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SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF WORLD BANK AIDED WATERSHED 
MANAGEMENT PROJECT IN CENTRAL INDIA 
T. Harinath Babu 
Indian Institute of Forest Management 
Faculty of Ecosystem Management 
Nehru Nagar, Bhopal 462003, India 
ISPRS Commission VII / Working Ciroup 6 
ABSTRACT 
This paper analyses the process of planning and management of watershed projects and the impact of the 
watershed activities on socioeconomic conditions of the five villages in BHOPAL District of Central 
India. The World Bank aided Watershed management project is discussed in terms of its achievements to 
combine activities to improve the physical, social and economic environment. It has been observed that a 
well planned action of three essential components is needed in order to sustain the project improvement 
by the farmers. The financial feasibility of various enterprises practised were determined by Net present 
value (NPV). Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) and Internal Ratio of Return (IRR). The BCR and IRR were 
found to be low and the farmers were cultivating marginal and submarginal lands to meet their basic 
needs requirement. It was observed that BCR has increased considerably for the farmers practising 
Agroforestry. The social impacts interns of income and employment distribution derived from Ginni's 
and Lorenz curves indicated a marginal shift away from the NGOs in order to enlist Peoples participation 
in the watershed development and management programmes. I. has been recommended that more 
emphasis should be given to rural development planning aspects viz. Agroforestry techniques, formation 
of Rural Community Organizations for the successful implementation of watershed management 
programmes. The paper highlighted the importance of peoples participation in watershed development 
programmes in order to make it sustainable, successful and cost effective. The intangible benefits in 
terms of peoples participation in management of common property resources of the village and 
improvement of degraded lands and natural resources have also been analyzed. 
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