Assessment of Watershed Approach Under MGNREGS in Kerala

Susha Lekshmi S U (09335005)

Supervisor: Prof. N C Narayanan
Co-supervisor: Prof. Milind A Sohoni
Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas, IIT Bombay

Abstract Structure of technical support group Structure of community -

(TSGs) for the design of MGNREGS- based organization (CBO) at
Watershed approaches have become one of the main interventions for natural resource management watershed master plan panchayat level and its
and rural development. It not only protects and conserves the environment, but also contributes to
livelihood security. Watershed approach focuses on environmental, economic, social and institutional relation with TSGs
aspects of a watershed region in an integrated manner for a long term basis. Although many
District Planning Chairperson-District Community Based Organizations Elected members
watershed programmes have been implemented in India since 1970 through various ministries, the Committee Panchayat President Chairman- member of the ward which is
(DPC) -To give formal approval to the watershed having largest number of households
effective utilization of the approach still remains questionable. Inter sectoral convergences are being Master plan Prepared by the Panchayat Gram Panchayat/Block panchayat
members from the watershed
practiced with watershed programmes in order to utilize the long term benefits of the programme. Approval to the watershed
master plan
Constitution Presidents of primary Co-operative society
DPC Watershed grama sabha
Chaiman- District Collector -To co-ordinate all functions of watershed
District Level Technical Convener-Asst.Development at district level Presidents of paddy collectives
Approval
Government of India launched a massive wage employment programme, MGNREGS (Mahatma Support Group Commissioner -To provide capacity building and technical
support Approval
Constitution Representatives of coconut collectives
Ideal farmers
(DLTSG) Total:14 members
Representatives of agri-labourers’ union
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) in 2006 which aims at enhancing the to BLWDS and PWDWG
-To facilitate the availability of various Watershed Committee Representatives of agri farmers and dairy
Prepared watershed
farmers
livelihood security of the rural people by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a master plan for review maps required for watershed planning
at panchahat and block level. DLTSG
Watershed Development Chairman-Chairman of Approval Constitution
financial year. Most of the permissible woks prescribed in this programme are soil and water Sub Group at Block Level BLTAG
-To review the watershed master plan
prepared by the panchayat and make it
Area Development Society Chairperson
Approval Approval 5 members from Kudumbashree-NHGs
Convener- Block Panchayat
conservation activities which are being treated in a fragmented manner. Since majority of the works Technical Advisory Group Secretary
available to DPC
Technical groups-five
(BWDSG) Total: 10 members members from
are related to soil and water conservation, they can be treated via integrated watershed based -To co-ordinate block level watershed BWDSG
watershed committee Two representatives of SC/ST categories
Prepared watershed
development activities
approach. It will help to achieve long term goals of watershed approach via short term benefits of master plan for review
-To constitute watershed committees at Bank Manager
panchayat level and monitor their activities Technical experts
MGNREGS. Government of Kerala (GoK) pioneered implementation of such a linking and issued an Panchayat level Watershed Chairman-Gram Panchayat -To review block level watershed report
Approval Volunteers from the watershed area
Development Working President -To provide various maps at panchayat
order for the preparation of MGNREGS- watershed master plan at panchayat level in April 2009. Group Convener- Krishi Officer levels 2 members from <50cents, 50-100cents,
(PWDWG)) Total: 12 members -To connect district and panchayat level 100-250cents,250-500cents and >500cents
PWDWG -if the members are more than two,
watershed planning process
-To provide technical training to selection should be done via lots
The main focus of the study is to understand the GoK guidelines of watershed master plan watershed committees and PWDWG
preparation under MGNREGS. It also aims to analyse the MGNREGS- watershed master plan Functions
1.To prepare watershed resource maps
-To collect various maps and data from block
preparation at panchayat level with reference to GoK guidelines for assessing its compatibility with and district levels and data collection with the help of
technical group
-To delineate micro watersheds in the
ground level implementation of the plan. The study was carried out in five panchayats of Thrissur panchayat 2.To identify watershed related
-To supervise the watershed committee problems and suggest
district in Kerala. The perspectives of various stakeholders were analyzed to know the preparation formation process recommendations

