Department of Land Resources E-Book on Activities

Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India December, 2014

Table of Contents Acronyms ...... 3 Department of Land Resources ...... 5 Rain fed Agriculture: Key to Poverty Reduction ...... 7 Watershed Management Approach ...... 8 Background of Watershed Development in India ...... 9 Assessments of Outcomes of Pre-IWMP Projects ...... 10 Integrated Watershed Management Programme ...... 11 Objectives ...... 12 Salient Features ...... 13 Targets ...... 13 Year-wise and State-wise Progress ...... 14 Institutional Arrangements ……………………………………………………………………………………………….…….15 Technology Development Extension Training (TDET) ...... 15 Neeranchal: A Technical Assistance Project with a Difference ...... 16 New Initiatives of DoLR in Watershed Management ...... 17 Monitoring and Evaluation ...... 17 Conventional System ...... 17 Use of MIS for M&E ...... 18 PFMS for M&E and Financial Management ...... 18 Use of Mobile Apps for M&E ...... 18 Third party evaluation ...... 19 Use of Remote Sensing and GIS Technology ...... 19 Use of Bhuvan Geo Portal of IWMP ...... 19 Convergence ...... 20 Benchmarking ...... 21 Workshop on Desilting of Water Harvesting structures ...... 22 Best Practices in implementation of IWMP……………………………………………………………………….…22 Way Forward ...... 29 Rejuvenation and De-silting of Water Harvesting Structures: A Sustainability Project ...... 29 Regional Agencies for M&E ...... 29 Setting Standards for Outcome Measurement ...... 29

Watershed Development through Inter-agency Coordination...... 29 Transparency & accountability ...... 30 Adoption of State of the Art Technology ...... 30 Public-Private-Peoples’ Partnership in IWMP ...... 30 Epilogue..…………………………….…………………………………………………....………………………………...... ……..31 National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP) ...... 33 Objectives of NLRMP ...... 33 Citizen Centric Services ...... 33 Components/Activities of NLRMP ...... 34 Guidelines ...... 37 Project Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (PSMC) ...... 37 Core Technical Advisory Group (CTAG) ...... 38 NLRMP Cell ...... 38 Project Management Unit (PMU) ...... 38 Achievements...... 39 Training and Capacity Building ...... 42 Progress so far...... 43

Acronyms

ATMA Agricultural Technology Management Agency BRGF Backward Region Grant Fund CSR Corporate Social Responsibility CTAG Core Technical Advisory Group DDP Desert Development Programme DGPS Differential Global Positioning System DPAP Drought Prone Area Programme DPR Detailed Project Report DoLR Department of Land Resources DWCDC District Watershed Cell cum Data Centre EFMS Electronic Financial Management System ETS Electronic Total Station GIS Geographic Information System GP Gram Panchayat GPS Global Positioning System HRSI High Resolution Satellite Imagery ICAR Indian Council for Agricultural Research ICRISAT International Centre for Research in Semi-Arid Tropics IWDP Integrated Wasteland Development Programme IWMP Integrated Watershed Management Programme KVK Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Agricultural Knowledge Centre) LIS Land Information System LMK Lok Mitra Kendra LRMS Land Resources Management System m.ha Million hectare MCFT Million Cubic Feet MGNREGA Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act MIS Management Information System MoU Memorandum of Understanding NABARD National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development NDDB National Dairy Development Board NE North East NGO Non-Government Organization NHM National Horticulture Mission NIC National Informatics Centre NICSI National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated NLRMP National Land Records Modernization Programme NRLM National Rural Livelihood Mission NRRA National Rain fed Area Authority NRM Natural Resources Management 3

NRSC National Remote Sensing Centre PIA Project Implementing Agency PMU Project Management Unit PO Project Officer PPP Public Private Partnership PPPP Public-Private-Peoples’ Partnership PPR Preliminary Project Report PSMC Project Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee RoR Record of Rights RS Remote Sensing RTC Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops SC Scheduled Caste SLDC State Level Data Centre SoI Survey of India SPSP State Perspective and Strategic Plan SRO Sub Registrar Office ST Scheduled Tribe SLNA State Level Nodal Agency TS Total Station WC Watershed Committee WHS Water Harvesting Structure WDF Watershed Development Fund WDT Watershed Development Team WS Watershed

Department of Land Resources The Department of Land Resources, in the Ministry of Rural Development, has the task of ensuring optimum utilization and sustainable productivity of rain fed/degraded lands. One of its major goals is to facilitate effective land use system based on efficient land information system (LIS)1and Land Resources Management System (LRMS) with the aim of bringing in adigitized land titling system.

DoLR’s Mission i) To enhance the productivity of rain fed/ degraded lands and livelihood opportunities in rural areas through a participatory watershed development approach. ii) To put in place effective agrarian reforms, including an efficient land use policy, and transparent Land Records.

In July 1992, Government of India set up the Department of Wastelands in the Ministry of Rural Development. The nomenclature changed to Department of Land Resources in April 1999. A Secretary heads the Department, assisted by an Additional Secretary, two Joint Secretaries, one Economic Advisor, Directors and Deputy Secretaries and other Ministerial Staff. The total strength of the Department is around 130. Organogram of the department is at the end of this document.

The Department has listed its various services and transactions, specifying responsible person for each group of transactions/services and the prescribed service standards, grievance redress mechanism as well as stakeholders and clients. The Client Charter also specifies the expectations from service recipients.

Shri BirenderSinghji, Hon. Minister MoRD Watershed development in India traces its origin from River Valley Projects (1963). The Drought Prone Area Programme (1972-73) tackled specific problems of drought- affected areas and Desert Development Programme (1977-78) addressed the problems of desert areas. The

1Citizens/Client Chart, 2013-14

Mrs. VandanaKumari Jena, Secretary DoLR5 scheme of Watershed Management in Flood Prone Rivers commenced in 1980-81. Other programmes like Water Harvesting/Conservation Programme (1982-83), National Watershed Development Programme of Rain fed Areas (1990) and Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (1989) built on the foundations of the previous programmes.

The magnitude of the work of the department is evident from the fact that it is dealing with 550 sub catchments and 3237 watersheds.These management units lie in 6 River Resource Basins, 35 Basins and 112 Catchments.

DoLR has two Divisions, namely Watershed Management Division and Land Reforms Division. Watershed Management Division deals with all programmes and policies related to watersheds whereas Land Reforms Division deals with all matters related to land records and land reform policies.

DoLR is an ISO 9001:2008 entity. It has a public in the form of the website named as dolr.nic.in. Major Information headings are Programmes, Guidelines, Budget, Monitoring and Evaluation, Tenders, Reports, Public Grievances, Acts and Rules and RTI. The “Explore DoLR” menu contains the following screens.

 Client's Charter  Grievance Redress Mechanism  ISO 9001:2008 QMS Certificate  Conferences  Allocation Business Rules  Objectives  Organogram  Locations 6

 Annual Report  Wasteland Atlas of India The other menus are “updates”, “events” and “announcements”. Expression of Interest for contractual assignments are invariably notified in the updates menu, besides being advertised in selected national and regional newspapers. INDIA’S RAIN-FED AGRO- Public can get details of all the major schemes implemented by the ECOLOGIES department through the website. The wbsite contains other useful information like Who is Who in the Department, the document of They contribute 68% of Land Acquisition Act, Results Framework, Public Grievances etc. cropped area and 100% of The public can also seek information through SMS. forest. They also support 66% of livestock.

Rainfed Agriculture: Key to Poverty Reduction They provide security of Rainfed agriculture, on which most of the world’s poor people livelihood, employment, depend, covers 80% of cultivated land and contributes 60% of world’s income and environment. food. In India, rain fed agriculture accounts for 68% cropped area, About 87% of pulses and minor providing livelihoods to 480 million people. Of the 127 agro-climatic millets, 80% of horticulture, 66% of cotton, 77% of oilseeds Rain-fed areas are the areas growing crops under conditions and 50% of cereals are of natural rainfall only. In 1999-2000, out of 141.23 million cultivated in unirrigated ha of “net sown area,” 85 million was rain-fed area. conditions. The economics in these regions is complex, fragile, and zones in India, 73 are rain-fed areas, characterized by constraints in prone to distress. These areas water availability, higher poverty ratios, lower population density, and are also ethno-economically difficult access to markets, employment and services. These regions unique and diverse. are more susceptible to drought, land degradation and environmental Agriculture in these areas has stress. Climate variability affects these areas more acutely than low levels of investment. irrigatedareas, Growth rate of unirrigated threatening production systems is livelihoods. relatively higher than irrigated Per capita availability of land, Yields from rain-fed water and vegetation is systems, due to over decreasing due to demographic agriculture are exploitation of ground water growth. In this context, the only lower by two to resources in dry land areas. way to enhance competitiveness five folds in semi- Precipitation is the source of and profitability of farmers is to arid tropical agro- improve the efficiency of inputs, river flows, all water bodies particularly water. Management ecosystems than and ground water. Therefore, of common property resources is the achievable in- situ conservation of crucial for the livelihood, yields. Although moisture and ground water environmental and cultural the contribution of resources is the key to security of the landless and other enhancing productivity. resource poor people. agriculture to GDP has been reducing over the years and now stands at 16 per cent, the proportion of people depending on agriculture for their livelihoods is very high at approximately 70 per cent of the population.

