as under:
i. The Project Implementation Agency (PIA) with the help of WDT will formulate the Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the watershed.
ii. The group should be homogenous with common identity, and dependent on the watershed. They may be the agricultural labourers, land less persons, women, shepherds, scheduled castes/scheduled tribes persons etc. Around 50% of the villagers who are directly or indirectly dependent on the watershed, should generally be enrolled as the members of at least one Self-Help Group.
iii. For women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes there should be a separate SHG.
User Group (UG):
Its various features are as below:
i. The Project Implementation Agency (PIA) with the help of WDT will formulate the Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the watershed.
ii. Groups shall be homogenous, who may be most affected by the work/activity, and shall include the persons having land holding within the watershed area.
iii. Each UG shall consist of the persons, who are likely to be directly benefited from a particular watershed work or activity.
iv. The UGs shall take over the operation and maintenance of completed community works, or activities on common property resources.
10. Watershed Association (WA):
A watershed which area is confined within the boundary of Village Panchayat, and the Gram Sabha of the Panchayat concerned will be as the Watershed Association. Also, where watershed area falls under the jurisdiction of more than one Panchayats, then the members of the community who are directly or indirectly dependent on the watershed area, will be taken into the Watershed Association. The Watershed Association shall be registered as a society under the Registration of Societies Act, 1860. The WA will meet at least twice a year to evolve/improve the watershed development plan.
The WA will perform the following functions:
i. Monitor and review the progress.
ii. Approve the statement of accounts.
iii. Formation of user groups/self-help groups.
iv. Resolving disputes between different user groups, self-help groups or amongst members of the user groups/self-help groups.
v. Approve the arrangements for collection of public/voluntary donations and contributions from the community and individual members.
vi. To prepare procedures for the operation and maintenance of assets created.
vii. Approval of the activities that can be taken up with money availability in the watershed development fund.
viii. To nominate members of the Watershed Committee from amongst the user groups/self-help groups by rotation system.
ix. Taking disciplinary action for removal of membership from the Watershed Committee or user groups and whatever other disciplinary action, it deems fit.
x. To elect president, who shall also be the Chairman of the Watershed Committee.
11. Watershed Committee (WC):
It is overall supervision and control of Watershed Association and carry out the day-to-day activities of the Watershed Development Project. The structure of Watershed Committee may be of 10-12 members. The Watershed Association from the user groups will nominate the members.
The distribution of members from different groups will be as per below:
1. User’s group – 4 to 5
2. Self-help groups – 3 to 4
3. Gram Panchayat – 2 to 3
4. Watershed Development Team-1
Of the total strength of the members at least one-third must be women. Also, there should be representative of members from Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes etc. To ensure smooth implementation of the Watershed Development Project, the Watershed Committee will be responsible for coordination and liaison with the Gram Panchayat, the Watershed Development Team, the DRDA/ZP and Government Agencies concerned.
12. Watershed Secretary (WS) and Volunteers:
For smooth functioning of developmental works there is provision to depute one person as watershed secretary of each watershed development project by the Watershed Association. The Watershed Secretary as well as watershed volunteers shall be engaged on honorarium basis. Also, they shall not be treated as the employee of Watershed Committee/PIA/DRDA/ZP/State Government/Government of India.
Various points about watershed secretary are as below:
i. The person to be given the charge of WS, he should preferably be a matriculate; and belong to the same village or at least from a nearby village; and agree to live in the watershed village during the project period.
ii. If matriculate person is not available then a moderately educated person of the village with good writing and reading skills who can maintain the records and accounts of the project, may also be engaged as the WS.
iii. The WS will work under the direct supervision of the Chairman, WC.
iv. He will be responsible for convening meetings of the WA/WC; and also for carrying out all their decisions.
v. He will maintain all the records of project activities and proceedings of the meetings of WC and WA. He will also maintain accounts.
13. Participatory Rural Appraisal, Community Organization and Entry Point Activities:
This is very important exercise in watershed development projects, before getting final structure of the action plan. It is generally suggested that the selection of watershed should be done after PRA. Once the watershed development project has been sanctioned, the WDT should visit the watershed area; and organize to different self-help groups, UGs and other groups. Also, the treatment plan and interventions should be decided after extensive PRA exercise.
The renovation of village level school, Panchayat buildings, community houses, common places, drinking water sources/wells, bathing ghats, approach roads to water tanks, village roads, village sanitation improvement works etc., can be under these activities.
However, if there is water non-availability problem in the plan area, then more attention should be given on water harvesting measures and improvement in drinking water sources as compared to the other activities. The religious activities and activities for individual benefits should not be permitted.
14. Capacity Building and Training:
This is also one of the very important requirements for making successful implementation and completion of watershed development task. For this purpose, ZP/DRDA shall arrange the relevant training programmes for all the functionaries involved in watershed development.
The PIA may also ensure that the majority of the SHGs/UGs members have received basic trainings on technical and organizational aspects. In nearby area, if there is any department/institution then they should be associated for this work, which is to be done by the WDT members.
For delivering the lectures, the invited guest faculties shall be given honorarium as per prescribed norms by the State Government. In order to make better awareness, a visit can also be arranged for SHG/UG members to research stations/successful watersheds/Kisan Vikas Kendras etc. Also, the use of audio-visual media should be encouraged to increase the awareness and motivation levels among SHG/UG members.
For making the capacity building very strong, there should be established such centers in the district; or if there is already such center then that should be upgraded with the resource persons, facility for training development, dissemination of information support services for technology aspects, expertise in-social mobilization, community empowerment, self-management facilities for convergence and equity issues and provision for cross visits of the best practiced locations.
For the watershed development projects to run them successfully, the training for all the senior functionaries including PDs/CEOs at the district/block levels should also be essentially arranged, before resuming the responsibilities. And community mobilization should also be done before initiating the developmental work in the watershed projects. At officer’s level training the exposure on use of remote sensing and GIS techniques should also be included.
15. Watershed Development Plan:
The watershed development plan may be as per following requisite fields:
i. Land Development including in-situ soil and moisture conservation measures like contouring and graded bunding fortified by the plantation, bench terracing in hilly terrain, nursery raising for fodder, timber, fuel wood, horticulture & Non Timber Forest Product Species.
ii. Afforestation including block plantations, agro-forestry and horticultural development.
iii. Drainage line treatment with the combination of vegetative and engineering structures.
iv. Development of small water harvesting structures such as low-cost farm ponds, nalla bunds, check-dams and percolation tanks.
v. Renovation and augmentation of water resources, distillation of tanks for drinking water/irrigation.
vi. Pasture development either singly or in conjunction with the plantations.
vii. Repair, restoration and up-gradation of common property assets and structures in the watershed to obtain optimum and sustained result from previous public investments.
viii. Crop demonstrations for popularizing new crops or innovative management practices.
ix. Promotion and propagation of non-conventional energy saving devices and energy conservation measures.
The other details are given in the Guidelines for Watershed Development (revised 2001), Ministry Rural Development, Department of Land Resources (India), Government of India; the readers can refer that for needful.