Prioritization of rainfed areas in India
Rainfed areas currently constitute 55 per cent of the net sown area of the country and are home to two-thirds of livestock and 40 per cent of human population. Even after realizing the full irrigation potential, about 50 per cent of the cultivated area will remain rainfed. The business as usual approach of taking major interventions uniformly across all the regions of the country has not paid much dividend. Therefore, regionally differentiated interventions befitting natural resource endowment, social capital, infrastructure and economic conditions are need of the hour to meet the local challenges and enhance livelihoods. Earlier efforts of characterization of rainfed areas mainly focused on a few bio-physical indicators without giving importance to socio-economic aspects related to livelihoods issues. In order to meet this challenge, the current study was taken up to prioritize the rainfed areas for resource allocation and targeting of interventions based on resource availability, livelihood parameters and potential for development.