aspects of the watershed master plan at panchayat level. The study found major gaps in the design
aspects and its indirect effect on the ground level implementation of the programme. It recommends Questions to be raised to identify data gap in the design process
suitable measures to be considered for the design of the MGNREGS- watershed master plan for
making it more effective. DPC ?proper functioning of
1. Constitution of TSGs at district, TSGs during
DLTSGs block and panchayat levels watershed master plan 8. Field Data ? no explanation about
preparation collection the procedure of
Keywords: Watershed approach, MGNREGS, Thrissur, Design of watershed master plan BWDSGs,
PWDWGs KILA analysis of data being
2. Training
?no description of the data Priority to the collected
to be extracted from the relevant 9. Preparation of first draft of

Objectives of the Study Topo sheets, watershed atlas,

watershed maps, resource map, land
form map, drainage map,
3. Secondary data
collection
maps

? Availability of the maps at

problems and
has to be
involved in the
individual micro watersheds

administration map, and 9th five year panchayat level annual action 10. Approval from Watershed
To study and analyze GoK order and KILA manual for the preparation of plan- block level watershed report
Is there any joint
PWDWGs in the field?
plan sabha

Participation of No 4. Delineation of micro-watersheds

watershed master plan under MGNREGS PWDWGs and How to delineate 11. Preparation of final
draft of the panchayat
To identify the gaps in
BWDSGs to be panchayat micro
ensured watersheds within 2 days? micro-watersheds
5. Special gram sabha
A panchayat
-
-GoK Order and KILA manual on MGNREGS watershed master plan watershed
boundary lies
Has the panchayat conducted
any special gram sabha prior to
12. Approval from the ?quality and quantity of
- Ground Level Watershed Master Plan Design and implementation over other
panchayats
6. Watershedsabha the preparation of watershed
master plan? gram sabha and panchayat participation of people
committee
To provide a set of recommendations that could have been considered for the 7. Constitution of Watershed How to ensure meaningful
participation of people?
committee and technical
design of the MGNREGS-watershed master plan Yes group What has actually happened on
13. Vetting process via
TSGs
the ground?
Formation of joint mechanism
of PWDWGs sabha 14. DPC approval
Research Methods Training to watershed
Is it actually required?

?no description on
implementation
committee (block) and technical 15. Implementation by
group (district) Panchayat procedure