Thoughgreen revolution has mitigated food shortage of 1960s, its limits have become evident Wasteland is degraded land, which can come under through high input costs, excess withdrawal of vegetative cover with reasonable effort and which is ground water and environmental pollution. currently under-utilized or land which is deteriorating due to lack of appropriate water and Agricultural productivity advancement in irrigated soil management or natural causes. Wastelands can areas has reached a plateau.Untapped potential for result from inherent or imposed disabilities such as yield enhancement exists in rain fed areas, which is location, environment, chemical and physical possible through sustainable intensification of rain- properties of soil or financial and management fed agriculture.More than one-third of the constraints. Some wastelands are “wasted” lands additional requirement of food grains (estimated at due to improper use or over exploitation. 102 million tons) has to come from rain-fed lands. We can achieve this only through sustainablewatershed-based land use planning, intensification in land use, and increased efficiency of resources.

The extent of wastelands in the country was estimated to be 63.85 m. ha (year 2000), 55.64 m. ha (2005) and 47.23 m. ha (2010).2 The declining trend of wastelands is encouraging and is the result of watershed management activities spearheaded by DoLR as well as other Government Departments and non-governmental agencies.

Watershed Management Approach

Watershed management is one of the most important options that provide a constructive framework to address the challenges in rain-fed areas in India. Watershed development helpsto improve the recharge of local aquifers and down-stream water flows. It helps farmers better manage surface and ground water resources. It also increases vegetative cover increasing agricultural productivity and decreases soil erosion. It is very crucial to farmers to adapt to climatic change. Ultimately, watershed development leads to improved

2 Wastelands Atlas of India 2000, 2005 and 2010 8 livelihoods for people.

A watershed is the area of land, which forms a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community3. Watersheds are of different shapes and sizes. The actual sizes of the catchments vary according to local geographic actors and density of settlements within it. They cut across administrative and political boundaries.

Watershed is part of a river basin and is the basic planning unit for treatment. The actual sizes of the catchments vary according to local geographic factors and density of settlements within the watershed, but usually range from 10,000 to 50,000 ha. The lower planning units of watersheds are sub-watersheds and micro watersheds.

A Typical Watershed

Watershed is a Geo-Hydrological unit which drains to a common point or outlet

Ridge line

Valley Watershed Development Watershed classification ( Sq.Km) • Ideal for rainfed areas • Basin 50,000 • Aims at Soil and Moisture Conservation • Catchment 5,000 • Land use according to capability • Watershed 500 • Reduce soil erosion and runoff • Sub watershed 50 • Improve biomass • Micro watershed 5 (AISLUS)

As per wasteland atlas of India there are six river resource regions (average size of 55 m. ha), 35 river basins (average size 9.4 m.ha), 112 Catchments (average size of 3 m.ha), 550 sub catchments (average size of 0.7 m.ha) and 3257 watersheds (average size of 0.1m.ha).

3John Wesley Powell, Geographer 9

Background of Watershed Development in India Watershed management practices have gradually evolved from a top-down, supply driven approach, to a more participatory and demand driven modelthat aims to work closely with communities as partners. It integrates soil and water conservation interventions with rural livelihoods support.

The Department of Land Resources has been the major department that has been driving watershed development and management from the time of its inception. The Department adopted the watershed approach following guidelines framed on the recommendations of C.H. Hanumantha Rao Committee (1994). A revision of the guidelines took place in year 2001 to make them more focused, transparent and suitable to local requirements. The Department further revised the guidelines in 2003 as Hariyali guidelines, involving the Panchayats as the focal points for watershed development programmes.

The Parthasarathy Committee, constituted in 2005, addressed the issues in watershed programmes and recommended viable strategies and mechanisms for effective implementation. Following the recommendations, the National Rain fed Area Authority, framed Common Guidelines, 2008, for all Ministries and Departments.

Assessments of Outcomes of Pre-IWMP Projects An evaluation study conducted by NIRD for the period from 1stApril 2002 to 31stMarch 2005 in 947 completed watersheds spread over 169 districts in 17 States revealed several positive impacts of the pre-IWMP schemes. These included increase of water table by 1.2 meter on an average, increase of drinking water availability from 68% to 82%, increase of cropping intensity from 131 to 139 and reduction in soil erosion by 40%. Per micro-watershed of 500 ha, 48.5 ha of cultivable waste land was brought under cultivation, additional area of 26 ha was brought under rain fed farming and 46 ha under irrigated cultivation, 65 ha of area was brought under vegetative cover and milk production increased by 25.64%. Average Benefit cost ratio worked out to 2.6 and IRR was 26.6%. The Energy Research Institute (TERI)’s compendium (2004) on impacts of watershed interventions in 230 districts of 16 States showed the following positive outcomes:  Overall improvement in land use reflected in increase in net sown area, gross cropped area and area sown more than once;  Increase in number of irrigation options in all areas of watershed projects;  Availability of irrigation water in the dry season;  Increase in fuel wood and fodder availability;  Increase in agriculture related employment opportunities;  Marked preference for improved breed of milkcattle;  Emergence of fishery potential following the development of tanks and other water bodies.

ICRISAT’s meta-analysis of 636 micro-level evaluation studies (2008) revealed that watershed program is providing multiple benefits in terms of increasing rural employment, crop yields and croppingintensity (+35.5%), reducing 10 runoff and soil loss(-45%), augmenting ground water, building social capital and reducing poverty.The programmes were successful, to a great extent, in achieving the objectives of conserving soil and water to raise farm productivity.

An average of about 38 ha m. additional water storage capacity became available. Irrigated area increased by 52%and cropping intensity by 35.5%. Benefits were relatively more in poor income regions

Success Story: Agricultural transformation in a Dry area of Tamil Nadu

Athoor and Natham villages of NaduKupilipatti Watershed, Kodaikanal Block in Dindigul District has low irregular rainfall, hilly ranges with ridges, slope ranging between 7 to 13% and severe soil erosion. Pit cum bund proved the most appropriate soil conservation structure in the geography. Motivated farmers built Continuous trenches with dimension of 10m x 0.90m x 0.90m with 0.70m gap between the trenches. Farmers constructed earthen bunds in the downstream of the slope continuously and levelled the fields in between the trenches. Near the reserve forest boundary, where the breadth of the land is 400 meters, they built eight rows of pit chain and planted trees wherever moisture was available.

The watershed received 275 mm of rainfall between 21– 27 of November 2010 and the earthen structures harvested much of the water. The structures trapped 45cm to 10cm depth of topsoil from the highest elevation in the ridge to the bottom of the field. Further, 11 wells in the downstream portion became recharged up to 58 feet (total depth 65 feet). With this, farmers started taking a second crop after the end of kharifseason. and in rainfall regions ranging between 700 mm to 1000 mm. In dryland regions, watershed programme strengthened agriculture and allied activities,through various technological interventions, particularly soil and water conservation and land use diversification. The benefit accrued more in watersheds with satisfactory levels of peoples’ participation.

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) Following the Parthasarathy Report and Common Guidelines, the various watershed programmes viz. DPAP, DDP and IWDP merged into single modified programme, named as the Integrated Watershed Management Programme. The scheme became operational with effect from 26.02.2009.This flagship programme of Government of India is being implemented by DoLR in all States of the country. It has an outlay of Rs 29000 crores for the 12th Plan. The programme will continue during 13th and 14th Five-Year Plans as well.

Preceding the IWMP, the National Development Council’s Sub-committee on Agricultural and Related Issues on Dryland/ Rainfed System including Regeneration of Degraded/ Wastelands/ Watershed Development Programme headed by the then Honorable Chief Minister of Gujarat and presently Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, submitted its report recommending several measures to improve the effectiveness of IWMP.Majority ofthe recommendations of the Working Group, are beingadopted. Today IWMP is the major programme of Government of India that tackles the problems of rain-fed area in general and wastelands in particular. The IWMP is the second largest watershed program in the world, after China. Objectives The main objectives of the IWMP are to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water. The outcomes are prevention of soil erosion, regeneration of natural vegetation, rainwater harvesting and recharging of the ground water table. This enables multi-cropping and the introduction of diverse agro-based activities, which help to provide sustainable livelihoods to the people residing in the watershed area.

