greening india

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GreeningRural

Developmentin India

Volume-1


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ii Greening Rural Development in India

Contributors

Volume 1Lead Consultant

Ravi Chopra, Director, Peoples Science Institute, Dehradun

UNDP Contributors

Sumeeta Banerji, Assistant Country Director and Head, Democratic Governance Unit, UNDP

Prema Gera, Assistant Country Director and Head, Poverty Unit, UNDP

Srinivasan Iyer, Assistant Country Director and Head, Energy and Environment Unit, UNDP

Preeti Soni, Advisor Climate Change, UNDP

Volume 2 (Contained in CD)Contributors:

Nitya Jacob, Centre or Science and Environment, New Delhi

Depinder Kapur, Independent Consultant, New Delhi

Prabir Kumar Das, Design and Construction Specialist, New Delhi

Manoj Mishra, Entrepreneurship Development Institute o India, Ahmedabad

Indu Murthy, Centre or Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute o Science, Bangalore

Astad Pastakia, Freelance Development Consultant, Ahmedabad,

MV. Ramachandrudu, Watershed Support Services and Activities Network, SecunderabadA Ravindra, Watershed Support Services and Activities Network, Secunderabad

N.H. Ravindranath, Centre or Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute o Science, Bangalore

Disclaimer: The views in the publication are those o the authors and do not necessarily re ect thoseo the United Nations Development Programme.

UNDP India 2012. Published in India.

Photo credit: Jay Mandal/ Ranjan Rahi/ UNDP India


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iiiGreening Rural Development in India

The Government o Indias 12th Five Year Plan or the rst time has set or itsel the goal o aster,sustainable and more inclusive growth. Sustainability has been mainstreamed as a core objective o Indias development strategy. This is hugely important paradigm shi t in how we look at development.

With an annual budget o around INR. 75,000 crore, the Ministry o Rural Developments Schemes havean immense potential to contribute to the goal o sustainable poverty reduction and e cient use o natural resources, including improved land use planning and management practices.

For the people in rural areas, particularly the marginalized communities, healthy ecosystems supportsustainable agriculture-based livelihoods and essential services such as drinking water, sanitation andhealth care. Investing in natural resources also strengthens adaptation and resilience o communitiestowards climate change and natural disasters.

This report examines the potential contribution to environmental sustainability o the schemes administered by the Ministry. In specifc it looks at:

Improving quality and carrying o eco systems including, water in sur ace bodies, aqui ers and soilpro le and arresting degradation o natural resources

Enabling sustainable livelihoods, based on sustainable use o natural resources

Strengthening ecosystem resilience to enable them to recover rom extreme weather events andcope with climate change

Reducing the ecological ootprint o interventions through e cient use o energy, material, naturalresources and increased use o renewables materials

The report recommends measures needed to achieve green, including measuring and tracking, the useincentives and the building o capacities. It also contains a number o case studies showing how greenresults can be achieved.

The Ministry o Rural Development, with continued support rom the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP), is keen to take orward the recommendations o this report and make delivery o green results a part o policy considerations and guidelines or its di erent programmes. I hope thatthese actions will contribute in large measure to achievement o the goals we have set ourselves o the12th Five Year Plan and beyond.

Jairam RameshMinister o Rural Development

Government o India

F oreword


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Foreword ..............................................................................................................................................................................iii

Executive Summary .........................................................................................................................................................vii

1. Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................................1

2. Greening Rural Development ........................................................................................................................................7

3. Potential Green Results O Major Rural Development Schemes .................................................................... 13

4. Recommendations .......................................................................................................................................................... 29

Annexure 1: Case Studies ..................................................................................................................................................... 39

Annexure 2: Green Indices ................................................................................................................................................... 49

Table oF C onTenTs


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Poverty reduction and economic growth can be sustained only i natural resources are managed ona sustainable basis. Greening rural development can stimulate rural economies, create jobs and helpmaintain critical ecosystem services and strengthen and strengthen climate resilience o the rural poor.Conversely, environmental challenges can limit the attainment o development goals. The ApproachPaper to the Twel th Five Year Plan notes that as the economy gains the capacity to grow rapidly, it willcome up against the constraint o limitations o natural resources and then need to exploit these in asustainable manner 1 .

Recognizing the national and global imperatives or regenerating natural resources and conservingecosystems, the Ministry o Rural Development requested UNDP to examine the environmental

implications o its schemes and assess the potential o these schemes to deliver green results. TheReport de nes green outcomes or major RD schemes, reviews the design and evidence rom the eldto highlight potential green results and recommends steps to improve green results.

In the context o this report, greening rural development re ers to ve broad green outcomes:

Improved natural resource conservation,

increased e ciency o resource use,

reduced negative environmental impacts,

strengthened climate resilience o communities and

contribution to climate change mitigation. These outcomes can be delivered by RD schemes by a) investing in regenerating natural resources, b)mobilizing and developing the capacities o community institutions to utilize natural resources in asustainable manner and c) aggregating small initiatives in several locations to improve natural capitalon a macro scale.

The rationale or greening rural development emerges rom the Twel th Five Year Plan (2012-17) strategyo aster, sustainable and inclusive growth or poverty alleviation and MoRDs mandate to reduce ruralpoverty and ensure a better quality o li e especially or the poor:

1. Greening rural development will contribute to inclusive growth by a) enabling the target growthrate o agriculture o 4 percent, which is important due to agricultures multiplier e ects and due tothe continued dependence o 58 percent o Indias rural population or livelihoods on agriculture,b) regenerating common land and water bodies, which o er sustenance to the rural poor throughprovisioning o goods and ecosystem services, c) crowding in private investment in green businesses:renewable energy generation, organic input chains and advisory services, green product supplychains, production o environment- riendly construction materials.

2. Greening rural development is essential or ensuring the environmental sustainability o economicgrowth: RD schemes can contribute signi cantly to conserving water resources, soil quality andbiodiversity. RD schemes such as MGNREGS, IWDP and the source sustainability component o NRDWP can help arrest and even reverse the decline in groundwater levels in critical regions. This

e xeCuTive s ummary

1 Planning Commission, 2011, Faster, Sustainable and more Inclusive Growth. An Approach Paper to the Twel th Five Year Plan.


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is particularly use ul or hard-rock regions where groundwater depletion is at its most acute. Soilconservation works are a large part o MGNREGS and IWDP activities. Soil ertility enhancement isa key objective o the MKSP and sustainable agriculture components o NRLM. MGNREGS, IWDPand NRLM activities can play a major role in conserving Indias biodiversity which is so essential orproviding the country with ecological and livelihood security.

3. Green outcomes rom rural development schemes can help increase climate resilience o productionsystems, livelihoods and habitats: RD schemes can help reduce the impact o metereological droughtsby conserving soil moisture, slowing down water runo and increasing water storage in sur acereservoirs as well as aqui ers. It can also improve vegetative cover in common lands, making more

odder and uelwood available during droughts. Resilience in the ace o oods can be provided byimproving drainage.

4. Green outcomes will help making public expenditure more e ective: RD schemes can strengthenlivelihoods security or the rural poor thereby reducing demand or work under MGNREGS.Investment on source sustainability will result in greater longevity or drinking water supply systemsand will reduce the number o slipped-back habitations. MGNREGS and IWDP can help bridgethe gap between irrigation potential created and irrigation potential utilized, or small and microirrigation projects.

Potential green results o speci c schemes The major schemes mentioned above can potentially make a signi cant contribution to sustainingnatural resources and ecosystem services. Some examples are:

A vast majority o the works under MGNREGS are linked to water, soil and land. The list o permissibleworks provide environmental services such as conservation o water, groundwater recharge, reducedsoil erosion, increased soil ertility, conservation o biodiversity, reclamation o degraded crop andgrazing lands, enhanced lea manure, uel wood and non-wood orest products supply among others.

The Integrated Watershed Development Programme (IWDP) aims to restore ecological balance ina watershed by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil,water and vegetative cover and thereby help provide sustainable livelihoods to the local people. The schemes potential or green outcomes is also enhanced i it supports the adoption o greenagronomy practices and promotion o use patterns that sustain natural resources includinggroundwater and soil ertility

Under NRLM the guidelines or non-timber orest produce-based livelihoods under the Mahila KisanSashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) identi y regeneration and sustainable harvesting o NTFP species askey objectives; similarly, promotion o organic and low-chemical agriculture and increased soil healthand ertility to sustain agriculture-based livelihoods is an objective under the sustainable agriculture

component o MKSP; increased availability o green inputs and advisory services to armers andlivestock herders and use o renewables-based energy services or processing activities have immensepotential or green outcomes

Under Indira Aawas Yojana (IAY), green results include e cient use o resources, including water,energy and construction material. Further, IAY can encourage greater use o renewable and locallyavailable construction material, and reduced use o water and energy.

