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 4th 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.

The major recommendations to include in water policy for rainfed agriculture framework include data driven and water balanced based and landscape level development planning, location specific water policy, needs of area-recharge calculations, aquifer mapping, individual farmer oriented small storage structures in central region, need for integration of climatic conditions, managed aquifer recharge and non-traditional supply of water resources, the differentiates viz., land unit, risk profile including risk assessment and management and understanding the ground water and data driven scientific policies for water management, need of quality data repository, data dissemination, customization of tools, regulatory support, water footprint assessment gave their remarks, need for paradigm shift from providing irrigation to enhancing rainfall use efficiency so as to include rainfed agriculture systems in the water policy, enhancing investments in rainfed areas to enhance rainfall use efficiency, stabilising rainfed agriculture through critical irrigations.

Dr. S.K. Chaudhari DDG (NRM) in his final remarks stressed upon the need of nation-wide data requirement and integration of several regional policies and further need to have a dialogue with other ministries.

In the afternoon, the Plenary of "27th Biennial Workshop of AICRPDA, 9th Annual Review Workshop of NICRA-AICRPDA and 10th Annual Review Workshop of NICRA-AICRPAM" was organized at ICAR-CRIDA Hyderabad on 4th June, 2022.

Dr. S.K. Chaudhari, DDG (NRM),  appreciated the significant contributions of both AICRPDA and AICRPAM in spite of several R&D challenges in dryland agriculture. He highlighted the role of agro-advisories in coping with weather aberrations particularly in rainfed agriculture. The guest of honour Dr. S. Bhaskar, ADG (A,AF&CC) highlighted that Water Resource Management is core of the dryland agriculture and redesigning of farm pond technology and in-situ moisture conservation measures is necessary in view of change in rainfall intensity and total rainfall. Dr. V.K. Singh, Director, ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad highlighted the importance of rainfed integrated farming systems and collaboration with relevant AICRPs (AICRP-IFS, AICRP-AF, AICRP-Fruits etc) for strengthening of technical programme.

Earlier. G. Ravindra Chary, PC, AICRPDA welcomed the gathering and presented the recommendations of XXVII Biennial Workshop of AICRPDA & IX Annual Review Workshop of NICRA-AICRPDA while Dr. S.K. Bal, PC, AICRPAM presented the recommendations of X Annual Review Workshop of NICRA-AICRPAM. On the occasion, Dr. S.K. Chaudhari released several publications brought out by PC Units of AICRPDA & AICRPAM and AICRPDA centres. Further, Dr. Chaudhari felicitated the Best Dryland Farmers from the various parts of the country and awarded the  Best AICRPDA Centres for  their outstanding contributions in the field of dryland agriculture.

On 3rd June, 2022, the All India Coordinated Research Project on Agrometeorology (AICRPAM) organized a brainstorming meeting on "Agroclimatic atlas of India: A revisit" in hybrid mode at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad. Dr. V.K. Singh, Director, ICAR-CRIDA was the guest of honor and Dr. B.V. Ramana Rao, former PC (AICRPAM) acted as the chairman and Dr. Y.S. Ramakrishna, former Director, ICAR-CRIDA and Dr. V.U.M. Rao, former PC (AICRPAM) as Co-chairmen. Scientists from ICAR, SAUs, IMD, IIT and ISRO gave valuable suggestions. About 80 participants including scientists from CRIDA and AICRPAM centres participated.

Dr. V.K. Singh highlighted the importance of bringing out the agroclimatic atlas at the national level. Dr. Santanu Kumar Bal, PC (AICRPAM) briefed about the history of development of agroclimatic atlases in India, a critical analysis of various parameters included in the previously published atlases and a draft of the work plan for the proposed atlas. The major suggestions included to develop a printed atlas with emphasis on regional/ sub-regional planning, explore possible collaboration with ICAR-NBSS&LUP for soil related information, inclusion of crop suitability zones, drought indices, crop weather calendars and extreme weather events in the proposed atlas, information on efficient cropping zones, all aspects related to weather hazards, areas prone to climate variability and change etc. Dr. A.V.M. Subba Rao, PS, AICRPAM, ICAR-CRIDA, proposed vote of thanks.