Brainstorming session on Water Policy for Rainfed Agriculture, Brain storming session on Agroclimatic Atlas of India  and Plenary session of AICRPDA and AICRPAM Workshops were organized during 3-4 June 2022

A brainstorming session on Water Policy for Rainfed Agriculture was jointly organised in hybrid mode  by ICAR-CRIDA and Indian Society of Dryland Agriculture (ISDA) on 4^th June 2022.  The session was chaired by Dr. S.K.Chaudhari, DDG(NRM), ICAR.  Dr.B.Rath Technical Expert, NRAA (National Rainfed Area Authority) and Member for Water policy Development , Dr. V.K. Singh Director, ICAR-CRIDA, scientists from ICAR-CRIDA, AICRPDA, AICRPAM centres and other ICAR institutes, officials from NABARD, NGO's and other organisations participated.  About 200 participants attended the brain storming session.  Dr K.V.Rao, Secretary ISDA welcomed the participants.  Dr. V.K.Singh. briefed about the objectives of the session and suggested a separate water policy frame work for rainfed agriculture and need for regionally differentiated water policy with a view to utilise available resources in an optimal manner. Dr. S.K Chaudhari, DDG (NRM) in his opening remarks mentioned about the need of prioritization of rainfed areas, high variability of rainfall in rainfed areas and also stressed that the ground water management cannot be dealt in isolation without energy management. This was followed by  presentations on Regional scenarios & policy needs by  Dr. P.R. Ojasvi , ICAR-IISWC, Dr. Priyabarta Santra, ICAR-CAZRI, Dr. Ashuthosh Upadhyay, Director, ICAR RC ER, Dr B.U Choudhary ICAR-NEHR  and Dr. N.G. Patil, ICAR- NBSS&LUP and key inputs were given  by discussants viz. Dr. A.K.Sikka, IWMI India representative, Dr. N.H. Rao, Joint Director (Retd), ICAR-NAARM, Dr. B. Rath, Technical Expert, NRAA,  Dr. P K Mishra, Director (Retd.), ICAR-IISWC, Dr. Dinesh Kumar IRAP, Hyderabad, Dr. A Ravindra, WASSAN, Hyderabad.