Watershed development

Story hook

In September 1972, a young agricultural scientist named PR Mishra is sent to a barren patch of Sukhomajri village in Haryana's Shivalik foothills. The land had lost 90% of its rainfall to runoff. Mishra and the Central Soil & Water Conservation Research and Training Institute (CSWCRTI, Dehradun) build four earthen dams + contour bunds + grass strips. By 1978, runoff drops from 90% to 35%, grass cover doubles, milk yield (from improved fodder) triples. Sukhomajri becomes the textbook case for participatory watershed development — the People's Protected Forest Movement of north India.

Forty-three years later in 2015, the Cabinet rolls four central water + irrigation schemes into one umbrella — Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY). Tagline: "Har Khet Ko Pani" — water to every field. Three components: PMKSY-AIBP (Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme), PMKSY-HKKP (Har Khet Ko Pani including Watershed component), and PMKSY-PDMC (Per Drop More Crop — micro-irrigation). By March 2024, 78 lakh hectares of additional irrigation potential and 22 lakh hectares under micro-irrigation. Watershed development reaches 89 lakh ha under WDC-PMKSY since 2015-16.

Soil + water conservation is invisible while it works. India's monsoon comes for 100 hours a year. Watershed development is how a country with 4% of global water serves 17% of global population.

Why this matters for UPSC

GS-III tests PMKSY's four components (AIBP, HKKP, PDMC, WDC), watershed development typologies (rainwater harvesting, contour bunding, percolation tanks), and case studies (Hiware Bazar, Ralegan Siddhi, Sukhomajri). Prelims has tested PMKSY components (2017), Hiware Bazar (2020), Ralegan Siddhi (2021), drip-sprinkler micro-irrigation (2018). Mains regularly asks about soil moisture conservation strategy.