Rainfed agriculture remains central to rural livelihoods in Central India, yet crop performance is exposed to monsoon variability, dry spells, soil-moisture losses and uneven access to irrigation. This review synthesizes evidence on three linked pathways for more sustainable agricultural water management: rainwater harvesting, irrigation and soil-moisture-use efficiency, and smallholder resilience. The geographic emphasis is Madhya Pradesh and the Bundelkhand landscape, with relevant evidence from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and wider Indian dryland systems. Literature was located through structured searches of accessible scholarly search results, publisher platforms and institutional repositories, followed by reference chaining. The synthesis applies the transparency principles of PRISMA 2020 but does not claim a completed PRISMA-compliant review because subscription-database exports and a reproducible record-level screening log were not available for this draft. The evidence indicates that farm ponds, check dams, field bunding, infiltration structures and rehabilitation of traditional systems such as haveli cultivation can moderate intra-seasonal water stress when their siting and capacity match rainfall-runoff conditions. Studies from Bundelkhand report higher shallow-groundwater availability, conversion of some fallow land to cultivation, improved cropping intensity and higher farm income after integrated water-management interventions. However, benefits are context-dependent and can be offset by evaporation, sedimentation, poor maintenance, inequitable asset access, excessive groundwater pumping and reduced downstream flows. Micro-irrigation can improve delivery efficiency, but technology adoption alone does not guarantee basin-scale water savings if irrigated areas or water-intensive crops expand. The review recommends a landscape approach that combines in-situ moisture conservation, fit-for-purpose storage, protective irrigation, groundwater budgeting, participatory governance and long-term monitoring of livelihood and ecological outcomes.