Today watershed development, spearheaded by IWMP, has reinvented itself as holistic watershed plus approach. Activities under IWMP i. Soil and Moisture Conservation including rain water In addition to its traditional core strategy of harvesting conserving natural resources, it also aims at ii. Agriculture and allied activities including forestry, stabilizing rural livelihood through its multi- horticulture and pasture development and livestock sector approach. Its activities include soil development and water conservation, agriculture and iii. Livelihood activities through Income Generation allied activities including agro-forestry, Activities (IGA) horticulture, livestock, fishery and iv. Production System improvement and micro-enterprises promotion of rural livelihood through v. Capacity building and awareness programmes alternative income generating options vi. Involving people in project planning, implementation, along with production system improvement monitoring and evaluation

and microenterprises.

Conservation of water is thecore of IWMP, which follows the ridge to valley approach, giving utmost importance to hydrological aspects in addition to soil conservation. All other sector interventions rest holistically on this

hydrological foundation. The programme builds on water needs and water-harvesting potential of the area and addresses the issues of poverty, food and water. Besides, the programme has imbibed the equity issue in its design itself, which makes it a unique developmental programme. The IWMP has in- built mechanism addressing the basis needs of food and water, particularly of the vulnerable and poor. In its watershed plus approach, it has taken upon the onus of building the capacity of the rural community in meeting the futuristic demands of maintaining ecological balance, addressing the challenges of climate change,along with appropriate forward linkages achieving sustainable growth.

Salient Features The process of sanctioning of IWMP projects starts with States preparing State Perspective and Strategic Plan (SPSP). After this, States prepare Preliminary Project Reports (PPR) for project area coverage in a particular year. After approval of SPSP and PPRs, the SLNAs present them to the Criteria for Allocation of Funds to States Steering Committee for appraisal. After i. Identified DPAP/DDP areas in the State as percentage of total DPAP area in the country. receiving approval from theSteering ii. Total treatable area of wastelands in the State as Committee, SLNAs sanction individual percentage of total treatable wastelands in the country; projects. After this concerned officials, in iii. Total SC/ST population of the State as percentage of consultation with the watershed SC/ST population of the country; community prepare Detailed Project iv. Percentage of rain-fed area in the State to total cultivated area in the country; Reports (DPRs). The Centre and State v. 10% mandatory allocation to North-Eastern States. share the programme budget at 90:10 proportions. Targets The total area that requires treatment covers 116 million ha – 85 million ha of rain fed portion of net cultivated area and 31 million ha of cultivable waste. DoLR had taken up the target of treating 32.1 million ha for treatment until the 11th plan. The actual area sanctioned was 24.2 million ha. in 28 States. This left a balance of 55.59 million ha to be treated between 12th and 14th Plan periods. The physical target for the 12th Plan is 25 million ha. Table 1: Status of Watershed Programmestill 11th Plan Sl. No Details Area (million ha) 1 Total geographical area 329 2 Total net cultivated area 142 3 Rainfed portion of net cultivated area 85 4 Cultivable wasteland 31 5 Total area to be treated 116 6 Area taken up till end of 11th plan by DoLR 32.2 7 Total area sanctioned up to 11th plan 24.21 8 Balance to be treated 59.59

IWMP’s Distinguishing Features  Dedicated institutions with multidisciplinary experts: Steering Committee at Ministry level; State Nodal Agency (SLNA); District Watershed Cell cum Data Centre (DWCDC); Project Implementing Agency (PIA);  Village level Watershed Committee (WC) ensures peoples’ participation.  Projects are in clusters of about 5000 ha. Cost norm is Rs. 12000 per ha in plains and 15000 in difficult/hilly areas. Project period is 4-7 years.  Scientific planning, monitoring and evaluation, using IT, remote sensing and GIS.  Earmarking of project funds: DPR (1%), Entry point activities (4%), Capacity building (5%), Monitoring (1%) and Evaluation (1%).  9 % of project fund for livelihoods for people without assets and 10% for production system & microenterprises.  Funds released in two instalments of 60% and 40% of annual requirement; Delegation of power of sanction of funds to States.  Projects are implemented in three phases- Preparatory, Work and Consolidation

Year-wise and State-wise Progress Between years 2005-06 to 2008-09i.e. Pre-IWMP period, an area of 5240.78 sq. km of wasteland has come under productive use4. Watershed management programme of Department of Land Resources, in the pre-IWMP was largely responsible for this positive outcome. DoLR has exceeded its target set for the 11th plan by sanctioning additional 6m.ha against the set target covering 27 states. Further as on April 2014, total number of project sanctioned is 7204 covering an area of 34.364 m.ha. An amount of Rs. 8747.55 has been released so far by DoLR to the states for implementation of these sanctioned projects.

Institutional Arrangements Presently there is only one watershed programme of the Govt. of India namely Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP). The institutional set up under IWMP at the National and State levels are as below: (i)Ministry Level: The DoLR has the necessary institutional mechanism in the form of Steering Committee for effective and professional management of watershed projects. This Committee inter alia appraises and clears the project proposals of the States.

(ii)State Level: State Level Nodal Agency (SLNA): In every State a State Level Nodal Agency (SLNA) has been constituted with professional support. The SLNAs is a dedicated institution responsible for implementation of IWMP in the State which has a full-time CEO. Team of 4 to 7 professional experts in the disciplines of Agriculture, Water-Management, Capacity Building, Social Mobilization, Information Technology, Administration, etc. will assist the SLNA

(iii) District level: Watershed Cell cum Data Center (WCDC): WCDC consist of Project Manager, 3 to 6 full-time staff, comprising of subject matter specialist on Agriculture, Water-management, other as

4Wasteland Atlas of India, 2011. 14 appropriate, Management and Data Entry Operator. WCDC is the dedicated institution responsible for implementation of IWMP in the district level. Team of professional experts assists the WCDC. (iv) Project Level: Project Implementing Agency (PIA) - NGOs, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Government Department are functioning as PIA. Each PIA has Watershed Development Team (WDT) consisting of 3 to 4 technical experts.

Watershed Committees (WC):These are the implementing body of the project. It consist of at least10 members, half of which represent SHGs, User Groups (UGs), SC/ST community, women and landless. In addition one member from Watershed Development Team (WDT) also inducted in the WC. The Watershed Development Team assists the watershed committee to plan and implement the program at the project level.

Technology Development Extension Training (TDET) The TDET scheme became operational in 1993-94 with the main objective of undertaking Innovative Technology Development Pilot and Action Research Projects, replicable demonstration models and extension and training. The aim is to address contemporary problems on watershed management and planning, implementation and post- project utilization stages. ICAR institutes, State agricultural universities, District Rural Development Agencies and Government institutions with adequate institutional set up Poly bag Rubber Nursery in Tripura and organization back up are the implementing partners. Important activities include development of data base on waste lands, promotion and testing of various agro-forestry models in different agro-climatic zones of the country, test effective technologies for increasing productivity of saline and alkaline soils, promotion of medicinal and herbal plantations in non- forest wastelands, composite technologies for water harvesting, treatment of degraded lands through bio-fertilizers, food stock model technique etc.

One of the major outcomes of this scheme is the Wasteland Atlas of India, brought out by DoLR in collaboration with NRSC, which provides category wise and district wise information on wasteland in States. Other important outputs include development of “Gram Panchayat QGIS” software by IIT Madras, digital mapping and prioritization of watersheds in three States, pilot project of IIT Delhi to convert domestic and farm waste into bio-fertilizers and using the fertilizer on trees in public wasteland in Haryana and Rajasthan. Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology has developed an integrated model for 15 reclamation of saline lands in the Rann of Kutch. Forest Development Agency, Solan has demonstrated the usefulness of peoples’ participation in reclaiming forest wastelands through cultivation of medicinal plants. Minor Irrigation Department, Sangli has completed a pilot project in executing a sub-surface drainage system in waterlogged and saline lands.During 2014-15(up to December 2014), DoLR released Rs. 97 lakh under the scheme for implementation of ongoing projects.

Neeranchal: A Technical Assistance Project with a Difference In collaboration with World Bank, Government of India, through DoLR has formulated a six-year project (2014-15 to 2019-20), christened as “Neeranchal”. All preparatory works including project formulation, preparation of Project Implementation Plan, Social and Environmental Assessment, Grievance Redress Mechanism and preliminary baseline and appraisal by World Bank are complete. Technical negotiation between Department of Economic Affairs and the World Bank is also complete. The cabinet note on the project is with the Cabinet Secretariat. The project cost is Rs 2142 crores, shared equally by Government of India and the World Bank.