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan ormerly the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) - has recently expanded itsscope rom eradication o open de ecation to comprehensive sanitation in rural areas. Ten percent o the project unds is earmarked or solid and liquid wastes management. NBA can ensure sa e disposalo solid and liquid waste, and prevent untreated wastewater rom re-entering the water system. These

results can substantially improve the quality o water.


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The National Rural Drinking Water Program guidelines give high priority to water supply sourcesustainability and water quality. Further, the potential or green outcomes is enhanced by an emphasison sa e disposal o sludge a ter treatment o contaminated water, and the use o renewable energy

or water pumping.

The above green results can be achieved through speci c measures a) at the level o the Ministryand b) or each scheme.

Recommendations or Ministry-level measures to achieve green results:

To achieve incremental green results, the Ministry o Rural Development may

1. Identi y a key set o green outcomes that are easible and have high impact; prepare Green Guidelineswhich will detail how to achieve these desired results. The hallmark o the Green Guidelines will be(i) a set o non-negotiable principles and goals and (ii) exibility beyond the non-negotiable so thatpeople and institutions are encouraged to adopt creative and innovative activities.

2. Form a network o support organizations by designating select civil society organizations, technical

institutions and academic centers to acilitate the implementation o the Green Guidelines.3. Establish an Innovations Portal or greening rural development. This portal will encourage innovative

ideas, activities, technologies and processes adopted to promote and expand the greening activities.

4. Set up a Green Innovations Fund to promote and incentivize the development and extension o technologies and social processes to achieve green outcomes

5. Set up a dedicated Green Cell within the Ministry or guiding the greening agenda and or theimplementation o Green Guidelines in the country. The Green Cell will develop procedures toconverge actions and unding or greening activities that cut across rural development schemes.

6. Prepare an annual Green Report or the Minister o Rural Development summarizing the major

green achievements and their outcomes during the year. This report should draw upon independentevaluation o schemes or green outcomes.

Recommendations or scheme-level measures to achieve green results

The green orientation o the schemes will entail speci ying green principles, goals, actions, processes,desired outputs and outcomes, monitoring and evaluation procedures and systems in the schemeguidelines. Unless the green commitment and content are speci ed in the guidelines, implementationis likely to depend on individual initiative rather than be systemic. While most schemes have includedsigni cant green eatures in their recently revised Guidelines, the results are well below potential. Higherpriority to be accorded to the green eatures, closer monitoring o green results and to strengthen

implementation to achieve incremental green results across all schemes.

Priority Recommendations or MGNREGS:

Prepare Perspective Plan or every Gram Panchayat on the basis o landscape, watershed or aqui erbased planning

Strengthen capacities o Gram Panchayats to develop green proposals and monitor green results:develop and utilize appropriate toolkits or this purpose

Strengthen block level capacities to support implementing agencies to deliver green results

Develop an MGNREGS green index as a part o the scheme monitoring system to track green impacts

at the Gram Panchayat level


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Incentivize Gram Panchayats to achieve and surpass the threshold level on the MGNREGS green index;this incentive may be drawn rom the budgetary provision or administrative expenses

Increase ocus on treatment o orest land in convergence with joint orest management and theGreen India Mission

Priority Recommendations or NRLM Include as essential outcome in Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) guidelines, a result

each on sustainably harvested produce and sustainable agricultural practices (in addition to currentone on soil health) or all initiatives

Develop protocols or sustainable harvest o non timber orest produce and sustainable agricultureand livestock management, and acilitate their adoption by SHGs

Earmark 2% o overall budget (or 10% o provision or in rastructure and marketing) or work at mesolevel on developing niche markets or sustainably harvested produce and or green input supplychains

Provide backloaded labour subsidy to SHGs or adoption o sustainable practices to compensate orlower labour productivity (in current guidelines, there is provision only or capital subsidy or revolving

unds or SHGs)

Priority Recommendations or Integrated Watershed Development Program

Speci y environmentally sustainable resource management and production systems in the work plan,with convergent support rom other schemes, and develop capacities o community institutions toadopt the systems

Use the budget allocated or production systems and microenterprises to support key aspects o sustainable production systems.

Establish indicators or soil health, biodiversity and water resource sustainability and set up resourcesustainability targets using these indicators

Formalize usu ruct rights and legal entitlements to promote sustainable use practices throughcommunity involvement. The 5% budget provision or the consolidation phase must be releasedonly a ter these measures are adopted by the community.

Encourage support organizations to take on action research pilots to enhance green results

Priority Recommendations or National Rural Drinking Water Programme

Ensure source sustainability is built into the Resource Development Proposals rom Gram Panchayatswhile sanctioning projects.

Institutionalize participatory water quality monitoring and reporting by Gram Panchayat

Ensure sa e disposal o contaminants a ter the water treatment process

Dedicate additional unds or use o green technologies.

The Water Security Plans must take into account all relevant water demands.


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Priority Recommendations or Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan

Establish a Green Home Protocol and a Green Panchayat Protocol to be implemented in a phasedmanner across the country.

Enhance the budgetary share o solid and liquid waste management component

Increase emphasis on solid and liquid waste management in the eligibility criteria or the Nirmal GramPuraskar

Prepare an inventory o solid and liquid waste management technologies and disseminate widely

Launch a campaign or highlighting the tangible bene ts o rural sanitation onhealth and livelihoods.

Priority Recommendations or Indira Awaas Yojana

Prepare region-speci c Handbooks o Green Building Designs including green construction materialsthat cover the li e cycle o an IAY house.

Support district level Building Resource Centres to promote green technologies and designs; link nancial support to quantity and e ectiveness o green services provided

Develop an IAY Green Index to measure, monitor and report on green results on a regular basis.

Provide additional subsidy (20 percent) to amilies building housing units that score above thresholdon the green index

Provide additional unds to districts committing to speci ed number o green housing units underIAY.

Together, these recommendations will help the Ministrys schemes to deliver green results andcontribute to the national goal o aster, sustainable and more inclusive growth. As the UN SecretaryGenerals High Level Panel on Sustainability notes, there exists tremendous opportunity or a dramaticimprovement in the lives o the rural poor, even while they move towards more sustainable productionmodels. Resource users will need access to assets, technology and markets. Success will depend, in greatpart, on investment. Success will also depend on institutions and initiatives with capacity to e ectivelycoordinate e orts. The above actions by the Ministry o Rural Development can succeed by directinginvestment and coordinating institutions and resource users to achieve green outcomes. Thereby, theMinistry will not only help overcome the constraints posed by environmental degradation, but utilizeenvironmental resources as an opportunity to spur growth and poverty reduction.


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1Greening Rural Development in India

Poverty reduction and economic growth can be sustained only i natural resources are managed on asustainable basis. A signi cant segment o Indias population, particularly the rural poor, depends onnatural resources or subsistence and livelihoods. Greening RD re ers to conservation and regenerationo ecosystems and the natural resource base. Greening can stimulate rural economies, create jobs andhelp maintain critical ecosystem services and strengthen climate resilience o the rural poor who areamongst the most vulnerable to the impacts o climate change and natural resources degradation.Ecosystem goods and services are crucial to ensuring viability o agriculture, livestock and non-timber

orest based livelihoods. Besides, they are key to sa e drinking water, health care, shelter and more.

In India, the Ministry o Rural Development (MORD) has been implementing a wide spectrum o programmes which are aimed at poverty alleviation, employment generation, in rastructure developmentand social security. MoRD programmes have signi cant potential or green results, both at the local andglobal levels. In this light, this Report on Greening Rural Development in India is an attempt to supportthe systematic internalization o greening objectives across the various rural development programmesin India. The Report aims to enhance the understanding o the concept o greening speci c to each o the major Rural Development schemes, document good practices where incremental green results havebeen achieved, and provide recommendations on what the schemes need to do diferently to achieveincremental green results.

