Table 2 further revealed that overall People’s Participation Index (PPI) was calculated as 63.6 per cent in
planning stage of watershed cluster development programmes. It means moderate level of participation was
exhibited by local farmers in planning stage of all the NABARD Supported Holistic Watershed Development
Programme (NSHWDP) in the six distressed districts of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. It was also found out
that high level of participation was exhibited by local farmers during planning stages of Berla Yeota (96.5%) and
Dehgaon (77%) watershed clusters. The lowest 42.5 per cent participation in planning was exhibited by farmers
in Mothegaon watershed cluster. It may be due to that the average literacy rate is 11.00% and around 41%
farmers are small & marginal in Mothegaon (Photo 1).