Watershed Yatra campaign, a 20-day Yatra, initiated by Ministry of Land Resources, Government of India and organised by Department of Land Resources, Nagaland, covering four districts of Nagaland, culminated in its last destination at Asukiqa village, Zunheboto, incorporating four other villages in its area, namely Ghokimi, Kitami, Tsaphimi and Puneboqa, on February 24, 2025.
Delivering keynote address, chairperson of the programme, Assistant Inspector, Land Resources, Roselyn Chishi highlighted that “Watershed Yatra” was a mass outreach campaign to create awareness about watershed development activities carried out under Watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY 2.0) project areas across 27 States and two Union Territories, tentatively launched on January 17, 2025.
The campaign compounds various major activities, viz. Bhoomi Poojan, Lokarpan of new projects in every district, Watershed Mahotsav, Shramdan, Watershed Ki Panchayat, Awards and recognitions to the Watershed Warriors and Bhumi-Jal Pitch etc. planned with involvement of local community and youth population on voluntarily basis, she added.
The nationwide campaign subsequently help in achieving ‘Community Driven Approach (Jan Bhagidari),’ which needs to be adopted for implementation of watershed projects, as per extant guidelines, and also galvanise the implementation machinery at field level, Roselyn concluded.
The programme also witnessed “Handing over of assets (Lokarpan)” where Alowoni SHG, Kitami village was felicitated with solar dryer under Livelihood, Micro-Enterprises and Business Development, which was administered by Additional Director, Land Resources, Hekato N.
Earlier, the culmination programme began with an invocation (Bhoomipujan) followed by Land and Water Conservation Oath Taking.
The event also witnessed a folk song by coffee growers (Puneboqa village), traditional folk dance by Ghokimi village cultural troupe, street play performed by Alowoni SHG (Kitami village), experience sharing by Watershed Margdarshaks, Inaqhe Swu and various other competitions, projecting awareness on the campaign objective of land and water conservation and awards ceremony. Shramdaan activities comprising of “Bush Management at Coffee Plantations and Digging of Compost Pits at Coffee Farms” by Watershed Committee, Ghokimi village was also carried out.