1.1 Economic Growth and Environmental SustainabilityIndias commitment to planned economic development re ects governments determination to improvethe economic condition o its people and an a rmation o the role o the government in bringing aboutthis outcome through a variety o social, economic, and institutional means 1. Indias First Five Year Plan(1951-56) was aimed at economic stabilization and investment in the agrarian sector. This Plan supportedcommunity development aimed at trans orming the social and economic conditions o the villages. TheSecond Five Year Plan initiated structural trans ormation with an emphasis on heavy industrialization. The rst two plans laid the oundation or development planning in India. At the centre o Indias currentdevelopment strategy is raising the rates o economic growth and enabling inclusion. Raising the rateso investment is a key driver to economic growth as well as structural trans ormation, and investing inin rastructure is expected to remove constraints to growth. Natural capital or environmental resources

are an important complement to such planned investment in achieving development goals. The PlanningCommission notes in its Approach Paper to the 12th Five year Plan that economic development willbe sustainable only i it is pursued in a manner which protects the environment. With acceleration o economic growth, these pressures are expected to intensi y, and we there ore, need to pay greaterattention to the management o water, orests and land 2. These concerns are re ective o the situationin other countries as well.

Globally, environmental degradation expressed as loss o ertile soils, deserti cation, unsustainable

i nTroduCTion 1

1 Extracted rom the Foreword o the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12). Planning Commission (2008), Ox ord University Press, New Delhi.2 Planning Commission (2011): Faster, Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth, An Approach to the Twel th Five Year Plan (2012-17), New Delhi,

pg 103 United Nations Secretary-Generals High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (2012). Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A uture worth

choosing. New York: United Nations, pg 21


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orest management, reduction o reshwater availability and an extreme biodiversity loss rate does notleave enough time to the environment or recovery and regeneration. Nearly two thirds o the servicesprovided by nature to humankind are ound to be in decline worldwide 3.

Globally, economy-wide policy re orms designed to promote growth and liberalization have beenencouraged with little regard to their environmental consequences, presumably on the assumptionthat these consequences would either take care o themselves or could be dealt with separately 4.Such policies will limit growth and increase risk to economic activity and human well-being. Given the

undamental uncertainties about the nature o ecosystem dynamics and the dramatic consequences wewould ace i we were to guess wrong, it is necessary that we act in a precautionary way so as to maintainthe diversity and resilience o ecosystems 5.

It would however be incorrect to posit growth and environmental sustainability as mutually incompatible.What matters is the content o growth i.e.the composition o inputs (including environmental resources)and outputs (including waste products). This content is determined by, among other things, theeconomic institutions within which human activities are conducted 6.

Sustainable use o environmental resources can contribute to growth and stability. Global debates

on green growth draw attention to the contribution o environmental resources to increasing theproductivity o investment and to the e ectiveness and longevity o in rastructural investment. Theelasticity o substitution between natural capital and other inputs is ound to be low, which implies thatit may be possible to compensate or the loss o natural capital with other capital inputs in the short runbut not in the long run. Moreover, while direct economic bene ts rom environmental policies will accruemainly over the long term, green policies can also contribute to short-term economic growth 7. Thisstrengthens the case or paying attention to environmental sustainability. There have been re erences inthe literature on the contribution o natural capital to sustained and equitable growth 8.

The UN Secretary Generals High Level Panel on Sustainability notes that there exists tremendousopportunity or a dramatic improvement in the lives o the rural poor, even while they move towardsmore sustainable production models. Resource users will need access to assets, technology and markets.Success will depend, in great part, on investment. Success will also depend on institutions and initiativeswith capacity to e ectively coordinate e orts in priority areas o agriculture, land management andwater 9. The Schemes o the Ministry o Rural Development are well located to deliver green outcomesi.e. to restoring and enhancing ecosystem services and natural capital.

There have also been extensive discussions in the literature on how to deliver on environmentallysustainable growth. Measures range rom the regulatory and institutional to market-based economicinstruments. Reliance on market instruments alone will not deliver environmentally sustainable growth 10,with the market being unable to generate pricing signals and green responses due to issues such asexternalities, the public-good nature o environmental assets, in ormation asymmetry and agencyproblems and missing property rights. In particular, regulating or supporting services provided byecosystems are di cult to de ne, measure, value and assign. The characteristics o resources and socialinteraction may present condition or the evolution o e ective sel -governing resource institutionswhich could be based on design principles outlined by the path-breaking work o Elinor Ostrom. 11

The schemes o the Ministry o Rural Development are uniquely positioned to in uence the decisions4 Arrow, Kenneth et al, (1995) Economic Growth, Carrying Capacity, and the Environment , Science, Vol 268, 28th April 1995, pg 5205 Ibid, pg 5216 Ibid, pg 5217 World Bank (2012): Inclusive Green Growth, The World Bank, Washington D. C., p.368 See World Bank (2012): Inclusive Green Growth, The World Bank, Washington D. C.; Millenium Ecosystem Assessment Board (2005), Living

Beyond Our Means, Natural Assets and Human Well Being, Island Press, Washington D C; Partha Dasgupta (2010), Natures Role in SustainingEconomic Development, in Philosophical Transactions o the Royal Society, 365, pgs 5-11;

9 United Nations Secretary-Generals High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (2012). Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A uture worthchoosing. New York: United Nations, pg 38-39

10 World Bank (2012): Inclusive Green Growth, The World Bank, Washington D. C Box 2.1, pg 4611 Elinor Ostrom (1990): Governing the Commons: The Evolution o Institutions or Collective Action. Publisher? The 8 design principles include:

clearly de ned resource boundaries; congruence between appropriation, rules and provisions; monitoring; graduated sanctions, con ictsresolution mechanisms; minimal recognition o rights to organize; and nested enterprises.


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o hundreds o thousands o natural resource managers, and to direct investment ows towards theinnumerable initiatives that aggregate to the improved result o regenerating natural capital. The MoRDschemes can enable, across thousands o locations, the creation o community institutions or naturalresource management; strengthening o capacity o community institutions and eld level governmentsta on natural resource regeneration; ostering innovative green solutions; and investing directly inregenerating natural assets using location- speci c strategies. It is through concerted action by resourceusers and resource managers (individuals, communities, enterprises and governments) that greenoutcomes can be delivered by the rural development schemes.

Natural capital is o ten valued and understood best at the local level, and local knowledge is essentialor e ective solutions. 12 Communities need to be active supporters o the transition to sustainable

development, asserting their rights and also ul lling their responsibilities in terms o sustainablemanagement o natural resources. 13 Rural development schemes provide a strong opportunity toaggregate small initiatives in several locations to improve natural capital on a macro scale. These sel governing institutions and their capacities will be key to greater e ectiveness o regulatory and marketinstruments in ecosystem regeneration and improving natural capital.

1.2 Rural Development Schemes in India The Ministry o Rural Development (MoRD) spearheads the countrys e orts to reduce poverty in therural areas. Until recently, its work was divided among three departments: (i) Department o RuralDevelopment (ii) Department o Land Resources (iii) Department o Drinking Water & Sanitation. In July2011, the Department o Drinking & Sanitation was converted into a separate ministry, the Ministry o Drinking Water & Sanitation.

The MoRD website states, This Ministrys main objective is to alleviate rural poverty and ensureimproved quality o li e or the rural population especially those below the poverty line. Towards thisend, it sponsors scores o development programmes, big and small, in uencing various spheres o rural li e and activities, rom income generation to environmental replenishment. 14 A small number o programmes o the two ministries MoRD and MDWS, however, account or a substantial share o theexpenditure on rural development. Primarily, these include the ollowing:

1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): This aims atenhancing the livelihood security o people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days o wage-employment in a nancial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilledmanual work. (Budgetary allocation in 2012-13: INR 33,000 billion)

2. National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM): The basic objective o the National Rural LivelihoodMission is to create e cient and e ective institutional plat orms o the rural poor that enable themto increase their household incomes through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improvedaccess to nancial services. It plans to cover 70 million households living below the poverty line (BPL)in rural India. (Budgetary allocation in 2012-13: INR 3,563 billion)

3. Integrated Watershed Development Programme (IWDP): The main objectives o the IWDP areto restore ecological balance in a watershed by harnessing, conserving and developing degradednatural resources such as soil, water and vegetative cover, and thereby, help provide sustainablelivelihoods to the local people. (Budgetary allocation in 2012-13: INR 2,744 billion)

4. Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY): This scheme provides nancial grants to rural BPL amilies and the next-o -kin o de ence personnel killed in action or construction o houses and upgradation o existingunserviceable kutcha houses. (Budgetary allocation in 2012-13: INR 9,966 billion)

5. National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP): The goal o this scheme is to provide adequatesa e water or domestic uses on a sustainable basis. (Budgetary allocation in 2012-13: INR 10,500 billion)

12 UNDP (2012), The Future We Want Biodiversity and Ecosystems Driving Sustainable Development, UNDP pg 2713 UNDP (2012), ibid, pg 2714 http://www.rural.nic.in


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6. Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA): The Total Sanitation Campaign, now renamed as the Nirmal BharatAbhiyan, assists Gram Panchayats to achieve comprehensive sanitation coverage. (Budgetaryallocation in 2012-13: INR 3,500 billion)

The major schemes listed above can potentially make a signifcant contribution to sustaining and regeneratingnatural resources and ecosystem services. Some examples are:

A vast majority o the works under the MGNREGS are linked to water, soil and land. The list o permissibleworks provide environmental services such as conservation o water, groundwater recharge, reducedsoil erosion, increased soil ertility, conservation o biodiversity, reclamation o degraded crop andgrazing lands, enhanced lea manure, uel wood and non-wood orest products supply.