Neeranchal’s development objective is to support IWMP) The partner States are Andhra Pradesh, to improve incremental conservation outcomes and Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya agricultural yields for communities in selected sites, and Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan adoption of new processes and technologies into the and Telengana.The project will cover 18 broader programme in participating project States. districts of these States. These project areas will serve as “live laboratories” of innovation. These States, together, constitute about 60% of India’s rain fed area.

The project will contribute to improve outcomes in watershed management intwo districts in each participating State. Each of the watersheds will be of about 5,000 ha. The project would initially focus on 80The sub project-watersheds will contribute with intensive to improved support watershed for piloting and demonstration. After theinitial phase of intensivemanagement support, activities the pr inoject two would districts scale in each up innovations in additional 320 sub-watersheds of IWMP in theparticipating nine focal States State.. EachThus, of the the project watersheds will cover will be400 of watersheds. about 5,000 ha. The project would initially focus on 80 Neeranchalsub-watersheds is a technical with intensive assistance support project, for piloting aimed toand strengthen and demonstrate models for efficient implemedemonstration.ntation ofAfter watershed this initial programmes.phase of intensive The project will strengthen key national and State institutionssupport, the including project DoLR, would SLNAs scale upand successful field staff in participating States. These agencies will benefit from improvedinnovations coordination into IWMP of in research an additional and approaches320 sub- that are more effective for technology transfer to watersheds in the eight focal States, within the selected communities and farmers. Once successfully demonstrated, all States will replicate such models. The districts, the total number of watersheds taken up experiences gained and innovations developed will feed into the implementation of the IWMP in the 28 reaching 400. States of the country where IWMP is under implementation.

There are four components of the project. The first component is Central Institutional and Capacity Building for Watershed Management with the subcomponents ofCapacity Building and Institutional Development at National level, National Information and Data Centre, Communications, Monitoring and Evaluation and Catchment and River basin planning support. 16

The second component is National Innovation support in watershed management. The subcomponents are Agricultural Performance, Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Innovations and Decision Support Systems and Database for Hydrology and Watershed Management. The priority will be to identify and pilot innovations and applied research for rollout in participating States under Component 3. Focus areas would be hydrology, watershed strategies, agriculture, rural livelihoods and climate change.

The major chunk of project funds is for Integrated Watershed Management Program component 3, IWMP Implementation Support in Participating States. Subcomponents are: Support Component 1 for Improved Program Integration in Rain fed CapacityBuilding Areas, Institutional strengthening, Adoption of Component 4 R&D and Technology Transfer, State level Project Management Component 3 Management and Coordination,State Specific Innovations and Pilots and Urban Watersheds Component 2 Implementation and piloting in Development. Research & 8 States through Innovation IWMP institutions The fourth and last component is ProgrammeManagement Support to help DoLRwith resources to carry out management IWMP Neeranchal strategies under the project. Programme Project All the components are inter- related and support each other and work in the overall context of IWMP’s objectives and systems as shown in figure alongside.

Another unique feature of the project is that eminent scientific and research bodies as well as non- governmental and corporate bodies, both national and international, would be key partners with the government in implementing key activities of the project.

New Initiatives of DoLR in Watershed Management DoLR has taken a number of new initiatives to revamp implementation of watershed programme all over the country, as described in this section.

Monitoring and Evaluation DoLR is giving central place for monitoring and evaluation as key management functions that enable timely course correction and strategy changes to ensure that the project achieves objectives and to assess its benefits and impacts of various project activities.

Conventional System Conventional monitoring tools like review meetings by the Steering Committee, Regional review meetings, and quarterly review meetings chaired by Secretary DOLR, monthly and quarterly progress reports, utilization certificates and Audited statement of accounts are the first line in the monitoring system of IWMP. The responsible body at the state level for monitoring is the SLNA. Nodal officers visit

17 project areas to ensure that activities are running on track. State level Vigilance and Monitoring Committees constituted by Ministry of Rural Development also review progress and provide guidance.

After completion of each phase of any project (preparatory phase, work phase and consolidation and withdrawal phase), there is a mandate to make a comprehensive evaluation of the projects. The department has shortlisted independent research agencies to conduct impartial evaluation of such projects. The focus will be on outcomes and impacts uniquely due to project interventions.

Use of MIS for M&E The Department of Land Resources is working on a robust MIS (Management Information System) to get real time information on a regular basis to enable decision-making. National Informatics Centre developed the MIS for IWMP.

PFMS for M&E and Financial Management DoLR has adopted the Project Financial Management Systemfor IWMP. PFMS can track the funds position of all registered accounts, enable monitoring of bank balances and transactions of accounts in real time and maintain records of all funds released under the programme. PFMSprovides an online platform for expenditure filing for all schemes. The same interface can keep track of available bank balance and component wise expenditure.

Mobile data on Bhuvan Server – For view/ Analysis Use of Mobile Apps for M&E DoLR has developed user-friendly android-based software under the TDET programme, facilitating online monitoring of the activities in the field. The application allows for uploading the photos along with the GPS locations, directly from the

18 field. This enables real time monitoring, facilitating immediate corrective measures. The mobile app will be available for free download by the public for providing any feedback on the programme. The community can use it easily, ensuring high levels of transparency.

Independent External MEL&D Agency Third party evaluation Besides real-time web based monitoring, the department has shortlisted third party professional organizations to undertake concurrent monitoring and evaluation of ongoing projects. These organizations will act as regional hubs in five regions, coordinating and guiding the state level monitoring institutions. Concurrent monitoring will focus on flow of inputs and their conversion into outputs, preliminary outcomes, project processes including livelihood promotion, promotion of peoples’ participation, institutional development and capacity building, among others.

Use of Remote Sensing and GIS Technology The Department has encouraged States to adopt state of the art technology of Remote Sensing and Geographical information System in selection of watershed, watershed characterization, watershed prioritization, analysis of natural resources, identification of constraints, etc. The technology is useful at all stages - development of action plan, implementation of the plan, monitoring and assessing impact. GIS is the technology adopted as a tool for analyzing

New Technologies and integrating the spatial and non-spatial data in the • Remote Sensing (RS) • Geographical Information System (GIS) Optimally used for project. It is used as an information database, an • Management Information System (MIS) • SATCOM • Participatory planning analytical tool and a decision support system. Thematic • Project Implementation information generated from satellite and other ancillary • Monitoring & Evaluation • Impact Assessment information is integrated under GIS domain to generate • Capacity Building specific action plan on micro-watershed basis. The National Remote Sensing Centre of ISRO and its State Remote Sensing Centres are partnering with the DoLR GIS based Action Plan in Gujarat and SLNAs in this activity.

Use of Bhuvan Geo Portal of IWMP The Bhuvan-IWMP Geo portal 5of ISRO is under construction for use in planning, monitoring and management of IWMP projects. This portal provides a host of services, including visualization, download of free satellite data and products of specified period and resolution and thematic maps of land use, land cover and wastelands.

Visualization of Watershed and Micro watershed Boundaries

The main features of the proposal are to undertake Monitoring & Evaluation of watersheds in all States where IWMP is operating since 2009, to provide a customized software tools on the Bhuvan Geo-portal for monitoring IWMP projects and carrying out hydrological assessment using Remote Sensing Technology in selected pilot watersheds. To begin with,NRSC has uploaded details of 50 districts on the portal for close monitoring. Officials from 10 States underwenttraining to familiarize themselves on using the portal.

Convergence Watershed management projects require coordination between various Ministries and departments and dovetailing of all available resources. Convergence is a process that brings in shared values and responsibilities among stakeholders to achieve common objectives and mutual benefit around targeted programmes. Convergence helps in upscaling successful efforts, and facilitates wider impact through joint actions and resource sharing.

5 Bhuvan is the Geoportal of Indian Space Research Organization, show casing Indian imaging capabilities in multi-sensor, multi- platform and multi-temporal domain. This Earth browser provides a gateway to explore and discover virtual earth in 3D space with specific emphasis on the Indian Region. 20

To facilitate convergence, the Department undertook a rigorous exercise to identify possibilities of convergence of IWMP with other programmes. DoLR has prepared a convergence matrix in consultation with other Ministries and States. The matrix lists the various Ministries/Departments, agencies/institutions and laid down responsibilities within the IWMP implementing institutions to strive for convergence at the field level. The Convergence Matrix would be a mandatory part of DPR.Table 2 lists the Ministries/Departments and Programmes with whome convergence is desirable and possible.

