Unit 3.1 -LAND RESOURCES and LANDUSE CHANGES (Indian Context)

Land Resources in India is calculated to be approximately 1.3 million sq miles. The shape of India is like a cape, protruding into the Indian Ocean, in between the Bay of Bengal on the east and Arabian Seaon the west.

Indian land resources are segmented into varied relief features, 43% of land area is plain region; Indian mountain region constitutes 30% of the area, where as plateaus account for 27 % of the total surface area on the nation.

PATTERNS OF LANDUSE (in India)
The utilization of land depends upon physical factors like topography, soil and climate as well as upon human factors such as the density of population duration of occupation of the area, land tenure and technical levels of the people.

The major land uses in India are:

Net sown Area
• Agriculture land means cultivated area, it includes net cropped area and fallow lands. Cropped area in the year under consideration in called net sown area.
• India stands seventh in the world in terms of total geographical area but second in terms of cultivated land.
• Net shown Area is about 46%.
• Percentage wise Punjab and Haryana are highest and Arunachal Pradesh is Lowest (3.2% )
• The net sown area and the area sown more than once together are called gross cultivated area.

Forest Area

• This includes all land classified either as forest under any legal enactment, or administered as forest, whether State-owned or private, and whether wooded or maintained as potential forest land.
• The area of crops raised in the forest and grazing lands or areas open for grazing within the forests remain included under the “forest area”.

Area under Non-agricultural Uses 
• This includes all land occupied by buildings, roads and railways or under water, e.g. rivers and canals, and other land put to uses other than agriculture.

Barren and Un-culturable Land
• This includes all land covered by mountains, deserts, etc.
• Land which cannot be brought under cultivation except at an exorbitant cost is classified as unculturable whether such land is in isolated blocks or within cultivated holdings.

Permanent Pasture and other Grazing Land
• This includes all grazing land whether it is permanent pasture/meadows or not.
• Village common grazing land is included under this category.

Land under Miscellaneous Tree Crops, etc. 
• This includes all cultivable land which is not included in ‘Net area sown’ but is put to some agricultural use.
• Land under trees, thatching grasses, bamboo bushes and other groves for fuel, etc. which are not included under ‘Orchards’ are classified under this category.

Culturable Waste Land
• This includes land available for cultivation, whether taken up or not taken up for cultivation once, but not cultivated during the last five years or more in succession including the current year for some reason or the other .
• Such land may be either fallow or covered with shrubs and jungles which are not put to any use.

Fallow Lands other than Current Fallows
• This includes all land which was taken up for cultivation but is temporarily out of cultivation for a period of not less than one year and not more than five years.

Current Fallows
• This represents cropped area which is kept fallow during the current year.

(map source:http://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/land-use-map-india-national-institute-hydrology)

TRENDS OF LANDUSE CHANGE

In spite of sufficient accessibility of landed topography, population pressure in the country is excessive and that makes space for both food production and the real estate market. However, land resources in India are both essential and at shortage in present days.

Land resources in India are considered as non-renewable energy reserve. Further, they are associated with a host of several other elements such as agrarian base of rural as well as urban economy, accessibility of water, and other factors. Speedy urban expansion and the rising land usages have changed because of the increasing population growth and economic development in some selected landscapes is being observed in India. The monitoring of land use changes is essential to understand land use over different sequential or spatial time scales for successful land management.

Today, with increasing urbanisation as well as industrialisation, an increased pressure has been witnessed on land, water and other environment resources, mainly in big metropolitan cities.

In order to utilise available land resources in India effectively, the country is re-organising efforts in the areas of land resource management. Thus, there has been a growth in land resource companies as well as in other service providers across the country. India occupies a land area of around 3,287,263 sq km.

There are different types of land in India, of which 54.7 % of it is civilised land. The several types of land resources in India include agricultural land, farmland, barren land, real estate land, commercial land and residential land. Majority of the population of India are engaged in agricultural and allied activities and thus agricultural land accounts for near about 56.78 % of the total land area of the country. In India, the total cultivable area is 1,269,219 sq km. Moreover, land is also used in India for grazing and as permanent pastures.

Land resources in India also include vast barren lands. They are mostly found in states like Rajasthan, parts of Leh and Jammu as snowfall prevents any major cultivation here. Real Estate lands are growing at an incredible rate in India. With the people becoming mobile due to transferable jobs the growth of houses and apartments has increased hugely all over India. Havelis in Rajasthan Commercial land is becoming more expensive with passing years. There is a strong competition in acquiring the best of farmlands, as they can be nestled in the lap of picturesque valleys replete with streams, private piece of beach in Goa, Puducherry or private havelis in Rajasthan.

The trend of love for nature and due to less available space in city apartments, farm land is fast becoming the best option for land resources in India. Thus, land resources in India are crucial factors dealt by the Indian government and managed effectively according to the requirements. In order to make appropriate utilisation of obtainable land resources, the nation is making efforts to manage land resources effectively. Thus, there has been an increase in the number of land resource companies and service providers.