Watershed Development programmes (IWDP) are ocused primarily on ecological restoration byreducing soil erosion, increasing water storage ( in-situ moisture conservation, sur ace water bodies andgroundwater recharge), improving vegetative cover, particularly on allow lands and strengtheningrelated livelihoods. IWDP can also encourage sustainable natural resource use particularly in watershedprojects consolidation phase.

Under NRLM, the guidelines or non-timber orest produce-based livelihoods under the Mahila KisanSashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) identi y regeneration and sustainable harvesting o NTFP species askey objectives; similarly, increased soil health and ertility to sustain agriculture-based livelihoods is anobjective under the sustainable agriculture component o the MKSP.

The NRDWP guidelines have earmarked 20 percent o the NRDWP unds or sustainability o watersupply, including long-term source sustainability. I water supply schemes under NRDWP includecomponents to ensure water source sustainability, NRDWP will have a signi cant green impact. Thescheme, with its commitment to sa e water quality, is expected to invest in water treatment acilitiesto address contamination. The scheme could urther invest in sa e disposal o the sludge rom suchwater treatment to augment green results.

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan- ormerly the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC)- is by its very nature a green

programme. In recent years, its scope has been extended beyond the eradication o open de ecation tocomprehensive sanitation. Due to this expansion in scope, ten percent o the project unds is earmarkedor solid and liquid waste management. NBA, thereby, can ensure that such waste does not contaminate

the water system.

1.3 About This Report The Approach Paper to the Twel th Five-Year Plan notes that as the economy gains the capacity to growrapidly, it will come up against the constraint o limitations o natural resources and in the need toexploit these in a sustainable manner. 15

Despite the concerns and the e orts o the Indian government in the states and at the centre, o

environmentalists, voluntary organizations and communities across the country, the condition o Indiasenvironment poses ormidable challenges. As the o cial State o Indias Environment Report India 2009notes, Land degradation is taking place through natural and man-made processes, resulting in the losso invaluable nutrients and lower ood grain production. Loss o biodiversity is o great concern sincemany plant and animal species are being threatened. Air quality in cities is deteriorating due to vehiculargrowth and a sharp increase in air pollution related diseases. The issue o availability o water, which isgoing to be one o the critical problems in the coming decades, needs to be addressed on priority basis.Generation o large quantity o hazardous waste rom industries, along with the hospital waste has beena ecting public health and environment. Climate change and energy security are major concerns whichneed to be addressed strategically. 16

15 Planning Commission, 2011, Faster, Sustainable and more Inclusive Growth. An Approach Paper to the Twel th Five-Year Plan. P 45


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At the international level, a quarter century ago, the Brundtland Commission articulated the need orenvironmentally sustainable development. 17 Today, there is much greater knowledge and awareness o theimpacts o rising greenhouse gas emissions on global warming and climate change. In its recent report OnePlanet to Share the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has proposed that governments o the Asia-Paci c region raise rural resilience since rural areas in the region are the main ood suppliers andcarbon sinks. 18

Recognizing the national and global imperatives or regenerating natural resources and conservingecosystems, the Ministry o Rural Development requested UNDP to examine the environmentalimplications o its schemes and assess the potential o these schemes to deliver green results. UNDP hasundertaken this study Greening Rural Development Programmes in India in response to this request.

1.3.1 Objectives o the Report The main objective o the Report is to examine the potential o rural development programmes toprovide environmental bene ts that urther their developmental goals and recommend speci c andgeneric changes in their guidelines to achieve them. Its speci c objectives are to:

(i) De ne the concept o greening rural development and to elaborate it in the context o the majorrural development schemes.

(ii) Review six major schemes o MoRD to understand their environmental impacts and highlight theirpotential to bring about incremental green bene ts.

(iii) Document good practices or models o environmentally bene cial developmental interventions bygovernment and civil society organizations to draw lessons or the major rural development schemes.

(iv) Recommend steps that could be taken within rural development schemes to achieve incremental greenresults.

1.3.2 Structure o the Report This Report is in two volumes. The rst volume presents an overview, summary and recommendations orGreening Rural Development. The second volume presents commissioned technical papers by expertson greening six major MoRD and MDWS schemes. The Report has bene ted rom the deliberationsat the international con erence organized by UNDP and the Ministry o Rural Development TowardsGreening Rural Development Programmes in India: Lessons rom International & National Experience inMay 2012. It has also taken into account the green recommendations o some o the relevant WorkingGroups or the 12th Five-Year Plan.

This rst volume summarizes the potential o the six major rural development schemes or deliveringenvironmental bene ts. It draws critical lessons rom initiatives in India that have yielded environmentalbene ts while addressing other rural development priorities. It provides recommendations or changes

in the guidelines and implementation rameworks o the major rural development schemes to achievethe desired green outcomes.

This volume has our sections: (1) Following this rst introduction are the sections on (2) Greening RuralDevelopment (3) Potential or Greening and (4) Recommendations.

16 Varughese George C., Vijaya Lakshmi K., Kumar Anand & Rana Neelam (2009): State o Environment Report India 2009, Ministry o Environment& Forests (MoEF), Government o India, New Delhi, p. x.

17 World Commission on Environment and Development (1987): Our Common Future, Ox ord University Press, Ox ord (U.K.)18 UNDP (2012): One Planet to Share: Sustaining Human Progress in a Changing Climate, Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group), New Delhi.


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2.1 De ning Green OutcomesGreening rural development re ers to a variety o activities that regenerate and conserve the natural resourcebase, innovate and use clean materials, technologies and processes to create environment- riendly products,livelihoods, enterprises and jobs. Greening Rural Development uses green indicators and metrics ormonitoring and evaluation o rural development projects and schemes. In the context o this report, greeningrural development re ers to ve broad green outcomes:

i. Improved resource conservation: Rural development schemes especially MGNREGS and IWDPocus on regeneration o natural resources. Conserving and regenerating land and water resources

enhances their productivity, leading to increased agriculture outputs and improved livelihoodsderived rom agriculture, orests and pastures. These schemes can assist in reducing run-o andsoil losses, recharge groundwater, increase vegetative cover and improve biodiversity, and thereby,augment the productivity o natural resources and ecosystems.

ii. Improved resource e ciency: Rural development schemes can substantially improve the e ciencyo natural resource use in rural livelihoods and essential services. Under IWDP, there is opportunityto support armer groups to adopt practices that improve e ciency o irrigation water. This can bedone through appropriate crop choices, arming techniques, drip and sprinkler irrigation systemsand improved eld irrigation methods. Under NRLM, womens sel help groups and armers can besupported on e cient nutrient management by combining chemical inputs with organic inputs.Under MGNREGS, soil erosion can be reduced leading to lower run-of o chemical ertilizers andhigher yields per unit o applied chemical ertilizer.

iii. Reduced negative environmental impacts: Greening Rural Development schemes can potentiallyreduce the negative environmental all-out o economic development (pollution, waste generationetc.). Solid and liquid waste management in the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan ( ormerly the Total SanitationCampaign) improves local sanitation and hygiene and thereby, the well-being and health o localresidents. In the Indira Awaas Yojana, the use o locally-available resources such as rice husk ash and

yash reduces diesel required to transport manu actured materials over long distances, and thereby,environmental pollution. Organic arming and sustainable harvesting o NTFPs under NRLM and theuse o renewable energy or li ting water in NRDWP are other examples.

iv. Strengthened climate resilience o communities: Greening rural development schemes can

potentially enhance the resilience o rural population and production systems, and reduce risks arisingrom climatic variations and extreme events such as droughts, oods and cyclones. A orestation,

plantations, odder development and vegetation belts in coastal areas under MGNREGS, IWDPor NRLM build livelihood resilience and improve local communities coping capacity to potentialimpacts o climate change. They also increase biodiversity and make the local ecosystems moreresilient. Flood control measures under MGNREGS and IWDP enhance resilience in ood-prone areas.

v. Contribution to climate change mitigation: Large-scale orestry and soil conservation measurescan sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, a orestation, plantationsand vegetation belts under MGNREGS and IWDP can help sequester carbon and contribute tonational and global e orts to address climate change.

