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Area development programmes of the
Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) like the Drought Prone
Area Programme (DPAP), Drought Prone Area Programme (DDP) and
Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP) has been
following the watershed development approach since 1995-96
with the first watershed development guidelines coming into
force..
With the coming into effect of
the new Common Guidelines, 2008, the individual Watershed
Development Programmes have been merged together to form one
comprehensive programme, namely, Integrated Watershed
Management Programme (IWMP).
The main aims 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 run-off,
regeneration of natural vegetation, rain water 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.
Madhya Pradesh is among the front runners in the country in
taking up new projects. The Government of India has sanctioned
106 watershed projects covering 6.05 lakh hectares To manage
the IWMP at state level, Rajiv Gandi Mission for Watershed
Management is established as SLNA.
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