Patnagarh, Bolangir: A significant push towards water security and agricultural resilience was launched today as Shri Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, inaugurated the State-level Watershed Festival in Patnagarh.
The event was graced by Shri Subrat Kumar Panda, Director of Soil Conservation & Watershed Management and other field level senior officers.
The farmers oriented program marks the formal scaling up of the “Mission Watershed Revival,” a flagship initiative under the centrally sponsored Watershed Development Component – Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana 2.0 (WDC-PMKSY 2.0).
Addressing the gathering, the Deputy Chief Minister Shri Singh Deo underscored the mission’s central objective: empowering Odisha’s farmers by improving the productivity of rainfed and degraded land.
He articulated a firm belief that the initiative would “transform livelihoods and strengthen the agricultural backbone” of the state, directly addressing the vulnerability of farm communities to changing climatic conditions.
The Mission Watershed Revival aligns directly with the core tenets of WDC-PMKSY 2.0, a “next-generation” approach that emphasizes a shift from merely mechanical treatments to integrated, science-based, and community-driven watershed management .
This national scheme, implemented by the Department of Land Resources, aims to cover a substantial area of degraded land between 2021 and 2026 across the country, with Odisha being a key implementing state.