G reeninG r ural d evelopmenT 2


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2.2 Relevance o Green Outcomes or Indias National Priorities The rationale or greening rural development emerges rom the Twel th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) strategy o aster, sustainable and more inclusive growth or poverty alleviation and MoRDs mandate to reduce ruralpoverty and ensure a better quality o li e especially or the poor. There are our major ways in which greening

rural development schemes can contribute to the 12 th Plan priorities:

2.2.1 Contributions to inclusive growth

A critical element in meeting the planned target o nine percent annual GDP growth is to sustain an annualgrowth rate o our percent in the agricultural sector. This is important or ensuring that growth is moreinclusive. Although agriculture contributes to only 14 percent o Indias GDP, it is the main source o income or58 percent o the rural population 19 particularly small armers with limited opportunities or migrating to themodern growth sectors. Agriculture also has a strong in uence on ood security and the prices o ood, andthere ore, on monetary wages. Further, agriculture has a very strong multiplier efect because o its impact onrural incomes and demand, and its supply o raw materials to several industrial sectors. While there has been a

marked revival in agricultural growth in India since 2004, or the 11th

Five-Year Plan as a whole, the growth rateis 3.6 percent. This is lower than the target or the 12 th Plan. The year-to-year variability o agricultural growthhas been declining, both on irrigated and rain ed land. Yet, the importance o climate-resilient domesticproduction o ood grains has been highlighted by the recent spikes in global ood grain prices. The impact o this variability goes urther, with a one percent decline in agricultural growth pulling back industrial growthand GDP growth by 0.52 percent. 20

A vision document prepared by the Central Research Institute or Dryland Agriculture estimates that thereis a large scope or improving productivity in rain ed agriculture ranging rom 200 percent to 500 percentdepending on the crop. 21 It is urther estimated that rain ed agriculture requires an investment o only INR 2.7billion or each additional million tons o ood grain production. The comparative investment or an additionalmillion tons o irrigated ood grain production was estimated at INR 62.4 billion in 2010-2011. 22 Rain edagricultures output is there ore essential or achieving higher and sustained overall growth in agriculture.Rural development schemes such as MGREGS, IWDP and NRLM can contribute substantially to sustainingagricultural growth and reducing its variability in rain ed areas.

Green activities in programmes such as MGNREGS, NRLM and IWDP target the private land holdings o thepoor besides common lands. Small-scale water and soil conservation techniques that are applicable at the

eld level are adopted more easily by poor households. The diversion o even a small amount o water, e.g.,even the grey water rom the kitchen or a small domestic kitchen garden can make a signi cant diferenceto household nutrition. 23 In rural areas, most people depend on their immediate environment or their dailysurvival - ood water, odder rewood and shelter. N. S. Jodhas pioneering research a ew decades ago showedthat the rural poor in particular were heavily dependent on common property resources. 24 This is true even

today.25

Rural development schemes aimed at regenerating and conserving the rural natural resource baseimprove the well-being o the rural poor in several ways.

A major role that public investment plays in a backward economy is to stimulate growth by encouragingand crowding in more private investment. Rural development schemes have the potential to play this role

19 National Sample Survey, 2009-1020 Sastry, D.V.S., et al. (2003): Sectoral linkages and growth prospects: re ections on the Indian economy, Economic and Political Weekly, June 14,

2003.21 Ibid: p.88622 Sharma K.D. (2011): Op.cit, 1615-161623 Kijne J.J. (2003): Unlocking the Water Potential o Agriculture, FAO, Rome.24 N.S. Jodha (1986): Common Property Resources and Rural Poor in Dry Regions o India, Econ. & Pol. Weekly (EPW ), v.21 n.26, Bombay25 Recent estimates o the contribution o commons to livelihoods are provided in Marothia, D (2010) and FES Commons Study (2012)


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in India. Greening rural development can stimulate local growth by providing opportunities or privateinvestment in green businesses: renewable energy generation, organic input chains and advisory services,green product supply chains, production o environment- riendly construction materials ( yash and rice husk ash cement, yash and limestone bricks, erro cement products and ller slabs or roo s). Rural developmentschemes can help widely disseminate in ormation on green technologies and give an impetus to environment-

riendly innovations in agriculture, processing, housing and construction o rural roads. Rural developmentschemes such as the NRLM and IWDP could include new style interventions to improve the productivity andcompetitiveness o selected green enterprises. 26

2.2.2 Environmental sustainability o economic growth

The Planning Commission notes in its Approach Paper to the 12 th Five-year Plan that economic developmentwill be sustainable only i it is pursued in a manner which protects the environment. With acceleration o economic growth, these pressures are expected to intensi y, and we there ore, need to pay greater attention tothe management o water, orests and land 27. The State o Indias Environment Report India 2009 supports thisby observing that Land degradation is taking place through natural and man-made processes, resulting in theloss o invaluable nutrients and lower ood grain production. Loss o biodiversity is o great concern since manyplant and animal species are being threatened. The issue o availability o water, which is going to be one o thecritical problems in the coming decades, needs to be addressed on priority basis. 28

The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment estimated that 15 out o 24 o major global ecosystem serviceshave already been degraded. I current environmental challenges intensi y, the global Human DevelopmentIndex in 2050 is likely to be 8 percent lower than in the base case and 12 percent lower or south Asia and sub-Saharan A rica.29 The risks include impact on production in the agriculture and allied sectors, stress inducedby rising water scarcity and deteriorating resource quality. Rural development schemes can contributesigni cantly to conserving water resources, soil quality and biodiversity.

The Report o the Working Group on Sustainable Groundwater Management submitted to the PlanningCommission or the 12th Plan quoting the Report o the Expert Group on Groundwater Management andOwnership o the Planning Commission (2007), states that, in 2004, 28% o Indias blocks were showingalarmingly high levels o groundwater use. A recent assessment by NASA showed that during 2002 to 2008,India lost about 109 km 3 o water leading to a decline in water table to the extent o 0.33 metres per annum.With 80 percent o drinking water or rural India and 60 percent o irrigation water sourced rom groundwateraqui ers, this depletion is alarming. Rural development schemes such as MGNREGS, IWDP and the sourcesustainability component o NRDWP can help arrest and even reverse the decline in groundwater levels incritical regions. This is particularly use ul or hard-rock regions where groundwater depletion is at its mostacute.

Soil is a primary resource or generation o most renewable natural raw materials or production systems. But astudy conducted by the Central Soil Water Conservation Research and Training Institute (CSWCRTI) in Dehradun

estimates that India loses about one millimeter o top soil every year due to soil erosion.30

This amounts to anannual loss o 16.4 tons/ha or a total loss o 5,334 million tons annually. Soil contains enormous quantities o carbon in the orm o organic matter. Soil carbon provides nutrients or plant growth. There is an estimated gapo about 10 million tons o nutrients (NPK), to begin with, between the absorption o nutrients by crops and their

26 Rodrick D. (2004), Industrial Policy or the Twenty First Century, Harvard27 Planning Commission (2011): Faster, Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth, An Approach to the Twel th Five-Year Plan (2012-17), New Delhi,

pg 1028 Varughese George C., Vijaya Lakshmi K., Kumar Anand & Rana Neelam (2009): State o Environment Report India 2009, Ministry o Environment

& Forests (MoEF), Government o India, New Delhi, p. x.29 UNDP (2011): Human Development Report 2011 Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future or All, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pgs 30-3130 -----(2010): The Hindu, New Delhi, November 26, 201031 ----- (2009): Fertilizer use by crops in India, www. ao.org/docrep/009/a0257e/A0257E02.htm


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addition through ertilizers. 31 Soil erosion depletes soil ertility and adds to global warming. Soil conservationworks are a large part o MGNREGS and IWDP activities. Soil ertility enhancement is a key objective o theMKSP and sustainable agriculture components o NRLM. Together, these schemes can contribute substantiallyto addressing the issue o land degradation.

Biodiversity is essential or the sustenance o all living systems, i.e., it is essential or nature itsel . Indiasphenomenal biodiversity is a store house o biological resources on which several hundred million peopledepend on or health care, scarcity ood, supplementary nutrition, odder, bio-pesticides, uel, housing andother uses. 32 With only 2.4 percent o the worlds land mass, India is home to over eight percent o its biologicaldiversity. Its diversity o ecosystems ( orests, wetlands, grasslands, marine areas and deserts) is among theworlds highest and harbors over 47,000 plants and 90,000 animals in the wilds. Crop diversities include over50,000 varieties o rice over 1,000 o mango, over 5,000 o sorghum and over 500 o pepper. Livestock diversity isalso similarly high. But in the last two centuries, India has lost over hal o its orests, 40 percent o its mangrovesand a large part o its wetlands. MGNREGS, IWDP and NRLM activities can play a major role in conserving Indiasbiodiversity which is so essential or providing the country with ecological and livelihood security.