Table 2: Ministries, Departments and Schemes for convergence with IWMP

S No Ministry/Department Programme/Scheme

1 Ministry of Agriculture and RashtriyaKrishiVigyanYojana; National Mission on Oilseeds Cooperation and Pulses; National Horticulture Mission; National Dairy Development Programme, Livestock Heath and Disease Control Programme; National Fisheries Development Programme; ATMA, Farmer Field Schools, KVK 2 Ministry of Environment and National Mission on Climate Change Adaptation Forests Green India Mission 3 NABARD/insurance Kisan Credit Card Scheme, agricultural insurance, micro- insurance, SHG-Bank Linkage schemes Ministry of Water Resources Artificial Well Recharge Scheme 5 Ministry of Rural Development National Livelihood Mission, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Programme 6 Panchayati Raj Backward Region Grant Fund 7 Ministry of Drinking Water National Rural Water Supply Programme (particularly Supply and Sanitation provision for sustainability structures) 8 Existing Planning systems that Comprehensive Agricultural Development Plans can be banked upon to prepare Strategic Research and Extension Plan; Block Action Plans of DPRs ATMA; Potential Linked Credit Plans of NABARD BRGF District Perspective Plans 9 Institutions/Research Bodies National Institute of Hydrology, National Horticulture Board, National Dairy Development Board, NABARD, ICAR network, National Institute of Rural Development, State Level Training Institutions for Rural development

Benchmarking Watershed management has become a complex activity with the inclusion of ‘watershed plus’ activities. These activities go far beyond conventional soil and water conservation measures where assessments are straightforward. As IWMP has to traverse a wide variety of inter related sectors (natural resources management, production systems and livelihoods, capacity and institution building and convergence

21 with multiple programmes), DoLR has initiated the processof setting benchmarks/performance standards for IWMP in eight agro-climatic regions and six sectors. The benchmark values will help to assess programme outcomes. As a part of this task, key indicators have been identified for various sectors like agriculture, soil & water conservation, forestry, horticulture, hydrology (groundwater and surface water), livestock, institutional aspects, etc. The benchmark values are specified considering the regional variations, i.e. separate values for each of the regions. The initial set of benchmarks are as follows: i) Surface water availability should increase and Ground water will increase by 2-3 metersfrom base line; ii) Wastelands should become productive by the end of project at least to the extent of 20 to 25% per watershed; iii) Cropping intensity should increase by 20 to 30% from baseline; iv) Agricultural productivity should increase by 25 to 30%; v) At least 50% of resource poor people in the project area (landless, marginal and small farmers) should have improved livelihoods vi) At least 50% of watershed communities should manage and sustain the assets created.

The identified agro-climatic regions are Hill States and North East, Southern Plateau region, Mid- Gangetic plains (UP and Bihar); Forest dominated States (MP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand), Desert and extremely water scarce areas (Rajasthan and Gujarat) and coastal regions. Workshop on De-silting of Water Harvesting structures The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India had given a directive to all concerned Ministries and Departments to give priority attention to advance preparation for monsoon 2015, by creating/augmenting water storage capacity in small water harvesting structures and check dams through either new constructions or rehabilitation /rejuvenation and de-silting of existing structures. Following this directive, DoLR organized a two-day workshop on Construction and De-silting of Check dams/Water Harvesting Structures in Preparation of Monsoon Dr.K.P. Krishnan Addl Secretary addressing 2015 on 20to 21 November 2014, with more than 200 participants. The workshop resulted in a resolve of the participants to create sufficient storage capacity in all water storage structures built under watershed development programmes to both ward off potential drought and the threat of floods. Dr.Sandeep Dave, Joint Secretary making presentation

Best Practices in implementation of IWMP

ICT Initiatives in Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh SLNA has designed transaction-based software that provides end-to-end solution in implementation and institutionalizes the operational process for IWMP. The key modules are: (a)Administrative modules,in which checks and counter checks are in built in the system to alert & restrict when ceilings on various administrative expenditure is at variance with the specification (b) Accounts module, whose features are identification of key persons with delegated financial powers through Digital Signature Keys , provision to ensure that not more than two advances are outstanding at any point of time; (c) Institutional and capacity building module, which facilitates project specific tracking of various community mobilization activities;

(d) DPR module which includes predefined base format details, SES (Socio Economic Survey) and PNP (Participatory Net Planning) formats, Action Plans etc.;

(e) Reports module, which facilitates generation of reports at field, district and state levels.

An FMS package is functional which enables convergence of IWMP with MGREGS, through a facility to draw funds from both the schemes: Dry land horticulture payments are drawn directly from NREGS by using the same DSK (Digital Signature Key) thus resulting in the best possible convergence.

Diploma in Watershed Management in Jharkhand In view of high attrition rate of WDT members, the State decided to design a Diploma in Watershed management course in collaboration with Birsa Agriculture University and IGNOU with the idea that the candidates who successfully pass out from the course are inducted into IWMP projects as WDT members. The candidates get good exposure in Watershed management, Production Enhancement, Livelihood, DPR writing, Estimation of different works, Accounting, Monitoring, Evaluation etc. Most of the candidates are rural youth and the minimum educational qualification is 10+2. There 23

are eight courses of 4 credits each, namely, fundamentals of watershed management, elements of hydrology, soil and water conservation, rain fed farming, livestock and pasture management, horticulture and agroforestry system, fund monitoring, evaluation and capacity building and project formulation.

Diploma Watershed Management course is a vocational course designed by IGNOU and facilitated by DoLR. This course is a boon for the unemployed youth of Jharkhand because getting Job for 10+2 students with higher salary with more opportunities. There is demand to enhance the number of DWM seats across the Jharkhand.

Tackling Jhum Cultivation through Plantations in Nagaland Jhum cultivation provides sustenance to 75% of the Nagas. An average farmer cultivates a jhum field for two consecutive years. More than 15 crops are cultivated in a single jhumfield. Average jhum cycle is 6- 8 years. Jhuming has become unsustainable under increasing population pressure and shorter rotations. Jhuming aggravates soil erosion due to denudation of the surface and exposure to all the weather elements.Most families are unable to produce sufficient food to meet their food requirements.

The strategies to tackle the problem of jhum cultivation were encouraging plantations in sync with the current jhum system, integrating cash crops under the plantations, bringing convergence with other schemes, linking farmers to markets and gradually moving towards settled agriculture. Plantations were mainly of rubber, tea, areca nut, sugarcane, horticultural crops like orange, passion fruit, pineapple and banana as well astrees having commercial as well as environmental benefits.Along with plantations,the department encouraged Freshly cut Jhum area in at Chuchuyimlang village, Mokokchung District subsidiary activities like planting of medicinal, aromatic and spice plants, pisci-culture and beekeeping.

Net Planning in Karnataka Karnataka is the first state to develop the Net Plan software, which is a web based online application. The software supports systematic data base creation. It enables treatment of both Private and Common land and Survey Number -wise data entry. Data entry takes place at the village level. Usernames are created based on the district name followed by project number (Unique identification of each project). DEO and technical staff

enter data in the software. The information provided by the system is accessible to all. The community has been fully involved in the net planning process for IWMP projects. Net planning is a process of preparing treatment plan for entire watershed area, survey number wise and beneficiary wise. The process of net planning is as follows:

Step 1: The first stage is formation of the planning group. Groups consists of technical staff, NGO staff and representitives of CBOs.

Step 2: The group then takes a transect walk of the entire watershed area. The group prepares a time schedule to visit farmers field. Farmers get intimation in advance to be present in their fields. Net Planning normally takes place when there is no standing crops in the field. The route of the Transect Walk is from Ridge to Valley. The team visits every survey number, lists existing structures/trees etc. After the walk technically feasible activities are prioritized

Step 3: Preparation of Preliminary Plan: This involves revalidation of information collected in traverse survey, clearing of doubts, finalisation of treatments that are to be taken up on private lands and common lands and consolidation of the plan,using software enabled activity-wise unit cost ready reckoner. Step 4: Resource Map: Farmers mark the resources like Nalas (drainage lines), existing soil & water conservation structures, Tree/plant resources, important land features, types of lands with boundaries of common lands as well as private lands. Farmersmark the proposed activities on private and common lands.

Step 5: Revalidate and finalize the proposedactivities, which are not detrimental to environment and society. The facilitator readsthe plan loudly so that farmers know about the proposed treatments in private lands, common lands and drainage lines. He also informs about the budget and farmers contribution.

