2019 – Posted in: Press Information Bureau – Tags: culturable wasteland, National Remote Sensing Centre, wasteland

Wastelands Atlas – 2019

(Ministry of Rural Development)

WHAT

Wastelands Atlas-2019 provides district and state-wise distribution of different categories of wastelands area.

It includes the mapping of the unmapped area of Jammu & Kashmir.
The changes in wastelands between 2008-09 and 2015-16 have been presented in the Atlas.
The new wastelands mapping exercise will be carried out by using the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite.
The Department of Land Resources in collaboration with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Department of Space has published Wastelands Atlases of India – 2000, 2005, 2010 & 2011 editions.

HIGHLIGHTS

The geospatial information on wastelands is helpful in rolling back the wastelands for productive use through various land development programmes/schemes.
It is found that during the period of 2008-2016, nearly 1.45 Mha of wastelands are converted into non-wastelands categories.
A reduction in wasteland area was observed in the categories of land with dense scrub, waterlogged and marshy land, sandy areas, degraded pastures/grazing land and gullied and/or ravinous land.
The wastelands have undergone a positive change in the states of Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal.
The majority of wastelands have been changed into categories of ‘croplands’, ‘forest-dense / open’, ‘forest plantation’, ‘plantation’ and ‘industrial area’ etc.

WASTELAND

The land which may be classified as a wasteland such as barren hilly terrains, desert lands, ravines, etc. normally cannot be brought under cultivation, grazing and other economic uses due to rough terrain and eroded soils.
The lands which are waterlogged and saline are also termed as wastelands. The loss of fertility followed by erosion also leads to the conversion of marginal forest lands into wastelands.

CULTURABLE WASTE-LAND

Any land which is left fallow (uncultivated) for more than five years is included in this category. It can be brought under cultivation after improving it through reclamation practices.

Source: PIB