Too many people striving for too high a standard of living and purusing the so called "rates of growth" and "aping the unsustainable life styles" of the West are destroying the natural regulatory powers of the Earth.

Soil and water conservation measures are meant to reduce soil erosion and utilize rainwater. The measures include construction of contour bunds, contour trenches, graded terraces, check dams, dugout ponds, open wells, and similar other works. Some of the works done by the agencies of the Madhya Pradesh Govt. are analyzed and discussed in the paper.

Uncertainty in the occurrence of rainfall with respect to time and quantity is a major contraint to agricultural production in rainfed areas. To alleviate the constraint, groundwater is pumped at an unsustainable rate causing continuous water table decline. Groundwater recharge by the rainwater and runoff harvested in percolation tanks can augment the groundwater resource.

The paper describes the effect of rains on vegetal cover, different traditional practices and soil properties in the dry and monsoon period. Seven landuse systems i.e. open pine forests, tea plantation, rainfed agriculture, degraded land, grassland, recently restored site and a bare land were identified in the Bhetagad watershed of the Central Himalaya.

Rainfall and maximum and minimum temperature data of 32 years (1970-2001) at Semiliguda, Koraput (Orissa) were analysed to study the weekly, monthly and yearly drought investigation by studying the water balance. The IMD method was adjusted more suitable for drought identification than the revised IMD method.

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques were adopted to identify the natural resources management related constraints in farming in the Pithla village in Amaniganj Block of Faizabad District in Uttar Pradesh. The study identified acute shortage of water for irrigation at the time of need as the most serious problem adversely affecting the agricultural production and productivity.

An extensional survey of Thoubal District was conducted during Oct to Mar 2004-2005 to collect the input data for production of various rabi crops. A questionnaire was prepared and farmers were interviewed personally regarding the necessary information. The various agricultural operations were converted in form of energy.