We live on land, we perform our economic activities on land and we use it in different ways. Thus, the land is a natural resource of utmost importance. It supports natural vegetation, wildlife, human life, economic activities, transport, and communication systems. However, the land is an asset of a finite magnitude, therefore, it is important to use the available land resources for various purposes with careful planning.

India has land under a variety of relief features, namely; mountains, plateaus, plains, and islands. About 43 percent of the land area is plain, which provides facilities for agriculture and industry. Mountains account for 30 percent of the total surface area of the country and ensure the perennial flow of some rivers, provide facilities for tourism and ecological aspects. About 27 percent of the area of the country is the plateau region. It possesses rich reserves of minerals, fossil fuels, and forests.

 

LAND UTILISATION

Land resources are used for the following purposes:

1. Forests
2. Land not available for cultivation
(a) Barren and wasteland
(b) Land put to non-agricultural uses, e.g. buildings, roads, factories, etc.

3. Other uncultivated lands (excluding fallow land)
(a) Permanent pastures and grazing land,
(b) Land under miscellaneous tree crops groves (not included in the net sown area.
(c) Culturable wasteland (left uncultivated for more than 5 agricultural years.

4. Fallow lands
(a) Current fallow-(left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year.
(b) Other than current fallow-(left uncultivated for the past 1 to 5 agricultural years.

5. Net sown area: Area sowed more than once in an agricultural year plus the net sown area is known as gross cropped area

 

LAND USE PATTERN IN INDIA

The use of land resources is determined both by physical factors such as topography, climate, soil types as well as human factors such as population density, technological capability and culture, and traditions, etc. The total geographical area of India is 3.28 million sq km Land use data, however, is available only for 93 percent of the total geographical area because the land use reporting for most of the north-east states except Assam has not been done fully. Moreover, some areas of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan and China have also not been surveyed.

The land under permanent pasture has also decreased. How are we able to feed our huge cattle population on this pasture land and what are the consequences of it?

Most of the other than the current fallow lands are either of poor quality or the cost of cultivation of such land is very high. Hence, these lands are cultivated once or twice in about two to three years and if these are included in the net sown the area then the percentage of NSA in India comes to about 54 percent of the total reporting area.

The pattern of the net sown area varies greatly from one state to another. It is over 80 percent of the total area in Punjab and Haryana and less than 10 percent in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, and Andaman Nicobar Islands.

Forest area in the country is far lower than the desired 33 percent of geographical area, as it was outlined in the National Forest Policy (1952). It was considered essential for the maintenance of the ecological balance. The livelihood of millions of people who live on the fringes of these forests depends upon it.

 

Wasteland

A part of the land is termed as wasteland and land put to other non-agricultural uses. Wasteland includes rocky, arid, and desert areas, and land put to other non-agricultural uses include settlements, roads, railways, industry, etc.

Continuous use of land over a long period of time without taking appropriate measures to conserve and manage it has resulted in land degradation. This, in turn, has serious repercussions on society and the environment

 

LAND DEGRADATION AND CONSERVATION MEASURES

We have shared our land or land resources with the past generations and will have to do so with the future generations too. Ninety-five percent of our basic needs for food, shelter, and clothing are obtained from the land. Human activities have not only brought about the degradation of the land but have also aggravated the pace of natural forces to cause damage to the land. At present, there are about 130 million hectares of degraded land in India.

Approximately, 28 percent of it belongs to the category of forest degraded area, 56 percent of it is water eroded area and the rest is affected by saline and alkaline deposits. Some human activities such as deforestation, overgrazing, mining, and quarrying have contributed to land degradation Mining sites are abandoned after excavation work is complete leaving deep scars and traces of over-burdening.

In states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa deforestation due to mining have caused severe land degradation. In states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra overgrazing are one of the main reasons for land degradation. In the states of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, over-irrigation is responsible for land degradation due to water logging leading to an increase in salinity and alkalinity in the soil.

The mineral processing like grinding of limestone for cement industry and calcite and soapstone for ceramic industry generate huge quantity of dust in the atmosphere. It retards the process of infiltration of water into the soil after it settles down on the land. In recent years, industrial effluents as waste have become a major source of land and water pollution in many parts of the country.

 

There are many ways to solve the problems of land degradation and conserve land resources.

1. Afforestation and proper management of grazing can help to some extent.
2. Planting shelter belts of plants, control overgrazing, stabilization of sand dunes by growing thorny bushes are some of the methods to check land degradation.
3. Proper management of wastelands, control of mining activities, proper discharge, and disposal of industrial effluents and wastes after treatment can reduce land and water degradation in industrial and suburban areas.

Read More: Types of Resources: On the Basis of Origin, Ownership, and Exhaustibility