2.2.3 Increasing climate resilience o production systems, livelihoodsand habitats

India is highly vulnerable to climate-related disasters. The Natural Hazards Risk Atlas 2011 compiled by theWorld Bank and other international agencies ranks India in the highest risk category along with six othercountries (Mexico, the Philippines, Turkey, Indonesia, Italy, and Canada). Hydro meteorological disasters are themost devastating and commonly occurring disasters throughout the world, comprising more than two-thirdso all major disasters. Greening rural development can contribute to higher resilience to these natural hazards.

According to the National Commission on Floods, the area prone to oods in the country was about 40 millionhectares, out o which 80 percent, i.e., estimated 32 million hectares could be provided a reasonable degree o protection. A major strategy to increased ood resilience is to improve drainage. Rural development schemes

are designed to improve drainage in low-lying or at areas, to strengthen embankments and make drainagelines (starting rom higher-order streams in the catchment area) more efective in discharging excessive run-of. The possibility o using MGNREGS or alleviating the ood problem in Bihar has been reported. 33

In India, around 68 percent o the country is prone to drought in varying degrees. In 2002, India witnessed asevere drought which afected 300 million people, 150 million cattle and reduced oodgrain production by29 million tons. The entire country was declared drought-hit in the years 1966, 1972, 1979, 1987 and 2002. 34 Drought-prone regions were afected more requently. Green results rom rural development schemes canhelp conserve water in sur ace water bodies and in the groundwater system, improve vegetative cover toprovide more odder and increase soil moisture. Together, these can help reduce variability in agricultural yield,and contribute to improved drinking water and odder availability during a meteorological drought.

2.2.4 Making public expenditure more efectiveA green ocus will enable MGNREGS to efectively deliver on its objective o creating durable assets andstrengthening the livelihood resource base o the rural poor. By thus ensuring livelihoods security, MGNREGSwill increase labour absorption in natural resource-based livelihoods, and decrease demand or the employmentin public works. Livelihoods security or the rural poor will be ensured even while the demand or work underMGNREGS declines. This will limit outlay under MGNREGS in the uture.

32 Kohli K. (2003): The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, India, Sage Publications, New Delhi.33 NREGA Consortium Bihar Report, 201234 Ministry o Agriculture (2009): Manual or Drought Management, New Delhi 2009


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Green results will be delivered by investing in sustainability o sources or drinking water through NRDWP,MGNREGS and IWDP. This will result in greater longevity or drinking water supply systems and will reduce thenumber o slipped-back habitations. The average number o slipped back habitations targeted or coverageeach year in the period 2002-8 to 2009-10 under the NRDWP has been more than 100,000 35. The NRDWP investsconsiderable unds in securing drinking water supply or such habitations. This expenditure can be reducedthrough green outcomes o rural development schemes. Recognising this, NRDWP has recently increasedthe allocation or Sustainability component rom 5 percent to 20 percent o its overall budget. This is orimplementing the sustainability measures in rural water supply projects by the states. This underscores theimportance o green outcomes (source sustainability) in making NRDWP expenditure efective.

The MGNREGS and the IWDP can help bridge the gap between irrigation potential created and irrigationpotential utilized, or small and micro irrigation projects. These schemes can also help maintain irrigationchannels at the tail-end o the systems, and to prepare armland or irrigation, through bunding, land-levellingand eld channels.

Green outcomes o rural development schemes will increase the yield response to application o chemicalertilizers. It is well known that nitrogenous ertilizers are highly soluble as well as volatile. Rural development

schemes can help increase soil carbon. Increased organic carbon in soil helps hold these ertilizers or longer insoil, thereby increasing the absorption o these nutrients by crops. Further, measures to reduce water run-of will also reduce loss o soluble nitrogenous ertilizers. Phosphate ertilizers become soluble in the presence o organic carbon on soil, assisting in their uptake by crops. Rural development schemes can help increase soilmoisture, thereby helping greater and continuous uptake o ertilizers by crops.

The Green India Mission aims to improve vegetative cover over ten million hectares o area. O these, vemillion hectares will be outside current orest areas. The Mission will adopt a landscape-based approach andclosely involve local communities in 30,000 villages. In addition, the Mission will strengthen 14,000 communityconserved areas and undertake social orestry in three million hectares. The Green Indian Mission will becomemore efective i rural development schemes invest in these villages in soil and water conservation and indeveloping capacity o local institutions in managing natural resources.

35 Ministry o Drinking Water and Sanitation (2012): NRDWP An Outline, http://www.ddws.gov.in/sites/upload_ les/ddws/ les/pd /NRDWP-

Anoutline.pd


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3.1 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Programme (MGNREGS)

Natural 36 resources such as armlands, pastures, orests and water sources (sur ace and ground water)are subject to degradation and loss o productivity. Satellite data showed that in 2005-2006 about 15percent (47.22 mha) o Indias land mass were wasted or under-productive lands. 37 Such degradationis an important actor in the loss o livelihood assets and income poverty in rural India. The MGNREGAct there ore proposes large investments in works like soil and water conservation, land developmentand a orestation that address the causes o chronic rural poverty. It also lays stress on creating durableassets. These key elements o the Act -- productivity enhancement and sustainability o the rural naturalresource base - strengthen its potential or green outcomes.

MGNREGS is the largest rural development programme in the country in terms o its reach and budget. A vastmajority o MGNREGS works are green in nature given their ocus on the regeneration and conservation o natural resources and ecosystems and their main emphasis being on land ( armlands, orests, pastures andwaste lands) and water resources. In act, since the initiation o MGNREGS more than 50 percent projectsare related to water through implementation o water conservation works, ood control, irrigation, droughtproo ng, renovation o traditional water bodies and micro-irrigation. 38 Their main developmental consequencesare higher crop productivities and production. 39 Drought proo ng activities, oods management works andvegetation belts planted in the coastal areas also reduce the potential damage due to extreme weather events.

There is ample evidence that even basic MGNREGS works have led to the regeneration o degradedsoil, land ( arms, orests and pastures) and water resources and the conservation o the assets created. 40 Their green outcomes include reducing soil erosion, improving soil ertility, increasing biodiversity,augmentation o sur ace and ground water resources or irrigation and household use and increasingcarbon sequestration. A number o such outcomes have been highlighted in many states like Karnataka,Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala and Maharashtra. 41

Some examples o the green impact o basic MGNREGS soil and water works rom di erent parts o thecountry are:

In Sidhi district (M.P.), 55 percent o 240 respondents said that construction o ponds, tanks and wellsand renovation o old structures led to an increase o 372 acres in the cropped area. 42

Thirty- our anicuts (stone bunds) built under MGNREGS in Rajasthan irrigated 26 ha each on anaverage, enhancing groundwater recharge in nearby wells and raising their water levels between

p oTenTial G reen r esulTs 3

36 This section is based on technical paper by NH Ravindranath and Indu Murthy in Volume II o this report37 --- (2010): Wasteland Atlas o India 2010, National Remote Sensing Centre (ISRO), Hyderabad &Dept o Land Resources (MoRD), GoI, New Delhi, p.v38 Greening o MGNREGS by Ravindranath & Murthy, in volume 2 o the report39 Shah M., Mann N., & Pande V. (2012): MGNREGS Sameeksha: An Anthology o Research Studies on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act (2005, 2006-2012), Orient Black Swan, New Delhi, pp 42-44.40 Sharma A. (2010): Rights-based Legal Guarantee as Development Policy: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,

UNDP, New Delhi.41 Shah M., Mann N., & Pande V. (2012): MGNREGS Sameeksha: An Anthology o Research Studies on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act (2005, 2006-2012), Orient Black Swan, New Delhi42 Sharma A. (2010): Op.Cit, p.19.


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10-40 eet. Renovation and construction o pondsunder MGNREGS in Kerala led to an increase inthe availability o irrigation water promoting thecultivation o cash crops like ginger and sugarcane. 43

Silt excavated rom MGNREGS works improvedsoil ertility when applied to over 36,000 acres o degraded lands belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC),Scheduled Tribe (ST) and below poverty line amiliesin Chittoor district (A.P.). 44

In many states, water related works increased theavailability o irrigation water leading to increase in theirrigated area, arm productivity and crop production.

