Drought Prone Area Programme

Also called: DPAP · Topic: Regional Planning and Sustainable Development in India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 6 "Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context"

Meaning

The Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) is a central programme for areas that often get too little rain. It gives people jobs and builds lasting productive assets there, such as irrigation, tree cover and pasture. It began in the Fourth Plan (1969-74) and was formally launched in 1973.

It is India's classic example of target area planning for a region held back by climate. Its gradual shift towards watershed development shows how Indian planning moved from short-term relief to long-term drought-proofing.

Explanation

Why DPAP was needed: cause → process → result

• Target area planning means making a separate plan for a region with its own problem, such as low rain. One national plan does not suit such regions.
• Growth did not spread evenly:
• Growth under national plans did not reach every region in the same way.
• Dry lands fell behind.

• So the state planned area-specific programmes such as DPAP.

• What happens in a drought-prone area:

• Rain is low and uncertain.
• Crops fail and groundwater drops.

• People fall into debt and hunger, and many migrate.

• How watershed works break this chain:

• Check dams, contour bunds and tree planting hold rainwater on the land.
• Soil moisture rises and groundwater is recharged (refilled).
• Crops and fodder improve.

How the programme changed over time

Phase	Focus	Weakness
Early	Labour-intensive civil works: roads and earthworks built by hand to give people wage work	Gave quick jobs but few lasting assets
Later	Irrigation, land development, afforestation (planting trees), pasture (grassland) development, and rural infrastructure: electricity, roads, markets, credit	Still focused narrowly on farming

• What the National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas (1981) found:
• DPAP stayed largely confined to agriculture and ecology.

• It did not create other ways for people to earn a living.

• What the 1981 Committee recommended:

• Alternative employment: jobs outside farming, so that one failed monsoon does not ruin a family.
• Integrated micro-watershed development: a plan for each watershed (a small area where all rainwater drains to one stream or point). Its water, soil, plants, people and animals are treated together and kept in balance.

How drought-prone areas were identified

• Planning Commission (1967): identified 67 districts as drought-prone.
• Irrigation Commission (1972): called an area drought-prone if less than 30 per cent of its cultivated area was irrigated.
• Logic of the 30 per cent rule:
• Where irrigation is low, farmers depend almost fully on the monsoon.
• So one weak monsoon hurts them badly.

Later reforms: from DPAP to WDC-PMKSY

• The Department of Land Resources ran DPAP, the Desert Development Programme (DDP) and the Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP), all on a watershed basis [2].
• These three schemes were later combined and changed into the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) [3].
• IWMP now runs as the Watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY). It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development [4].
• PMKSY was launched in 2015-16. It aims to bring water to more farms, expand the area under assured irrigation and improve on-farm water-use efficiency [4].

Where it occurs

• The drought-prone belt of India:
• Arid and semi-arid Rajasthan: the Thar Desert and its edges, with very low rain
• Gujarat: Kachchh and Saurashtra (semi-arid)
• Western Madhya Pradesh: a semi-arid plateau
• Marathwada (Maharashtra): a rain-shadow area east of the Western Ghats
• Rayalaseema plateau (Andhra Pradesh): rain-shadow, semi-arid
• Telangana plateau: semi-arid
• Karnataka plateau: rain-shadow, semi-arid

• Interior Tamil Nadu: semi-arid

• Why the rain-shadow areas are dry:

• The moist south-west monsoon wind rises over the Western Ghats.
• Most of its rain falls on the western side, which faces the wind (the windward side).

• The air comes down the eastern side dry, so Marathwada, the Karnataka plateau and Rayalaseema get little rain.

• Exception: Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan also get low rain. Canals and tube wells protect them from drought, so they are not classed as drought-prone.

• Link to dryland farming: dryland farming (rainfed farming in areas with less than about 75 cm of rain) is practised in these same areas. That is why DPAP and dryland farming are closely linked.
• Who runs it now: the Ministry of Rural Development, under WDC-PMKSY (PMKSY launched in 2015-16) [4].

Don't confuse with

• Hill Area Development Programme (HADP): HADP began in the Fifth Plan (1974-79) for areas held back by terrain (15 hill districts). DPAP began in the Fourth Plan for areas held back by climate (low rain).
• Desert Development Programme (DDP): DDP was a separate scheme for desert areas. It ran alongside DPAP on a watershed basis, and both were later merged into IWMP [2][3].
• Low-rainfall area vs drought-prone area: Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan get low rain but are not drought-prone, because irrigation protects them.
• Planning Commission (1967) vs Irrigation Commission (1972): the Planning Commission listed 67 drought-prone districts. The Irrigation Commission set the less than 30 per cent irrigated area rule.

Prelims Hooks

• DPAP started in the Fourth Plan (1969-74) and was formally launched in 1973. HADP started in the Fifth Plan. Swapping the two is a common trap.
• Planning Commission (1967): 67 drought-prone districts. Irrigation Commission (1972): an area with less than 30 per cent of its cultivated area irrigated is drought-prone.
• The 1981 National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas found DPAP confined to agriculture and ecology. It recommended alternative employment and integrated micro-watershed development.
• DPAP, DDP and IWDP were merged into IWMP, which now runs as WDC-PMKSY. PMKSY was launched in 2015-16 [3][4].
• Marathwada, Rayalaseema and the Karnataka plateau are drought-prone because they lie in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats.
• Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan get low rain but are not drought-prone, because irrigation protects them.

Mains Points

• From relief to lasting assets (GS-III):
• At first, DPAP gave wage work through civil works that left few lasting assets.
• It then moved to irrigation, afforestation, pasture and rural infrastructure.
• Later it moved to watershed development, which now runs as WDC-PMKSY [2][3][4].

• This shows that drought-proofing needs lasting water and land assets, not one-time relief.

• Why watersheds and non-farm jobs matter (GS-I/GS-III):

• In rain-shadow and semi-arid plateaus, low and uncertain rain causes crop failure, debt and migration.
• The 1981 Committee said that farming alone cannot protect families from this.

• Integrated micro-watershed development holds rainwater and recharges groundwater. Alternative jobs make families less dependent on a single monsoon.

• Regional planning lesson (GS-I):

• Drought-prone areas fail for a different reason than hill areas: poor rain rather than steep slopes.
• So a single national model cannot serve both.
• The 30 per cent irrigation rule shows that irrigation, and not rainfall alone, decides how vulnerable an area is to drought. Punjab and Haryana show this clearly.

Related concepts

• Hill Area Development Programme
• Bundelkhand region
• KBK region

Read more

• Hill Area Development, Drought Prone Area Programme and backward regions