1.Literature Review 2. Primary Data Collection

3. Secondary Data Collection 4. Focused Group Interviews Comparison of GoK with other NRM guidelines of India
Parameters GoK watershed master Integrated natural MYRADA- GoI common guidelines
Parameters GoK PRADAN MYRADA- GoI common
plan resource management KRIBHCO’s manual on watershed project-
guidelines for watershed KRIBHCO’s guidelines on
manual by PRADAN 2008
watershed manual manual watershed
2.Village committee Watershed committee Hamlet Level Farmers’ centered – Watershed
master plan project-2008
Association (HLA) committee of already Committee>UGs &
preparation
existing group SHGs
1.Village No Based on the Based on the Based on the
3.Strength or size of Representing 1000-1500 About 50 families 100-150 families 100-150 families
selection preferences/ following following following
village committee families- watershed
priorities criteria: criteria: criteria:a.Acu
meeting sabha
a.ST & SC a. Non te drinking
4.Number of members 40 members from All people reside in the All farmers in the Atleast 10 members and
population availability of water scarcity
in the village committee various field as given in hamlet village half of them are
b.BPL basic b.Extent of
the fig 3.3 representatives of
percentage amenities and over
SHGs sc/St community,
c.Remoteness infrastructure exploitation of
landless and women
d.Application facilities ground water
5.Participatory Rural Mentioned only about All PRA tools are All PRA tools are All PRA tools are
for wage within 5km resources
Appraisal (PRA) transect walk suggested suggested suggested
employment radius c.Preponderan
6.Problem By watershed Program Execution Community Problem WDT, WC, UGs, SHGs
e. considering b. >90% SC/ ce of degrades
identification committee Committee (PEC) Analysis
list of ST population or waste land
members in presence of
backward in the village d.Contiguity
all land owners
villages c. Degraded of another
7. Propaganda of It can be done via It can be done via It can be done via It can be done via UGs
forests watershed
meeting SHGs, NHGs, volunteer hamlet level association farmers and SHGs
that has
groups, and students.
already been
Posters, baners etc can
developed or
also be used for the
treated
propaganda of the
e. Willingness
preparation of this
Fig. 1: Structure of a typical watershed Fig 2: Location of field study, Thrissur of villagers to
master plan.
make
Source: EPA, 2009 Source: http://www.prokerala.com, 2011 voluntary 8.Data Collection Watershed committee 2-3 volunteers selected Support organization WDT
contributions &technical group from by PEC from each
f. SC/ST watershed committee hamlet
population in 9.Analysis of data No procedure is given PEC and HLA Farmers and Support WDT
Govt. Kerala (GoK) guideline for MGNREGS the village collection
10.Interest in Instrumental Transformative-
organization
Representative Representative

watershed master plan preparation participation empowering the people

to decide and act for
allocation
11.Draft preparation Watershed committee PEC with the help of Support organization WDT
GoK Order for Constitution of TSGs at
HLA
district, block and panchayat
Watershed Master levels 12.Fund mobilization Panchayat PEC & HLA Support organization State government
Plan under 13.Implementation Panchayat via PEC & HLA Support organization State government
KILA
MGNREGS Training MGNREGS
Participation Till 4th level Level 7- self Level 5-functional Level 6- Interactive
Fig 3: MGNREGS- watershed works, photos from field participation mobilization (Highest participation participation
level of participation)
Secondary data collection study
Detailed guidelines Findings
of KILA based on No The results obtained from the analysis are categorized as Implementation gaps (eg:-most of
Delineation of micro-watersheds
GoK order
the implementing works were in a fragmented manner, not followed integrated concept of
If a
Special grama sabha
Implementation by
watershed, lack of implementation procedure along design guidelines), Technical gaps and
panchayat
watershed Watershed sabha
Panchayat via MGNREGS Institutional gaps (eg:-emphasizing only 25 days for the design of master plan for five years
boundary
Design of watershed master plan at lies over term, no social auditing/ proper monitoring procedure for the working of TSGs), Data gaps
other
panchayat level either by Govt. agency panchayats Constitution of DPC approval
(eg:-lack of procedure for cross-checking of collected data) and Social gaps (eg:-
Watershed committee
or by NGO and technical group
Yes Vetting process via TSGs
emphasizing idealistic not realistic propaganda for awareness generation among local
people).
Formation of joint Field Data collection

Implementation of watershed master plan

mechanism of
PWDWGs sabha
Preparation of first draft of
Approval from the gram
sabha and panchayat
committee
Recommendations
individual micro watersheds
at ground level by Accredited Engg or
overseer of MGNREGS at panchayat Approval from Watershed sabha
Preparation of final draft
of the panchayat micro- Quality and quantity of participation should be ensured throughout the programme
level
Participatory tools should be incorporated for making it more effective
watersheds

Incorporation of monitoring procedures for both data collection and involvement of TSGs

References
GoK. (2009). Guidelines for MGNREGS-watershed master plan preparation
Mikkelsen, B. (2005). Methods for Development Work and Research: A New Guide for Practitioners. New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
GoI. (2008). The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005: Operational Guidelines . New Delhi: Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Rural Development.