MGNREGS project to revive a river in Khargone district(M.P.) increased sur ace ows or an additional twoto three months. Groundwater recharge increasedby two to three meters and the crop area by 400 ha. The irrigated area rose by 26 percent and 19 percentin Ujjain and Dhar districts respectively, in M.P., as aresult o MGNREGS works. In Chhindwara and Pannadistricts, the irrigated area increase was even higherat 35 and 30 percent respectively. 45

Irrigation rom 40 ponds along with canals, wells andbore wells in Kerala raised rice yields by 33 percent

rom three to our per ha and coconut yields rom10,000 to 15,000 nuts per ha. 46

A study o MGNREGS projects in Punjab, Haryana andHimachal Pradesh reported that 62 percent o thesampled panchayats in Sirsa district (Haryana) and 75 percent panchayats in Sirmour district (H.P.)reported increase in crop productivities. Respondents in Hoshiarpur district o Punjab, however, didnot see any impact o MGNREGS on irrigation and agricultural productivity. 47

There is also emerging evidence that some MGNREGS projects can have global green impacts. Activitieslike soil conservation, odder development, a orestation and drought proo ng works help sequestercarbon. It has been estimated that tree planting activities over an area o 2,341 ha in Chitradurga districtcould lead to sequestration o 93 tons o carbon per ha over a 30-year period. 48 No reliable estimates havebeen made yet on the amount o carbon sequestered as a result o MGNREGS soil conservation works. There are also several innovative MNREGP projects going beyond the routine activities with signi cantgreen results in the country (See case study 1 - Springs revival or rural water security in Sikkim).

Simple Works Produce Big Outcomes InChitradurga District, Andhra Pradesh

Desilting water bodies simply requires humanlabour. A detailed study o seven villages inChitradurga district o Karnataka showed thatbetween 2006 and 2009, over 122,500 cubicmetres o soil was removed rom the beds o water bodies. Three villages reported increasesin groundwater levels rom 30 percent to77 percent. In one case the impact was alsoobserved in nearby downstream villages. Data

rom ve villages showed a 65 percent increasein the irrigated area rom 1,470 ha to 2,430 ha.

It is estimated that 926, 890 cubic metres o soilhave been removed rom various tanks bedsin the district in 2006-09. This increased the

organic carbon content o the recipient landstwo or three- old.

Check dams under MGNREGS in Chitradurgaincreased water percolation and rechargedgroundwater. The percolation potential o check dams depends on the size o the reservoir, natureand size o the watershed and the amount o rain all. In the study villages, the percolationpotential is reported to have risen by 10,000-28,000 cubic meters per year.

-- Extracted rom Tiwari et al. (2011)

43 Verma S. (2011): MGNREGA Assets and Rural Water Security: Synthesis o Field Studies in Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala and Rajasthan, InternationalWater Management Institute (IWMI), Anand.

44 Shah M. et al. (2012) Op Cit, p. 40.45 Ibid.46 Nair N. & Sanju S. (2010): Water Conservation and Irrigation Asset Creation Under NREGS in Kerala : Understanding the Owenership and

E ectiveness o the Assets Created and i ts In uence in Labour Dynamics, IWMI, Anand.47 Bassi N., Kumar D. M., Niranjan V. & Sivamohan M. (2011): Employment Guarantee and its Environmental Impact Are the Claims Valid? EPW,

v.66 n. 34.48 Tiwari et al. (2011): MGNREGA or Environmental Service Enhancement and Vulnerability Reduction: Rapid Appraisal in Chitradurga District,

Karnataka, EPW, v.66 n. 20, pp 39-47.


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3.2 National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)Aajeevika 49 - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) was launched by the Ministry o RuralDevelopment (MoRD), Government o India in June 2011. The Mission aims at creating e cient ande ective institutional plat orms o the rural poor enabling them to increase household income through

sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to nancial services. The sustainability andgreen dimensions are re ected in the NRLM document: Respect or nature and its stewardship to ensuresustainable livelihoods or present as well as uture generations which points out Environmentalstewardship and sustainable harvest/natural resource management are central or ensuring sustainabilityo livelihoods o rural poor. For the purpose o greening this scheme, the ocus has been on three keylivelihood components o the NRLM mainly livelihoods based on non-timber orest produce (NTFP),sustainable agriculture and non- arm employment.

The NRLM is at its initial stage o deployment and state rural livelihood missions are being operationalized.Already the NRLM has a strong green emphasis. The greening strategies or the key livelihood sub-sectorsthat are outlined can be taken into account as the national-level activities. Additionally, the institutionso the poor being set up and strengthened under NRLM o er an excellent plat orm or introducing andinstitutionalizing green strategies.

3.2.1 Greening NTFP-based livelihoods

This entails in situ and ex situ conservation o NTFP species, sustainable harvesting and development o value-added products using sustainable production processes. A proposed agenda and approach orNTFPs-based sustainable livelihoods is shown in gure below:

Facilitating Institutions (National and State Mission Management Units, NGOs etc)

Sustainable NTFP Management

Resource Conservation- (ANR, NTFP based silviculture, JFM)- (cultivation, gene-bank)

In-situ

Ex-situ

Sustainable Resource Use- Sustainable harvest protocols- Sustainable harvest standards and certification

GreenValue Chain Development- Value added products- Greening the value chain

Eco-friendlyTechnology:

Participatory Technology

Development;Documentation,

Validation,Value-additionto indigenous

knowledge

Eco-friendlyHuman and

Social Capital:

People'sInstitutions;

Eco-preneurship

Enabling Governmental Policies

Agenda for Sustainable NTFP Livelihood Development

49

This section is based on the technical paper by Astad Pastakia, A Ravindra, and Manoj Mishra in Volume II o this Report.


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Recent years have witnessed an increase in commercial pressures on NTFPs leading to non-sustainablerates o exploitation. There is an immense scope to develop sustainable harvest protocols and ensuretheir implementation. Many countries have created sustainable harvesting guidelines or orest producelinked to weather, location and market demands and include the optimum time and methods o harvesting their major species 50. In India, the work on developing sustainable harvest protocols is in anascent stage. The National Institute o Rural Development has developed sustainable harvest protocols

or about 20 NTFPs including important ones like gum karaya, lac, honey, tamarind and tasar.

Even where protocols or sustainable harvest exist, consumers are o ten skeptical about claims made byproducers and suppliers. Here, establishment o standards and certi cation o processes provides thenecessary assurances to the consumers and the public at large. In India, the Indian Institute o ForestManagement had developed orest certi cation guidelines in 2007. This has a chapter on the NTFPcerti cation 51.

In the context o NTFPs, value chain development has assumed importance. The NRLM has alreadyidenti ed ve major NTFPs or this purpose. Their objective is enhancing incomes o the poor, mainlytribal communities who are involved in the primary collection. Various NGOs in India are working in the

NTFP sector to develop pro-poor value chains, the main ones being the Kovel Foundation that workson gum karaya value chain, Keystone Foundation on wild honey, Pradan on Tasar silk and Vasundharaon mahua. There are immense opportunities or greening NTFP value chains and greening nodes in thevalue chain need to be identi ed or each o these. For example, in the tassar silk value chain, greeningcan take place at di erent points: sustained availability and stabilization o cocoon production throughconservation and plantation o host plants/trees introducing sustainable harvesting protocols as well asexploring scope or using renewable energy source at the reeling units, o eco dyes in the production o

abric and introducing standards and certi cation o the di erent processes ( See case study 2 PRADANstasar silk value chain ).

3.2.2 Greening Agriculture - based Livelihoods

An explicit green commitment under NRLM is evident in the Sustainable Agriculture or the SmallProducers component o NRLM 52 and the Mahila Kisan Shashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) 53. Communitymanaged sustainable agriculture is emphasized with a strong ocus on empowering women inagriculture. The sustainable agriculture ocus o NRLM draws on the success ul Community ManagedSustainable Agriculture programme o Andhra Pradesh ( see case Study 3 on this programme ) and re ectsa strong green emphasis as evident:

A shi t away rom using chemical inputs in agriculture that will reduce external costs o cultivation andalso, help in restoration o natural processes such as replenishment o soil nutrition, higher moisturecapture in soils, increase in bene cial insects etc.

Restoration o soil health (and multiple crop-systems) that can build up soil organic carbon and helpin carbon sequestration.

Intensive knowledge inputs to armers in closely observing and strengthening natural cycles andarm-level ecologies that will build a green perspective to arming on a large scale.

