The draft national policy for accelerating the growth of rainfed agriculture proposes policy and systemic interventions to "make rainfed agriculture sustainable, remunerative and equitable." With 60% of its net cropped areas being rainfed and without irrigation coverage, Assam can hope to benefit from the proposed policy shifts. The draft policy defines rainfed areas as areas that are primarily dependent on rainfall and suffer from undependable groundwater for agriculture and allied activities. The rainfed areas included under it include rainfed cultivated area as the difference between net sown area and net irrigated area, irrigated area with undependable groundwater, permanent pastures and other grazing lands, cultivable waste lands, current fallows, and other fallow lands. The policy document prepared by the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, highlights that rainfed agriculture accounts for 55 per cent of the net sown area, 61 per cent of India's farmer population, is crucial to the country's economy and food security. around 40 per cent of the total food grain production, supports two-thirds of livestock besides impacting the livelihoods of 80 per cent of small and marginal farmers. The rationale behind the formulation of the policy draft, is undoing a "serious policy bias" in public funding or support to rainfed farming and farmers dependent on it. The NRAA quotes the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), to shed on light on this bias. The CGBA estimates for the period 1997-98 to 2011-12 show that rainfed agriculture received merely one per cent of the total expenditure on agricultural subsidies of about Rs. 11.5 lakh crore. "The rest was on intensive agriculture – divided into price support/food (38 percent), fertilizer (37 per cent), irrigation (21 per cent) and electricity (3 percent)," it adds. Secondly, the rainfed areas were neglected during Green Revolution which, the draft says, was designed around growing high-yielding varieties of wheat and paddy that responded to intensive use of water and agrochemicals. This also explains why the Green Revolution bypassed the country's eastern region including the north-eastern states in which farmers were further marginalized by landlocked situation. The policy document is built on NRAA's vision document which recognizes that harnessing opportunities in rainfed areas will need "a paradigm shift from a 'Commodity-centered GreenRevolution' to an 'Integrated Resource Management and Farming Systems-centered Rainbow Revolution' for inclusive development." The policy paper brings to light that even though dependable availability of water is a not a sustainable option in rainfed agriculture, its adoption by farmers in rainfed areas due to the lure of assured markets resulted in ecological degradation and malnutrition. It argues that lack of a clear definition of rainfed region and a lack of customized policies and instruments for specific types of rainfed region led to a blanket approach for all rainfed regions that excluded region-specific approach for agroclimatic conditions and typography. Three clear objectives outlined in the draft are: reversing unsustainable trends by stemming land degradation by adopting practices that improve soil health and sustainable water management, promoting diversified sustainable production systems that are suited to the agroecosystem and are integrated within the farm and the landscape and promoting a holistic approach of reducing risks and making farms and landscapes climate resilient. Release of new climate-resilient varieties suited for rainfed regions, improve farm power and mechanization, revival of millet-based cropping systems, improving water use efficiency, precision water management practices, crop diversification for water intensive crops are some of the recommendations proposed in the policy. Assam Agriculture Department requesting the Assam State Disaster Management Authority to declare drought-like situation in five districts of Nagaon, Kamrup, Nalbari, Cachar and Golaghat exposes the increasing vulnerability of rainfed agriculture in the state due to climate change impact. The State Government informed the Assam Assembly that about 34,521 hectares of agricultural land have been hit by drought-like situation in these five districts. The policy draft also states that increasing intra-seasonal variability of rainfall has become a major concern and points out that in several meteorological divisions, the rainfall distribution is becoming more skewed with a smaller number of rainy days and higher intensity of rainfall causing more soil erosion. The Assam State Action Plan for Climate Change has sounded the alarm bell that all across the State, except in the southern districts, drought weeks are going to rise as well, by more than 75% with respect to the base line (1971-2000). This calls for a comprehensive plan of action with synergies between the agriculture and Irrigation departments apart from other government departments which is in tune with the national policy interventions for sustainable agriculture in rainfed areas. The draft policy is also reminder that irrigation schemes and projects in Assam need a comprehensive review and accountability needs to be fixed on officials and employees concerned for defunct and delayed schemes and projects.