Watershed Management — Prelims Strategy

Prelims Strategy

For Prelims preparation, focus on memorizing specific details about government schemes - NWDPRA (1990-91, rainfed areas), IWMP (2009-2026, ₹33,796 crores), PMKSY components and their integration. Master the ridge-to-valley approach concept and its sequence.

Memorize constitutional provisions - Article 48A, Entry 17 State List, Entry 56 Union List, and 73rd Amendment connections. Learn technical terms and their purposes: check dams (water harvesting), contour bunds (soil conservation), farm ponds (water storage), afforestation (groundwater recharge).

Practice elimination techniques by understanding the primary vs secondary purposes of different interventions. Common traps include confusing the direction of ridge-to-valley approach, mixing up scheme objectives and funding patterns, and incorrectly matching techniques with purposes.

Create a comparison chart of major schemes with funding ratios, implementing agencies, and target areas. Focus on recent developments like climate-smart approaches and convergence with other schemes. Use mnemonics for remembering multiple benefits and challenges.

Also build Paper II skills

Climate data, pollution metrics, and treaty timelines are natural practice for CSAT data interpretation and careful reading. CSAT hub.

• Data interpretation
• Correlation vs causation
• Estimation techniques