50 The state o British Columbia in Canada ollows a ew basic thumb rules that require awareness o the ecosystem and speci es how much canbe harvested rom a particular area. Re er Cocksedge W. & Schroeder M. (2006):A Harvesters Handbook: a guide to commercial non-timber

orest products in British Columbia, Coastal Edition, Royal Roads University, British Columbia; Scotlands Sustainable Forest Harvest projecthas also identi ed basic principles o sustainable harvesting which are o universal appeal. It has three sets o harvesting codes that provideguidelines on what, where and how to collect NTFPs rom the wilderness or orests. Re er Scotland Re oresting website, Accessed May, 2012

51 Yadav,M., Kotwal, P.C. and Menaria, B.L. (2007) Forest Certi cation- A Tool or Sustainable Forest Management. Bhopal: Indian Institute o Forest Management.

52 MoRD (2010): National Rural Livelihoods Mission: A Framework or Implementation, Ministry o Rural Development, (GoI), New Delhi, p. 26.53 http://aajeevika.in/mksp.html


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In this context, what is proposed here is a comprehensive approach to greening sustainable agriculturebased livelihoods, a three-tiered ramework or identi ying greening options is proposed that entails:

(1) Interventions to improve the productivity o resources within the control o the poor.

(2) Options that ocus on resources that the poor use heavily but are not in their control.

(3) Initiatives to encourage greening the mainstream rural production systems that will also bene tthe poor.

At present, NRLM is largely ocused on the frst tier i.e., improving productivity o resources within the control o the poor. This can be urther strengthened by:

(i) Providing support or animal draught power which can improve soil ertility and reduce consumptiono ossil uels.

(ii) Strengthening community-owned diverse seed systems to protect against climatic adversities and isalso healthier or the soils.

(iii) Facilitate support or comprehensive investments on water harvesting or supplementary orprotective irrigation through convergence with MGNREGS and IWDP.

(iv) Strengthening livestock-crop integration into the sustainable agriculture strategies.

(v) Consider incentivizing armers or sustaining the green practices in agriculture 54.

The second tier involves green interventions based on resources beyond the control o the poor. Thesedeal with common pool natural resources such as grazing lands, ground or sur ace water resources,

sheries in common pool water bodies. Presently, the ocus o NRLM is largely on the lands o individualarmers. A suggested approach or introducing the second tier set o green interventions would be to

mobilize the rural poor into special purpose collectives (beyond SHGs) that operate at an aggregatedlevel o a Block or clusters o Gram Panchayats.

The third tier o green interventions involves green shi ts in mainstream agriculture. Since the rural poordo depend on larger armers or labour opportunities, rapid mechanization uelled by labour scarcity andlower labour productivity are rapidly depleting wage labour opportunities in mainstream agriculture.Introducing green shi ts or environment- riendly practices can generate large-scale livelihoodopportunities or the rural poor. The activities proposed in this tier involve working with the resources o the non-poor. At present, such activities are outside the NRLM ramework and an appropriate expansioncould be an innovative step i it is done sensitively so that the poor remain substantial bene ciaries.

3.2.3 Greening Non- arm based Livelihoods

For non- arm based livelihoods, an overall strategy is proposed or NRLM which involves developing non-arm based interventions at the block level that can ollow a sub sector approach along with identi ying

value chains that respond to the agro ecosystem context and markets. The greening dimension can beintroduced as with NTFP-based livelihoods described earlier by looking at greening nodes starting romresource base to exploring green technology options and processes. This is captured in the gure ahead.

54 For example: direct payment or environment stewardship in Australias Caring or the Country natural resources management programmeHajkowicz S. (2009): The evolution o Australias natural resource management programs: Towards improved targeting and evaluation o

investments, Land Use Policy, v 26, pp. 471478.


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As evident rom this section, greening options are possible or all the three kinds o livelihoodssupported under NRLM the NTFP-based livelihoods, sustainable agriculture-based livelihoods andnon- arm-based livelihoods. NRLMs institutional plat orm which includes SHGs and their ederations

and the value chain approach to economic interventions provide the launch pad or introducing andinstitutionalizing the greening interventions. Further, potential or greening lies in the establishmento a und to support innovative projects. The innovation und is meant to support extension o testedlivelihoods development innovations that substantially bene t the poor, involve end-to-end solutions,organization o the poor or livelihoods and partnership or consortia-based projects. The documentspeci cally mentions projects that include small and marginal armers ecological and organic arming,livelihoods associated with NTFP collectors, coastal communities, people in ecologically ragile regionsand commons. It also supports orward linkages in agriculture and livestock, both o which can be linkedto greening.

3.3 Integrated Watershed Development Programme (IWDP)

The55 main objectives o the IWDP are to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving anddeveloping degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water. The outcomes includeprevention o soil run-o , regeneration o natural vegetation, rain water harvesting and recharging o theground water table. This enables multi-cropping and the introduction o diverse agro-based activities,which help to provide sustainable livelihoods to the people residing in the watershed area 56.

There is evidence to show that IWDP projects have led to soil and water conservation, recharge o ground water, increased water availability or irrigation and hence enhanced agricultural productivityand production. The latest common guidelines or the scheme call or a ocus on Indias rain- ed areas

Resource Blocks

Rural Livelihood Systems

Map Sub-Sector Value Chain and IdentifyPossible Intervention points

Supportive Functions: Technology, Coordination, R&D,Information, Skills and capacity , Related Services

Green Technology Business Providers GTSPs

Collection Action through Processes& Institutions Green Technology Service

Provider / Producers Group /Federated body of SHGs

Non-FarmEnterprise

Agro-Ecosystem

55 This section is based on the technical paper by M.V. Ramachandrudu in volume II o this Report.56 http://dolr.nic.in/IWDP_main.htm


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where the challenge is to, improve rural livelihoods through participatory watershed development witha ocus on integrated arming systems or enhancing income, productivity and livelihood security in asustainable manner 57. The challenge in greening IWDP is to make the programme greener.

3.3.1 Improving Soil Health

Soil conservation is only the rst step in regenerating soils and has to be ollowed by a comprehensiveapproach or improving soil health that involves (i) applying organic inputs; (ii) enhancing soil ertilityby using easily adaptable good agronomical practices; (iii) creating an incentive systems or producingorganic ertilizers and their use; (iv) establishing support systems or capacity building, market linkagesand storage acilities. Some noteworthy examples are:

CROPS in Warangal district, Andhra Pradesh, has promoted interventions such as application o tank silt or arm yard manures and diversi ed arming systems.

Fodder plantations on common lands and arm bunds have led to better nutrition or livestock andyielded more manure (Himmotthan Societys interventions in Uttarakhand).

IWDP project implementation agencies have encouraged local groups to produce and sell composts,manures and decoctions rom locally available biomass and animal wastes (AKRSPI (Gujarat), AKRUTI(Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh) and KVK (Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh).

Agro- orestry or diversi ed arming systems can be linked to manure production systems (COFA inMaharashtra and Odisha and WASSAN in Andhra Pradesh have promoted bunds o compost pits usedto plant a variety o ast-growing trees which can quickly yield manures).

3.3.2 Going beyond Increasing Water Availability to Water Security

The IWDP has success ully promoted rainwater harvesting to augment water availability but there is aneed to move towards water su ciency or security. This includes assessment o groundwater potential,mapping o aqui ers, drainage lines and sur ace water bodies and assessment o current water resourceuse demand o all kinds. Further, the irrigation action plans should aim at providing critical protectiveirrigation to a maximum number o armers rather than providing intensive irrigation to small pocketso lands.

Since water resources augmentation is a major outcome o IWDP, there are examples where the oregoingconcepts have been practiced and some o the signi cant ones are:

Comprehensive planning using a watershed approach has been demonstrated in village o HivreBazar in Ahmednagar district o Maharashtra where 12 handpumps installed at various points providewater or drinking and other household uses to all.

PRADANs ve percent model demonstrates that rainwater can be harvested on each plot by reservinga small share ( ve percent) o its total area and these small arm ponds provide critical irrigation duringdry spells and also help in improving the soil moisture regime.

3.3.3 Biomass and Biodiversity Conservation

A priority objective o watershed development is to regenerate and restore the productivity o degraded lands. So ar, the ocus has been largely on soil and water conservation works, a orestationand plantations have not received adequate attention. The planting activity is done without much

57

NRAA (2011): Common Guidelines or Watershed Development Projects 2008, Revised edition 2011, National Rain- ed Area Authority,Planning Commission, GoI, New Delhi, p.2.


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participation o the main stakeholders, i.e., the local communities, leading to very poor survival rates.Inadequate e orts at institution building, community participation in planning or selecting the species

or planting, speci ying usu ruct rights and establishing remunerative links with livelihood activities areat the root o the stakeholders alienation. Fortunately, there are a ew examples o good wo

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