Watershed Management

Contents: Preface. About the book. 1. Introduction. 2. Guidelines for watershed development programme (GOI). 3. Methodologies in selection and surveys. 4. Soil and water conservation methods. 5. Watershed activities. 6. Hydrological studies. 7. Development of greenery. 8. Participation of people. 9. Status of biophysical and socio-economic factors. 10. Epilogue. Bibliography. About the authors. Subject index.

"Government of India launched a watershed development programme during the year 1983-84 with an objective to develop natural resources, viz., land, water, vegetation and productivity of crops in addition to improvement of standard of living of the people. Based on the experience gained during 1983-90, the Watershed Development Programme has been expanded further to cover larger areas. Government of India through its Ministries of Agriculture, Rural Development, forestry managed the Watershed Development Programme in India. Further, it was allotted even to non-governmental organizations under the policy of government and private partnership so as to execute the works more effectively. However, NGOs concentrated on water resource development so as to improve the irrigated area for improving the livelihood security of rural people on watershed basis unlike government departments, which concentrated on overall development of natural resources and agriculture production. There are number of books covering watershed development programmes written by many authors. Hence, an attempt is made to cover all aspects of watershed so as to observe and judge the effectiveness and efficiency of the watersheds based on the development of natural resources, agriculture and socio-economic conditions. Thus, many points are covered in this book." (jacket)