Success Story: Earthen Economic Kitchen Hearth in Nagaland

A Naga family burns about four MT of fuel-wood per family per annum. In the State as a whole, 1.5 million MT of fuel- wood valued at Rs.450 crores is consumed annually. This involves cutting down of two million trees every year. The introduction of earthen economic kitchen hearth in all IWMP villages in Nagaland was an experiment to mitigate the bad environmental effect of fuel wood consumption. It is a simple and cheap device constructed with locally available material. The stove emits stronger heat, reducing cooking time, emits lesssmoke than the conventional cooking, and saves fuel by 40%. This simple initiative will save fuel-wood worth Rs.200 crore and save about 1 milliontrees annually standing trees annually. 25

Use of Geo-membrane in lining of tanks in Jammu and Kashmir Farm ponds or tanks have been the main rainwater storage device In Jammu and Kashmir. A major problem that reduced the efficiency of tanks was seepage of water. Lining of tanks with bricks, stones and cementconcrete was tried, without much result. Use of geo-membrane was successful. Geo- membrane is an LDPE film. It is laid on the tank.

In Larkipora village of district Anantnag (IWMP-1-2011- 12) a tank was lined with geo membrane under IWMP I the year 2011-12. This helped in arresting seepage and the ability of the tank to hold water for a longer period. In a short period, all the surrounding land wasconverted to vegetable cultivation or fruit tree plantation. Productivity of surrounding orchards increased considerably. Livestock have now enough water to drink. With the use of geo-membranes, seepagehas completely stopped. Carrying of geo membrane in hilly areas is convenient compared to other lining material like bricks, cement etc. Concrete lining generally develops cracks after some years whereas there is no such threat in geo membrane. The tanks can belined within one to two days. It is

Success story of Vegetable Cultivation: Alapuzha, Kerala

Pattanakkadvillage, in north Alappuzha district, borders Ernakulam, the commercial capital of Kerala. A number of industries have developed in its neighborhood recently.Farmers have been abandoning farming due to rising cost of cultivation, particularly labour and dwindling profits, leaving large tracts of rich fertile land fallow. Food security suffered and the resource poor felt the major brunt of this. In this gloomy context, the Haryali project, in close convergence with MGNREGA, motivated villagers to take up vegetable gardening. The job cardholders under MGNREGA worked on the fallow lands to turn them into productive vegetable farms. The reclaimed land (15 acres) wasdivided among 10 Neighborhood groups (NHGs) for cultivation. They sowed seeds of cucumber, melon, cheera(red leafy vegetable), bitter gourd, and ladyfinger. Production of vegetables was abundant. The consumer became producer. Vegetable production improved the life of all the participants.

much cheaper than other types of linings, being nearly half of the cost of cement lining. The total cost incurred on lining with geo-membrane was Rs 2.82 lakh, whereas cement concrete lining was Rs. 4.76 Lakhs.

Space based Information Support for Decentralized Planning in Madhya Pradesh The Planning Commission had advised preparation of District Database using remote sensing and GIS techniques to strengthen various aspects of decentralized district level planning through a co-ordinated approach.The system can yieldthe following types of maps for action plan: 26

1. Geo-coded Satellite Data Product - cadastral, contour, watershed, drainage & water resource action plan 2. Cadastral Overlay Map (with 10m Interval Contour ) 3. Drainage and Contour Map (with 5m Interval Contour )

In Madhya Pradesh, SLNA has selected suitable sites for water recharging and water harvesting structures using 3D (Stereo) Satellite images, Geology and Geomorphology & Structures (Lineaments), Drainage(Generated on very high scale ex. >1:3,000), Contour(generated with carto-DEM) and Cadastral details.These maps also contain Cadastral Boundary in Black color, Micro watershed Boundary in Gray (on image) and Red color and Drainage lines in Blue colour. Proposed Watershed Action Plan is provided to WDT. After field verification, WDT verifies this action plan.

Proposed Structuresincludestop dam, check dam, farm pond, tanksand other water harvesting structures, earthen dam, percolation tank, dyke and other water recharging structures, area suitable for Contour Trenching, Plantation, Fodder activities, and Field bunds.

GIS Technology Applications for Watershed Planning in Rajasthan SLNA has prepared State Perspective and Strategic Plan for all rainfed areas in the State, using various GIS thematic layers. Watershed boundary was super- imposed on village boundary for census and other relevant data. Thematic layers enhance quality and accuracy of contours, land use classification and L section and cross section for WHS planning.Prioritization of leftover area of the water shed in each block is complete.

Estimation of how much runoff is generated in the watershed, how much has already been tapped in existing structure and how much balance is left for harvesting and water budgeting are part of each DPR. This helps in avoiding unnecessary expenditure on water harvesting structures. .

Thematic layers available were uploaded on the website of department in KMZ format so that it can be used without knowledge of GIS.This file format directly opens on Google. Cost isminimized if thematic layers are available.

Project Financial Management System in Odisha SLNA Odisha had put in placea financial management system based on PublicFinancial Management system (PFMS) of Government of India. This system helps in monitoring funds through a unique interface PFMS enable monitoring of bank balances and transactions of accounts in real time. Apart from transaction data, PFMS also maintains records of all funds released for Centrally Sponsored 27

Schemes. It also has anE-Payment Gateway, which initiates and tracks fund e-transfers, beneficiary and salary e-payments. Last mile e-payments made on system can be automatically filed as expenditure. The system affords efficient expenditure filing for all schemes. Available bank balance and component wise expenditure can therefore be monitored on the same interface.

PFMS helped in release of funds in a rational manner, maintaining and increasing tempo of expenditure, tracking pace of expenditure, checking parking of funds, monitoring quality of expenditure, providing a robust feedback mechanism, and reporting and certifying expenditure correctly.

The system is particularly helpful in IWMP as it is demand driven. The expenditure do not fix any limitations as far as annual expenditure is within norms. Besides the flow of funds there are many levels of fund flow & expenditure, where village committees do the expenditure towards the project.

TamilNadu MIS Tamil Nadu Watershed Development Agency, has upgraded the State Level Web (SLWF) Form as aState LevelWeb site (SLWS). The purpose was to create a parallel MIS.The web site displays the entries completed in State Level Web Form immediately. The system is easy to create and handle, is free of cost, all fields are mandatory so that the districts cannot leave any fields. The Certification of the correctness of entries is done by the nodal officer.

Use of Information Technology in Watershed Planning in Gujarat For scientific prioritization of watersheds and participatory micro-planning, the Gujarat State Watershed Management Agency uses GIS maps as well as spatial and non-spatial dataIncorporating historical development of works in the watershed area is an important consideration in prioritization. Thus in the PSP, the area covered in the pre-IWMP phase and the proposed coverage under IWMP under different years and plan periods are easily identified.

PPR Preparation: In this phase Priority Map, based on the criteria laid down by DoLR,and excluding predefined areasis utilized to select tentative project villages. DPR preparation involves socio-economic survey, biophysical survey, resource mapping, focus group discussions, transect walk, collection of

Historic data with GPS coordinates preparation of watershed baseline map, participatory net planning

Community Water Harvesting Tank, Mizoram Despite heavy rainfall, drinking water is not available for part of the year in many parts of Mizoram. There was an insistent demand in village Rawpuichhip of Mamit district to construct a community water-harvesting tank under IWMP. In 2011-12, with project funds to the tune of Rs three lakhs, they constructed a water tank, with a capacity of 32,000 Litres. The source of water is a perennial spring source. The tanks provide water for drinking as well as well as irrigation during dry periods to 22 families. and finalization of activities, and approval by Gram Sabha.

Way Forward The new initiatives adopted to improve the effectiveness of IWMP denote a directional shift towards interest in outcomes and impacts of the programme instead of the output-based approach. Tracking of results on the ground takes place in almost near real time basis, enabling adoption of timely corrective measures.

The learning element is getting prime importance in the entire cycle from planning to sustainability stages. Community participatory approach, transparency and accountability are the basic pillars for project execution. DoLR has charted a course of action on the following lines for the future:

Rejuvenation and De-silting of Water Harvesting Structures: A Sustainability Project Maintenance and sustainability of water harvesting structures has been a weak link in the past in watershed programmes, particularly those structures built on common land. To face this challenge, the DoLR has proposed a separate programme viz. Rejuvenation and de-silting of the Water Harvesting Structures under IWMP -A Sustainability enhancement project. Draft guidelines have been prepared and are under review at the highest policy level. Plans are afoot to start desilting the water-harvesting structures built under IWMP. These structures include small village tanks, check dams, nala buds, etc.

Regional Agencies for M&E Stepping towards greater transparency, DoLR has initiated steps for engaging independent external agencies for M&E on a regional basis. These agencies will have an entirely independent status to monitor the programme across the country. They will directly report to DoLR on a real time basis. Concurrent monitoring is the prime objective of this initiative. The learning and dissemination of best practices would also be the key element in this endeavor.

