4- DPR Jhansi IWMP-IV Year 2010-11

1.2 Need and Scope for Watershed DevelopmentBundelkhand region was in a grip of severe drought continuously from 2004 to 2007. In the region, more than 85 per cent of open wellswere dried up due to deficit rainfall during drought. Cattle were abandoned due to shortage of water and fodder. Most part of the region wasdependent on drinking water supply through tanker. Therefore, management of natural resources on watershed basis is urgent need of the region.Watershed project was selected with following objectives:Long Term Objectives:• To optimize productivity of the land• To restore ecological balance in degraded and fragile eco-system• To narrow down the disparity between rainfed and irrigated areas• To create sustained employment opportunities1.3 Weightage for selection of WatershedWatershed project was selected on the basis of criteria mentioned in Table 1.5 and composite ranking was developed on the basis of these parameters.The seventeen criteria were taken with total of 205 weightage points. The criterion taken are availability of drinking water, irrigation, degree of soil erosion,water holding capacity, area under rainfed agriculture, status of field bund/contour bund / graded bund, presence of hard rock below the land, options forlivelihood, percentage of small and marginal farmers, degraded land, ground water status, status of technical knowledge for improved farming systems,weather conditions, poverty index (% of poor population), virginity of land, productivity potential of land and soil organic carbon status. The weightage forproject is about 96.58 per cent (Table 1.6).Table 1.5: Criteria and weightage for selection of watershedS. No. Criteria MaximumScore1 Drinking water 15 Very poorDependence on water supplythrough tanker (15)2 Irrigation 10 No irrigation(10)3 Degree of soil erosion 10 Severe(10)Range & ScorePoorPartial availabilitywithin the peripheryof 3-4 km(10)Life saving irrigation(7.5)Medium(7.5)GoodRound the yearavailability within theperiphery of 3-4 km(5)Partial life savingirrigation (5)Low(5)Very GoodRound the yearavailability inwatershed(0)Fully covered(0)No erosion(0)7