Shivraj Singh Chouhan to launch Watershed Yatra today

Shivraj Singh Chouhan to launch Watershed Yatra in Hybrid mode today at 12:00 Noon. Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India is starting a mass outreach campaign “Watershed Yatra”, to generate people’s participation and create awareness about the Watershed Development activities carried out under Watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY 2.0) in project areas.

The Yatra will help in achieving “Community Driven Approach”, galvanise the implementation machinery at field level and highlights the importance of sustainable management of natural resources for improving agriculture productivity, livelihoods, and the environment. The major activities to be carried out during the Watershed Yatra inter-alia include;

• Bhoomi Poojan of New Works,
• Lokarpan of Completed works,
• Watershed Mahotsav,
• Watershed ki Panchayat,
• Awards and recognitions to the Watershed Margdarshaks in project areas
• Bhumi-Jal Pitch and
• Shramdan etc.

The outreach campaign will consist of Van movement for around 60-90 days across 805 projects, which cover 6673 GPs (13587 villages) in 26 States and 2 UTs.

As pre-launch activities for the Yatra, 1,509 Gram Sabhas have been conducted; 1,640 Prabhat pheris have been conducted; 2,043 locations have been identified for Bhumipoojan; 1,999 works have been identified for Lokarpan; 1,196 locations have been identified for Shramdan; and 557 locations have been identified for horticultural plantations. 

During, the Watershed Yatra, felicitation of “Watershed Margdarshaks” at project level ; Experience sharing by “Watershed Margdarshaks”; Watershed ki Panchayat - talk by experts and  around 8,000 individuals in different Project Areas will be honoured, which will further motivate them.

The Department has also developed a Learning Management System (LMS) relating to the domain of Watershed Development, to be hosted on DoLR's website, which has linked to MY Bharat portal for further engagement of youth. A certificate will be issued to participating youths, which will motivate them to participate in Shramdaan activities.

A mega event for "Watershed Yatra" has been created on 'MY Bharat portal' to connect with and involve Youths across the country. This will help in mobilizing youth volunteers for activities like Shramdan, strengthening community participation in watershed projects and will help in better implementation of WDC-PMKSY 2.0 scheme. This will also help in creating a community cadre of watershed workers and leaders.