In February 2025, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) launched a nation-wide campaign “Watershed Yatra” to encourage people’s participation and create awareness about the watershed development activities carried out under Watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY 2.0) in project areas.
- During the event, the Union Minister also announced ‘Watershed-Janbhagidari Pratiyogita’ under WDC-PMKSY 2.0 for 2025 and 2026.
Key Participants:
i.Union Ministers of State (MoS) Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani and Kamlesh Paswan, MoRD were also present at the event.
ii.Additionally, concerned ministers of State/Union Territory (UT) Governments, senior officials and officials associated with implementation of WDC-PMKSY participated in physical mode in their respective states and launched the yatra simultaneously in their respective states/UTs.
iii.A total of about 800 Gram Panchayats (GPs) and over 1 lakh people participated in the Watershed Yatra launch program.
About Watershed Yatra:
i.The campaign will consist of van movements for around 60 to 90 days across 805 projects, which is estimated to cover 6,673 GPs including 13,587 villages, in 26 states and 2 UTs.
ii.Various activities will be undertaken during the Watershed Yatra such as: Bhoomi Poojan of New Works, Lokarpan of Completed Works, Watershed Mahotsav, Watershed ki Panchayat, Awards and Recognitions to the Watershed Margdarshaks in projects , Bhumi-Jal Pitch and Shramdan, among others, will promote the message of sustainable resource management to the common people.
ii.Under the activity of Watershed ki Panchayat, experts from diverse fields will discuss about sustainable soil and water management practices and around 8,000 individuals having contributed in implementation of WDC-PMKSY works in different project areas will be honoured.
iii.The Department of Land Resources (DoLR), MoRD, has developed a Learning Management System (LMS) on Watershed Development and hosted on its website, which has also been linked to ‘MY Bharat’ web-portal for further engagement of youth.
- A certificate will be issued to participating youths, which will encourage them to participate in Shramdaan activities, strengthening community participation in watershed projects.
About Watershed-Janbhagidari Pratiyogita:
i.It is a unique model based on the principles of community-led watershed management, incorporating ‘Public-Private-People Partnership (4Ps)’.
ii.Under this initiative, the work done in the project areas through government funding and public participation will be assessed at the state level and the projects for their remarkable work will be awarded with an additional incentive of Rs 20 lakh per project.
iii.The initiative has been assigned Rs 70.80 crore, which is estimated to benefit 177 projects annually.
- The evaluation process for this year’s competition will be done in the month of April 2025.
About WDC-PMKSY 2.0:
i.It is a sub-component of PMSKY, which was initially launched as the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) in 2009-10 and later integrated as the WDC-PMKSY in 2015-16.
- The scheme is being implemented by DoLR, MoRD, which aims to develop degraded and rain-fed areas of the country, by undertaking watershed development projects in an integrated approach.
ii.In 2021, the Government of India (GoI) introduced WDC-PMKSY 2.0 for the project period of 2021-2026, with revised target to rejuvenate 49.50 lakh hectares (ha) of degraded land and with budget outlay of Rs 8,314 crore.
iii.In January 2025, MoRD approved 56 new watershed development projects under WDC-PMKSY 2.0 with estimated cost of Rs 700 crores. These projects will be undertaken in 10 best performing states: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Odisha, Karnataka, among others.
Note: 1,150 watershed development projects covering an area of about 50 lakh ha have been sanctioned in 2021-22 at a cost of Rs 12,303 crores under WDC-PMKSY 2.0.
About Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD):
Union Minister- Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Constituency- Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, MP)
Minister of State (MoS)- Chandra Shekhar Pemmasani (Constituency- Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, AP) and Kamlesh Paswan (Constituency- Bansgaon, Uttar Pradesh, UP)
