Question : ARABLE LAND .

(a) the details of arable land in the country, State-wise;

(b) whether there is sharp decline in arable land in the country, State-wise;

(c) if so, the details in this regards;

(d) whether the area of arable land is more than the area of the barren land;

(e) the extent of that land out of the total barren land which can be made cultivable;

(f) the State-wise acres of such land and the extent of cultivable land in these States at present;
(g) the approximately cost involved in developing this;
(h) whether the Government have conducted several tests to increase the fertility of the said land; and
(i) the steps taken by the Government to make the waste land with arable land?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI A.RAJA)

(a) to (d) According to the Nine Fold Land Use Classification maintained by the Ministry of Agriculture, cultivable land comprises of five categories namely net area sown, current fallow, fallow other than current fallow, culturable wasteland and land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves. State-wise details of cultivable/arable land in the country for the year 1985-86 and 1996- 97 is given at Annexure.I. As seen from the details given at Annexure.I, there is no sharp decline of arable land in the country over last one decade and the area of barren land is far less than the area of cultivable land/arable land.

(e) to (i) As per the Nine fold Land Use Classification of the Ministry of Agriculture, the barren and unculturable land has been defined as the land like mountains, deserts etc. Land which can not be brought under cultivation except at an axorbitant cost, and has been classified as unculturable land. There are Schemes/Programmes of the Central Government for the development of wastelands / degraded land. The State-wise extent of barren and uncultrable land is given at Annexure.I. A list of the main Programmes /Schemes of the Central Government for development of wastelands by checking land degradation and putting such land into sustainable productive use are given at Annexure.II.

ANNEXURE – I

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) to
(i) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4649 DUE FOR REPLY ON 22-08-2000.

STATEMENT SHOWING STATE-WISE DETAILS OF CULTIVABLE/ARABLE LAND AND BARREN AND UN-CULTURABLE LAND DURING THE YEAR 1985-86 AND 1996-97.

(Area in Thousand Ha.)
Sr.No.	States	1985-86	1996-97	Cultivable	Barren and	Cultivable	Barren and	land	Un-Culturable	land	Un-Culturable	land	land
1.	Andhra Pradesh	16206.3	2268.5	15793	2556

2.	Arunachal Pr.	291.0	54.6	293	48

3.	Assam	3228.3	1540.7	3257	1448

4.	Bihar	11265.1	1014.0	10884	1010

5.	Goa	221.4	13.4	197	-
6.	Gujarat	12336.1	2676.7	12361	2604

7	Haryana	3806.4	155.9	3779	89

8.	Himachal Pr.	809.0	159.6	805	139

9.	Jammu & Kashmir	1061.4	258.6	1051	291
10.	Karnataka	12866.8	803.4	12903	799
11.	Kerala	2438.1	83.1	2445	41
12.	Madhya Pradesh	22817.6	2293.8	22776	1727
13.	Maharashtra	21190.3	1725.9	21167	1711
14.	Manipur	164.3	1418.6	164	1419
15.	Meghalaya	1161.4	141.9	1082	139
16.	Mizoram	583.8	201.0	446	65
17.	Nagaland	614.6	-	614	-
18.	Orissa	7912.0	367.0	7975	590
19.	Punjab	4291.3	68.5	4250	89
20.	Rajasthan	25831.1	2816.5	25695	2647
21.	Sikkim	113.8	173.2	114	173
22.	Tamil Nadu	8420.5	553.3	8314	481
23.	Tripura	311.7	-	310	-
24.	Uttar Pradesh	20842.5	1099.8	20832	978
25.	West Bengal	6117.2	186.9	5834	36
26.	A & N Islands	80.0	1.9	70	2
27.	Chandigarh	2.7	0.3	3	-
28.	D & N Haveli	25.1	0.1	24	-
29.	Daman & Diu	6.1	2.6	7	2
30.	Delhi	73.9	10.9	63	10
31.	Laksha Dweep	2.4	-	3	-
32.	Pondicherry	35.0	0.1	34	-
33.	All India	185127.2	20089.8	183545	19094