Social impact and challenges of the Krishi Bhagya scheme: Insights from Beneficiary Farmers in Karnataka

India being an agrarian country, the total grain production of our country is 320.21 million tons in 2022, but it has to reach nearly 370 million tons by 2050. However, the major challenge is to stash away the runoff water for agricultural crops during the dry spell. With this insight, the government of Karnataka has started flagship program, in 2015 namely “Krishi Bhagya Scheme” a pivotal step towards achieving sustainability of rain-fed agriculture to store the rainwater in the farm ponds. The scheme had been extended to malnad areas including Shivamogga district. The study was conducted in Karnataka state with the sample size of 120 farmers consisting of 60 beneficiaries and 60 non-beneficiaries from Shivamogga district. The predominant findings of the study revealed that The study reveals that the scheme has positively influenced social factors, with 53.33% of beneficiaries showing medium organizational participation and 48.33% demonstrating medium political participation. Self-sufficiency among beneficiaries was also notable, with 56.67% reporting medium levels due to increased crop yields and income from stored water use. And also that the scheme's implementation faced several constraints. The elevation of polythene sheets during the rainy season was a major issue, reported by 72.68% of beneficiaries, followed by motor nozzle clogging due to algae growth (71.07%). Suggestions for improvement include better servicing and replacement of polythene sheets and irrigation materials (78.76%), and the need to tailor farm pond construction to specific farm requirements (77.10%).The anecdotal evidence from this research will suggest policy makers a slew of appropriate strategies and interventions can be extended to other parts of the country to improve farmers income and leading to sustainable water usage.