The Central Government has selected Madhya Pradesh for National Award in the category of Best Practices in the remote sensing plan while lauding innovations being adopted for result-oriented implementation of Integrated Watershed Area Management Programme. The award will be conferred to the State by Union Ministry of Rural Development at a function in New Delhi on February 19 by Union Minister for Panchayats and Rural Development Virendra Singh Choudhary.
Watershed projects in the State are being implemented under Integrated Watershed Area Management Programme. It is funded by land Resources Department of Union Rural Development Ministry. Its main objective is conservation and augmentation of water as well as soil conservation in areas of rain-fed agriculture so that increase in agriculture production and sustainable rural livelihoods can be ensured.
Under the programme, Rs3,522 crore projects are under implementation in 29.35 lakh hectare area in the State at present. Planned efforts are being made for effective implementation of Watershed Project in the State. Under it, a fulltime Watershed Development Team has been constituted while voluntary organisations and corporate sector have been involved in it. Apart from surveys like PRA and Net Plan, planning based on remote sensing and GIS has also been adopted. Android mobile-based application ‘WMGO’ is being used ensuring quality of watershed works and their constant monitoring.
For remote sensing-based planning under Watershed Programme, Cartosat-1 satellite’s high-resolution panchromatic data, lis-4’s high-resolution panchromatic data and geo-reference khasra maps have been used. Using this digital data, maps of 1:10000 scale, micro watershed boundary, drainage, khasra and contour maps have been prepared.
Besides, satellite imagery with natural colours has also been created. Plans have been given to field teams for various watershed development works like gullyplug, Gobian, check-dam, stop-dam, lake, farm pond, contour trench, field bund, plantation and meadow development by selecting suitable places using these maps. Village-wise final action plans have been chalked out on the basis of net planning.