Setting Standards for Outcome Measurement Measurement of performance through benchmarked standards will get enhanced importance in the immediate future. M&E agencies will use these values for comparative analysis.

Watershed Development through Inter-agency Coordination Inter-ministerial and inter-agency coordination will get priority attention in the coming years. Such convergence of projects and activities will emerge as a planning tool right from the DPR preparation stage of IWMP at the watershed level. 29

Transparency & accountability Transparency and accountability have central place in programme implementation. The various technology driven measures like PFMS, use of Smartphone/Mobile Apps, Bhuvan Portal etc. will gain prime importance in the future. In addition, the social accountability through community level participatory monitoring will get further support. This ensure quality implementation of activities. Community Based Organizations will get training to oversee implementation and even to take up the implementation by themselves.

Adoption of State of the Art Technology To enhance the quality of programme in planning, implementation as well as monitoring, an initiative is on to make national premier agency for space technology, NRSC as a Technology Partner of DoLR for IMWP. NRSC will use RS/GIS technology for impact assessment of all IWMP projects, initiated since 2009.

Public-Private-Peoples’ Partnership in IWMP A high level of community participation will make IWMP community centered and demand driven, as conceived. This is necessary to achieve the intended results and sustainability. DoLR intends to strengthen, through SLNAs, the community capacity to achieve this goal. New IECstrategies will make effective use of print and electronic media, especially under the proposed Neeranchal Project. Efforts are also on to bring in the corporate sector at various levels. Dialogue is on with the large corporate bodies to involve them in the PPP mode. Identification is going on of potential areas for using CSR funds in the IWMP areas under the watershed plus approach. Capacity building and forward linkages are other two potential areas for the involvement of Corporates under IWMP.

Epilogue In this document, the attempt was to trace the efforts of DoLR to make a directional shift of watershed development from mere soil and water conservation to a holistic watershed plus approach for tackling rural poverty. As described in the preceding pages, the following reflect this shift:

 emphasis on the involvement of the communityin planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and post-project sustainability  key role played by outcome and impact measurement as well as resource flow tracking  importance placed on production systems and livelihoods enhancement;  the strive for inter departmental convergence and coordination; use of technology for planning and monitoring ;  definingof performance standards  use of technology for planning and monitoring  training and capacity building

The abovereflect the resolve of DoLR to achieve its goal of transforming the quality of life of the people who depend on dry-land agriculture for their livelihoods. In this quest, DoLR welcomes suggestions and new ideas from all sections of Society. The task of watershed management for poverty eradication is the common endeavor of all citizens. Through intensive IEC campaigns, the Department will strive to involve all sections of Society for watershed management. The latter is essential for food security for our growing population. The only hope of future security, as mentioned in the introductory sections of this document, is making our rain fed areas, which constitute 80% of all agricultural land, productive through conserving water and soil and efficient use of these two invaluable resources. This is also necessary to meet another major challenge of today, namely, climate change and the disasters induced by climate change.

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National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP)

National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP) Up to 2007-08, the Department of Land Resources (DoLR), Ministry of Rural Development was administering two Centrally-sponsored schemes, viz., Computerization of Land Records (CLR), and Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA & ULR). During 2008-09, these two schemes were merged into one modified scheme in the shape of the National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP), combining the key components of the two schemes and rationalizing them into one integrated and enhanced scheme to develop a modern land records management system in the country. The NLRMP was approved by the Cabinet on 21st August, 2008. The programme has been identified as one of the State level Mission Mode Projects of the Digital India Programme of Government of India.

Objectives of NLRMP The programme aims at modernizing the land records management system in the country to develop an integrated land information management system with up-to-date and real time land records. To achieve this, the two main systems of land records management and registration are proposed to be integrated with the help of modern technology. The major objectives of the programme are:

(i) To usher in a system of real-time land records.

(ii) Automatic Mutation.

(iii) Integration of Textual and Spatial Records.

(iv) Inter-connectivity between land records and registration systems.

(v) To achieve the goal of conclusive titling system

The ultimate goal of the NLRMP is to usher in the system of conclusive titling, to replace the current system of presumptive titles in the country. All the districts in the country are expected to be covered under the programme by the end of the 12th Plan.

Citizen Centric Services A major focus of the programme is on citizen services, such as providing computerized copies of the Records of Rights (RoRs) with maps; other land-based certificates such as caste certificates, income certificates, domicile certificates; information for eligibility for development programmes etc.

Citizen service counters at the Tehsils/Talukas

Property owners would get easy access to their land records, as records will be placed on the websites with proper security IDs. Abolition of stamp papers and payment of stamp duty and registration fees through banks, e-linkages to credit facilities, automatic and automated mutations and single-window service can be achieved under the programme. Further, the programme will be of immense use to the governments – both Central and State Governments – in modernizing and bringing efficiency to the land revenue administration as well as offering a comprehensive tool for planning various land-based developmental, regulatory and disaster management activities needing location-specific information.

Components/Activities of NLRMP

Computerization of land records (100% funding by the Government of India). This comprise of the following activities:

(i) Data Entry/Re-entry/Data Conversion for Record of Rights (RoR) and other land attributes data,

Taluka centre providing Land Records services to citizens

(ii) Digitization of Cadastral Maps,

(iii) Integration of spatial and textual data,

(iv) Tehsil, Sub-division & Districts Data Centres,

(v) State Level Data Centres (SLDC),

(vi) Inter-connectivity among Revenue Offices.

Integrated Spatial and Textual data

Survey/Re-survey and Updating of Survey & Settlement Records (including Ground Control Network and Ground Truthing) using the following modern technology options (90% assistance by the Government of the India in the case of NE States and 50% in the case of other States):

(i) Pure Ground method using Electronic Total Station (ETS) and Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS);

(ii) Hybrid methodology using aerial photography and ground truthing by ETS and DGPS;

(iii) High Resolution Satellite Imagery (HRSI) and ground truthing by ETS and DGPS.

Aerial Photograph of Rural Area

Computerization of Registration (90% assistance by the Government of the India in the case of NE States and 25% in the case of other States):

Property Registration in SRO

(i) Computerization of Sub-Registrar’s Offices (SROs),

(ii) Data entry of valuation details,

(iii) Data entry of legacy encumbrance data,

(iv) Scanning and preservation of old documents,

(v) Connectivity to SROs with Revenue Offices.

Modern Record Rooms/Land Records Management Centres at Tehsil/Taluk/Circle/Block Level (90% assistance by the Government of the India in the case of NE States and 50% in the case of other States).

Modern Record Room

Training & capacity building (100% funding by the Government of India)

Training in Use of Modern Survey Techniques

Core GIS

Integration of three layers of data:

(a) Spatial data from high resolution satellite imagery/aerial photography, (b) Maps and data from the Survey of India and the Forest Survey of India, and (c) GIS ready digitized cadastral maps from revenue records

Guidelines

Detailed Guidelines and Technical Manuals have been circulated to the States and Union Territory Administrations for implementation of the programme. Further, formats for Management Information System (MIS), Annual Action Plan/Detailed Project Report and State Perspective Plan have also been prepared and circulated to the States and Union Territory Administrations and other agencies concerned for monitoring and effective management of the programme. NIC has developed the requisite software for the MIS and has made it on-line.

Project Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (PSMC)

A National-level Project/Proposal Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee has been constituted under the programme under the chairpersonship of the Secretary, DoLR with representatives from the Ministries/Departments of Home Affairs, Development of North-Eastern Region, Information 38

Technology, Science and Technology and technical agencies like National Informatics Centre (NIC), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) and Survey of India (SoI) etc. The State/UT proposals received for release of funds under the programme are placed before the Committee for its consideration and funds are released to the States/UTs as per recommendations made by the Committee. The NLRMP is a demand driven scheme. The Project Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee consider the proposal of the States/UTs as and when they are received.

Core Technical Advisory Group (CTAG) A Core Technical Advisory Group with representatives from the technical agencies, concerned Ministries/Departments and experts from States has been constituted to advise the DoLR and the States/UTs on issues related to implementation as well as on the technological aspects of the programme. The CTAG is providing valuable imparts from time to time for effective implementation of the programme. The Group has recommended revised rates for Digitization of Cadastral Maps and survey/resurvey. The group has also recommended model Tender documents, Model Request For Proposal etc. These have been placed on the website of the Department. Further, Core Technical Advisory Committee has also recommended revised unit cost of equipments specified under NLRMP Cell.

