Lok Sabha Question No. 2708 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-16
Subject: Best Performing States under WDC
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Kripanath Mallah, Shri Biplab Kumar Deb

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF LAND RESOURCES

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2708 TO BE ANSWERED ON 16.12.2025

## Best Performing States under WDC

## 2708. Shri Kripanath Mallah: Shri Biplab Kumar Deb:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a)  the  criteria  used  to  identify  the  ten  best-performing  States  for  the  fifty-six  additional watershed development projects;

(b) the details of measures taken to ensure the sustainability of these projects;

(c) whether the Ministry is planning to scale up or replicate similar models in other parts of the country including in the State of Tripura; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (Dr. CHANDRA SEKHAR PEMMASANI)

- (a) Selection  of  the  States  for  sanction  of  additional  projects  was  done  based  on their performance in implementing the already sanctioned watershed development  projects  under  Watershed  Development  Component  of  Pradhan Mantri  Krishi  Sinchayee  Yojana  2.0(WDC-PMKSY  2.0),  like percentage  of expenditure incurred againsttotal projectcost; proportion ofexpenditure incurredon  Natural  Resource  Management  (NRM)component;  percentage  of degraded land/wasteland/ rainfed areas; hilly states having potential for springshed activities.
- (b) The  program  guidelines  provide  for  creation  of  the  Watershed  Development Fund (WDF), which is utilized for ensuring sustainability of the assets created under the watershed projects.

One of the mandatory conditions for selection of villages for watershed projects is  people's  willingness  and  contribution  towards  the  Watershed  Development Fund. The Fund should be used to take up repair, maintenance and upgradation of  common assets  created for  the  benefit  of  primary  stakeholders,  which  may also be supplemented through schemes like MGNREGS, etc.

Concerted  efforts  are  being  made  for  achieving  the  intended  outcomes  of  the WDC-PMKSY.  The  Department  also  undertook  a  mass  outreach  campaign, "Watershed Yatra' in project areas  under WDC-PMKSY 2.0 across  26 States and  2  UTs  w.e.f.  5th  February,  2025  onwards  for  realizing  the  Community Driven  Watershed Development  through  "Janbhagidari". To  continue the momentum  of  Watershed  Yatra  the  Janbhagidari  Cup  was  also  launched  to boost people's participation in soil and water conservation works developed in watershed  project  areas,  to  inculcate  a  sense  of  ownership  amongst  the  local population and to generate healthy competition amongst watershed projects.

The  Department  has  recently  launched  a  nationwide  campaign  'Watershed Mahaotsav'  starting  from  Guntur  on  11th  November,  2025  and  is  being celebrated in every watershed projects. The objective of this campaign inter-alia includes  providing  boost  to  the  watershed  activities/works  and  expediting effective  utilization  of  the  available  funds  for  timely completion  of  the WDCPMKSY 2.0 projects.

- (c) and (d) Under WDC-PMKSY 2.0, the Department has already, sanctioned 1220 projects to States/UTs covering an area of 52.93 lakh ha at a total cost of Rs. 12972.86 crore (Central share: Rs. 8487.97 crore) to 28 States (including Tripura) and 2 UTs  (J&K  and  Ladakh),  till  date,  for  the  period  2021-22  to  2025-26.  Since inception of the scheme, an amount of Rs. 5558.79 crore has been released to the  States/UTs  as  Central  share  (as  on  11.12.2025).  The  State-wise  details  of projects sanctioned under WDC-PMKSY 2.0, are at Annexure-I.

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## Annexure referred to in reply to parts (c) & (d)of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2708 for answer on 16.12.2025

## State/UT wise details of projects sanctioned underWDC-PMKSY 2.0

| Sl. No.   | State             |   No. of projects sanctioned |
|-----------|-------------------|------------------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh    |                           59 |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh |                           68 |
| 3         | Assam             |                           38 |
| 4         | Bihar             |                           35 |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh      |                           45 |
| 6         | Goa               |                            5 |
| 7         | Gujarat           |                           51 |
| 8         | Haryana           |                            9 |
| 9         | Himachal Pradesh  |                           35 |
| 10        | Jharkhand         |                           30 |
| 11        | Karnataka         |                           78 |
| 12        | Kerala            |                            6 |
| 13        | Madhya Pradesh    |                           91 |
| 14        | Maharashtra       |                          140 |
| 15        | Manipur           |                           13 |
| 16        | Meghalaya         |                           32 |
| 17        | Mizoram           |                           20 |
| 18        | Nagaland          |                           14 |
| 19        | Odisha            |                           60 |
| 20        | Punjab            |                            7 |
| 21        | Rajasthan         |                          159 |
| 22        | Sikkim            |                            9 |
| 23        | Tamil Nadu        |                           34 |
| 24        | Telangana         |                           35 |
| 25        | Tripura           |                           19 |
| 26        | Uttarakhand       |                           15 |
| 27        | Uttar Pradesh     |                           56 |
| 28        | West Bengal       |                           27 |
| 29        | UT of J&K         |                           19 |
| 30        | UT of Laddakh     |                           11 |
|           | Total             |                         1220 |

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