Question : FOREIGN ASSISTANCE FOR WASTELAND DEVELOPMENT



(a) whether domestic resources are inadequate for the development of wasteland in areas like Southern Plateau which receives scanty rainfall and land slide-prone Himalayan region;

(b) if so, whether the Government has sought for any assistance for the development of these regions;

(c) if so, the names of the countries from which financial assistance has been received during each of the last three years; and

(d) the area of the land in hectares developed by the Government from this assistance, State-wise?

Answer given by the minister


MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (A. NARENDRA)

(a) to (d) The Ministry of Rural Development is administering programmes such as Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP), Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) and Desert Development Programme (DDP) in the country including the Southern Plateau and Himalayan Region for development of desert and drought prone areas and wastelands/degraded lands. These programmes are being implemented on watershed basis and have components to develop/reclaim wastelands and degraded lands by checking land degradation and putting such lands to productive use. The details of areas sanctioned and funds released under the IWDP, DPAP and DDP to various States including the Himalayan Region and Southern Plateau areas during the last three years are as under :-

Programmes	Project	Project area	Funds	sanctioned	released	(in lakh	(Rs. in	hectares)	crores)
IWDP 460 24.60 848.57 DPAP 7563 37.82 844.79 DDP 4764 23.82 614.78 Total 12787 86.24 2308.14

The projects sanctioned under the above schemes are implemented over a period of five years. Accordingly, the projects are at various stages of implementation.

2. Ministry of Rural Development administers the following projects which also include development of wastelands with the assistance of foreign donor agencies in Southern Plateau and Himalayan region. The physical and financial progress of these projects during the period 2002-03 to 2004-05 are as below :
S	Name of the project	Amount	Wasteland Developed
No.	received/	(in hectares)	utilized	(Rs. in	crores)
1 Canadian 16.83 Andhra Pradesh 3015 International Development Agency Karnataka 1552 (CIDA) assisted Tree Growers` Gujarat 1221 Cooperatives Project (TGCP) Madhya Pradesh 922 Uttaranchal 215 Total 6925
2 European Commission 42.06 25000 (EC) assisted Haryana Community Forestry Project (HCFP)
3 Japan Bank for 34.54 9271 International Cooperation (JBIC) assisted Attappady Wasteland Comprehensive Environmental Conservation Project, Kerala
4 Department for 166.92 125000 International Development (DFID), U.K. assisted Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project (APRLP)

While funds for implementation of the project at S.No.(4) above are being provided through the Department of Land Resources in the Ministry of Rural Development, under other three projects these are being provided directly to the Implementing Agencies through the Department of Economic Affairs.