Study carried out in Jaipur District, India.

Study conducted in Amethi Block of Sultanpur District in Uttar Pradesh, India.

This volume deals with land degradation, which is occurring in almost all terrestrial biomes and agro-ecologies, in both low and high income countries and is stretching to about 30% of the total global land area. About three billion people reside in these degraded lands. However, the impact of land degradation is especially severe on livelihoods of the poor who heavily depend on natural resources. The annual global cost of land degradation due to land use and cover change (LUCC) and lower cropland and rangeland productivity is estimated to be about 300 billion USD. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounts for the largest share (22%) of the total global cost of land degradation. Only about 38% of the cost of land degradation due to LUCC - which accounts for 78% of the US$300 billion loss – is borne by land users and the remaining share (62%) is borne by consumers of ecosystem services off the farm. The results in this volume indicate that reversing land degradation trends makes both economic sense, and has multiple social and environmental benefits. On average, one US dollar investment into restoration of degraded land returns five US dollars. The findings of the country case studies call for increased investments into the rehabilitation and restoration of degraded lands, including through such institutional and policy measures as strengthening community participation for sustainable land management, enhancing government effectiveness and rule of law, improving access to markets and rural services, and securing land tenure. The assessment in this volume has been conducted at a time when there is an elevated interest in private land investments and when global efforts to achieve sustainable development objectives have intensified. In this regard, the results of this volume can contribute significantly to the ongoing policy debate and efforts to design strategies for achieving sustainable development goals and related efforts to address land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Change is no where more urgently needed than in the so called developing countries. In the Constituent Assembly charged with the drafting of a constitution for free India, Jawaharlal Nehru expressed the sentiment very eloquently. Referring to Gandhi he said, "The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over." To bring about speedy socio-economic changes has been the ideal of all the newly independent Afro-Asian nations. After the Second World War, the new nations emerged out of the dark experience of imperial exploitation and embarked upon a complex process of social reconstruction.

The book has been made/prepared to make a comprehensive feedback on `Irrigation Resource' on irrigation potential system. The book is a compendium of the distinguished personalities researchers and academicians and so on. It focusses on the following important aspects: Irrigation Development in IndiaIrrigation Methods used in IndiaIrrigation requirements common crops.Water Management for Irrigation.Irrigation capacity in Agriculture.New irrigation potential to boost agriculture.Irrigation system in the context of PIMPeoples participation in irrigation managementDrip irrigation and farm productivityDynamics of Lift IrrigationMicro-irrigation for sustainable water management in AgricultureWasteland Development programmeDryland ConservationUnirrigated agriculture: Problems and prospects.Drainage for sustainable agricultureInterlinking of Rivers in IndiaShrinking of Rivers and the Global Water CrisisCrop Water requirement and irrigation.

With reference to India; contributed papers.