Examine the success of the watershed management programme implemented in Jhabua district Madhya Pradesh.

Jhabua is a district located in a westernmost part of Madhya Pradesh. This district has unique characteristics that this district comprises mostly of tribal population. Jhabua was listed among the most backward districts in the country. To improve the livelihoods of the people a watershed programme was introduced by the central government of India. This program was mainly introduced to combine the land, the water and vegetation in that district.

The result which shows that this program was very much successful in Madhya Pradesh are:

• Watershed programme has reduced soil erosion and also helped in preventing land degradation. This also contributed to the improvement of the soil quality which has led to better agriculture productivity.

• The programme has increased the availability of water in the locality and because of an increase in storage of water the natural vegetation has also been improved.

• Most importantly this programme has helped in improving the livelihood of the tribal people and also it increased the forest productivity and agriculture productivity.