Search :  

Minutes of the Second Meeting of the Governing Board of National Rainfed Areas Authority (NRAA) held on 11.02.2008

1. The second meeting of the Governing Board of the NRAA was held under the chairmanship of the Union Agriculture & Cooperation Minister Shri Sharad Pawar on 11th February 2008. The list of participants in the meeting is given at Annexure-I

2. The discussion was initiated by the Hon?ble Minister of Agriculture & Cooperation & Chairman Governing Board Shri Sharad Pawar by welcoming all the members in the Second Meeting of the Governing Board. He stressed the need for improving the agricultural and other productivity of the rainfed areas of the country as 60% of the cultivated area is rainfed. He expressed concern on the continued degradation of forest areas, soil erosion, severe water scarcity and low rain water use efficiency, population pressure, low investment in the land in rainfed areas and deficiency in the policy frame work for the holistic management of natural resources in the rainfed areas of the country. This has resulted in low productivity and rural poverty. The NRAA has been set up to synergise, converge, coordinate and monitor the various programmes of different Ministries for holistic management of rainfed areas. He was happy to inform that since last GB meeting of NRAA several significant developments have taken place.

3. The Chief Executive Officer Dr. J.S. Samra explained the purpose of each agenda item and made a detailed presentation on the Watershed Common Guidelines.

Agenda Item No: I Confirmation of the Minutes of 1st GB Meeting

4. Decision: Confirmed

Agenda Item No: II Action Taken Report

5. CEO, NRAA appraised the Board Members about the progress on action taken.

6. Prof Saif-u-Din Soz, Hon?ble Minister of Water Resources stressed the need for following a better coordination for creating awareness about water conservation among the various schemes and Departments of the Government through NRAA so that the objectives of setting up of NRAA are realised.

7. Shri Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Hon?ble Minister for Rural Development and Co-Chairman of the Governing Board asserted the need for creating awareness for water conservation in rainfed areas to the common man in his language as the scientific language is not very well understood by the people in the rural areas.

8. Sh. P.K. Mishra, Secretary Agriculture suggested if NRAA can provide guidance in organising water conservation awareness in cooperation with other Departments.

9. Secretary, MoWR also expressed their cooperation and involvement in water conservation awareness.

10. CEO, NRAA suggested that NRAA can build capacity at State level and help in preparing water conservation campaign material.

11. Chairman opined that NRAA does not have their offices at State/district level and neither the manpower to undertake awareness at different levels.

12. Dr Abhijit Sen, Member (Agriculture) Planning Commission stated that the awareness for water conservation can be brought through implementation of the proposed new guidelines.

13. Decision: The Governing Board took note and the Agenda as proposed was approved

Agenda item No II: Approval of Common Guidelines for Watershed Development Projects

14. Detailed presentation was given by the Chief Executive Officer Dr. J.S. Samra, on the Common Watershed Guidelines and detailed discussions were held on each point. Dr. Abhijit Sen stated that this is a major achievement of the recently established NRAA.

15. Secretary, Department of Land Resources, MoRD, suggested that minor modifications be made at paras 9(IX), 10, 32, 40, 64, 79(d) of the Draft Guidelines.

16. Shri S. Regupathy, Hon?ble Minister of State for Forest and Environment stressed the need for involvement of JFM Committees in the lower regions of the watershed and policy to clearly define their roles and responsibilities in the watershed management programmes. He further stated that the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) of the Ministry of Environment & Forest shall not form part of the watershed management programme as it is an afforestation programme to expand the forest cover of the country. However, while implementing the watershed component of the NAP these guidelines may be followed.

17. Decision: After making necessary amendments as accepted by the Governing Board in respect of the points raised by the Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Environment & Forest, Ministry of Water Resources, the guidelines were approved. It was further decided that these guidelines will be applicable to the new watershed projects with effect from 1st April, 2008.

Agenda Item No: IV&V: Representation of Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries; and Arid Forest Research Institute (AFRI) in the Executive Committee of NRAA

18. Decision: The proposal put forward in the agenda was approved

Agenda Item No: VI Administrative and Financial Matters

19. Decision: The Governing Board took note of the teething problems being faced by the NRAA. As regards the item vi(a) on financial matters, the AS and FA, Ministry of Agriculture indicated that CEO has been given the powers of Head of the Department and for these powers CEO need not refer the matter to the Ministry.

It was observed by Honourable Minister of Water Resources that the Authority should be delegated more powers so that it can function independently. Dr. Abhijit Sen also stated that the authority need to be given more powers and support for effective functioning and implementation of its mandate. The chairman and Honourable Agriculture Minister directed the CEO to put up a note on the administrative and financial matters for his consideration.

The Board further noted with concern that NRAA officers are being denied accommodation by the Director of Estates. It was unanimously resolved to request the Chairman of the Governing Board and Hon?ble Minister of Agriculture & Cooperation to take up the matter at appropriate level.

Agenda item No VII: Representation of the States in the NRAA Executive Committee

20. Decision: It was decided by the Governing Board after detailed discussion that from five zones of the country (North, South East, West, and North-East) one representative of the state be taken as member of the Executive Committee as subject matter specialist for a period of two years on rotation basis.

The meeting ended with a vote of Thanks to the Chair.