The green revolution has been a corner stone of India’s agricultural growth during mid 1960s and has been instrumental in taking the country from food deficiency to seif sufficiency. The food grain production of the country during 1950-51 was 51.00 million metric tones M mt), which has increased to a record level of 212.02 M mt in 2001-02. During 2002-03, the country’s foodgrain production had slumped to 174.19 M mt due to widespread devastation. It is important to recognize that the green revolution was largely confined to the irrigated agricultural lands. Rainfed areas account for 2/3rd of the total cultivable land of 142 million ha. To eliminate the regional disparity between irrigated and non-irrigated areas, the Government of India has given highest priority to the sustainable development of rainfed areas through Integrated Watershed Management (IWM) Approach. The current strategy of various on-going National/Bilateral and International aided projects for development of watersheds are based on promotion of diversified farminy system approach, management ofcommon propertyresources and augmenting family income and nutritional levels of participating watershed communitiesthrough alleviating institutional arrangements at various levels constitute integral component of these projects, for promoting people's participation and ensuring sustainability. To have a uniform approach in the IWM programmes in the country, the following components have been considered for their successful implementation, viz., Participatory approach including capacity building. Implementation through watershed community. Facilitating the role ofthe project implementing agency. Demand driven watershed development plan through participatory rural appraisal. Community property resources. Forest lands and joint forest management. Convergence of on-going production programmes, Linkages with village institutional, credit institutional and research institutions.