NLRMP Cell

The NLRMP is a technology driven programme involving application of diverse sets of technologies for the three major components, i.e., (a) computerization of land records including digitization of maps and integration of textual and spatial data, (b) survey/re-survey using modern technology such as Total Stations (TSs), Global Positioning System (GPS), Aerial Photography, High Resolution Satellite Imagery (HRSI), etc. and (c) computerization of the registration system and inter-connectivity between the registration and land records maintenance systems as well as inter-connectivity amongst the revenue offices. Therefore, training and capacity building activities are very important. With a view to imparting comprehensive training to the Revenue, Survey, Registration and other officials involved in implementation of the NLRMP, funds are being provided to the States/UTs for creation of NLRMP Cells at their Administrative Training Institute and/or the Survey/Revenue/Patwari Training Institutes. So far, 32 NLRMP Cells have been sanctioned in 23 States/UTs. Further, funds are being released to the NIC, the Survey of India and the National Remote Sensing Centre for conducting training programmes for field revenue functionaries, supervisory head of departments and policy-level officials.

Project Management Unit (PMU)

In order to facilitate the use of funds released to the State Govt./UT the Department has issued the PMU Guideline for establishment of Project Management Unit in the form of Society for transfer of funds directly to the Society for implementation of NLRMP. So far, 16 PMUs have been established.

Achievements

(i) A workshop on Best Practices under National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP) was held on 24th and 25th February, 2014 in New Delhi. Some of the states presented achievements made in implementing the programme with remarkable improvement made in delivery of services to the citizens. Some of these include Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Tripura. States like Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, have developed single window citizen service delivery centres which include delivery of services relating to land records alongwith other services.

Integration of land records with the registration by Himachal Pradesh and delivery of land records related services through Lok Mittar Kendras (LMK) with the help of HIMBHOOMI has made possible hassle free delivery of record of rights to the farmers by the State Government.

IMPACT OF HIMBHOOMI

 LMK Operators authorized through a Government Notification to issue printed signed copies of the RoR at Panchayat level thus making financial viability for self sustainability…  Integration of Land Records with Registration to reduce frauds and increase Government efficiency  Citizens can access RoR data through Internet  Online Dashboard for Services being provided  Easy availability of RoR based on Khewat, Khatouni and Khasra  Easy availability of Tatima Maps with RoR-Jamabandi (Process started for integration with BhuNaksha)  Easy loan processing for agricultural purposes

Citizen service centres providing Land Records services to the citizens

Karnataka 40

Karnataka’s successful digitization of land records and its integration with the Banks has reduced the number of days taken in disbursement of loans to farmers and also the number of visits to a bank by the farmers.

BHOOMI and its integration with Banks by Karnataka  BHOOMI is an on-line system to carry out the mutation on the digital land records data.  It has built-in workflow automation, which moves transactions from one officer to another electronically.  The process of mutation (Change in the information displayed in the RTC) synchronizes with the field work done by the revenue officials.  BHOOMI ensures non-repudiation by using Fingerprint (Bio-metrics) Identification Technology (FIT). This also ensures foolproof authentication system instead of traditional password based authentication system.  The software is in local language (Kannada)  Documents such as RTC, mutation extract etc are digitally signed – Integration of Bhoomi with Banks has reduced number of visits that farmer makes to bank and taluk office to get farm credit remove time lag between sanction of loan and disbursement – Automatic initiation mutation transaction in BHOOMI based on requests either to put or remove liabilities – It has further been integrated with the KAVERI, the State’s computerized registration system, enabling easy mutation in land transactions.

Haryana 41

Haryana has done successful integration of land records management, the registration and cadastral maps to initiate a modern land records management system in the State.

Integration of HALRIS, HARIS with Digitized Cadastral Maps by Haryana

» HALRIS System has been designed by the Haryana – To link the registration with mutations, so that mutation notice can be generated immediately after the registration of document, thereby, doing away with the second visit by citizens to Tehsil office for mutation entry. – To generate Nakal (Copy of Record-Of-Right) on-line and issue it to general public at Tehsil level – To generate new Jamabandies automatically. » Impact of HALRIS – Availability of updated copies of ROR (Record of Right) to the public, through information kiosks added new dimensions to the delivery of services in the state. – Reduction in litigations, due to on-line availability of updated record. – Low manual intervention & data capturing at source, leading to less errors. – Web enabling to bring land records from bag of Patwari to whole world and to bring transparency in accessing the ROR on anytime, anywhere basis. – Dynamic integration of HARIS & HALRIS in an integrated workflow environment has provided a unified & complete system for management of Revenue records, HALRIS system provided in Haryana the citizen services for textual records. – To integrate the digitized maps with the mutation process of HALRIS, so that maps can maps can be updated automatically, Bhu-Naksha software, which is based on open source GeoTools developed by NIC was studied for its replication and customization as per Haryana requirements. The primary objective was to create the database of cadastral maps in digitized form and linking the same into the existing HARLIS software, facilitating display, updating and printing of the cadastral maps.

(ii) Conference of State Revenue Minister was organized on 27th June, 2014 in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

(iii) The meeting of the Project Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee under the National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP) on 8th September, 2014 at 11.00 AM.

(iv) Regional Review Meeting of NLRMP for the Western Region was held on 11th & 12th September, 2014 at Ahmedabad, Gujrat. Officials of the North Eastern states were invited to this meeting for exposer in different activities like Survey-Resurvey.

Village map view using Bhu-naksha

(v) Regional Review Meeting for the Eastern and Central Zone was held at Bhopal on 30th & 31st October, 2014. In this meeting also officials from North Eastern States were invited to observe the progress made by the States of these Zones.

(vi) Northern Zone Regional Review Meeting was held on 13th & 14th November, 2014 at New Delhi.

Training and Capacity Building The NLRMP is a technology driven programme involving application of diverse sets of technologies for the three major components, i.e., (a) computerization of land records including digitization of maps and integration of textual and spatial data, (b) survey/re-survey using modern technology such as Total Stations (TSs), Global Positioning System (GPS), Aerial Photography, High Resolution Satellite Imagery (HRSI), etc. and (c) computerization of the registration system and inter-connectivity between the registration and land records maintenance systems as well as inter-connectivity amongst the revenue offices. Accordingly, training and capacity building activities are very important and are being taken up under the programme. With a view to imparting comprehensive training to the Revenue, Survey, Registration and other officials involved in implementation of the NLRMP, funds are being provided to the States/UTs for creation of NLRMP Cells at their Administrative Training Institute and/or the 43

Survey/Revenue/Patwari Training Institutes. So far, 32 NLRMP Cells have been sanctioned in 23 States/UTs. Further, funds are being released to the NIC, the Survey of India and the National Remote Sensing Centre for conducting training programmes for field revenue functionaries, supervisory head of departments and policy-level officials.

Progress so far Different activities undertaken by the States/UTs under NLRMP are at various stages of implementation. The funds released to the States/UTs and the districts covered under the programme are presented in the following bar diagram. Progress made in Computerization of Record of Rights (RoR), Stoppage of manual issue of RoR, Computerization of Registration, Inter-linkage of Land Records with Registration, Placing the RoRs on the web-sites, and Customization of Bhu-Naksha is presented in a tabular form and on maps in the following pages.

S.No. Activity States/UTs who have completed the Activity 1. Computerization of Land Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Records (31 States/UTs) Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Puducherry, Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala, Assam, Manipur (Partial), West Bengal (Partial),Andaman and Nicobar (Partial),Chandigarh(partial),Delhi(partial), Lakshadweep(partial), 2. Computerization of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Property Registration (30 Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, States/UTs) Punjab, Rajasthan,Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Delhi and Puducherry, Daman and Diu, Manipur(partial), Andaman & Nicobar(partial), Lakshadweep(partial) 3. Integration of Land Records Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Property Registration Maharashtra, Odisha, Tripura, Telangana and Puducherry (Partial),West (11 States/UTs) Bengal (Partial) 4. Stoppage of manual issue Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, of Record of Rights (RORs) Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, (18 States/UTs) Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal (partial) and Puducherry 5. RORs on the Web (22 Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, States/UTs) Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand 6. Bhu-naksha customization Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, done (15 States/UTs) Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Mizoram 7. Digitally Signed RORs(7 Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, States/UTs) Rajasthan 8. Integration of Bhu-Naksha Madhya Pradesh , Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Odisha, Jharkhand with ROR and as a service to the public on the website(5 States/UTs) 9. Linking with Aadhaar(5 Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Tripura, Maharashtra States) Provision in the software for capturing Aadhaar-Himachal Pradesh 10. Capacity building(19 Gujarat, Sikkim, West Bengal, Puducherry(UT), Uttarakhand, Odisha, States/UTs) Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh Source: Not based on NLRMP-MIS data. It has been compiled based on telephonic interactions with State NIC/UT centres and it has not been formally vetted by State Governments/UT administration. Physical progress as on 16th March 2016.

Distribution of computerized copy of ROR in the field

Land Records services at the village chaupal