Question : Survey on Land

(a) whether the Government has carried out any survey to ascertain the status and position of agricultural/arable, non-agricultural, rainfed and barren land/area across the country and if so, the details and the outcome thereof, State-wise;

(b) whether the Government has launched any programmes to make such lands cultivable/ fertile in the country including the land in Runn of Kutch; and

(c) if so, the details thereof along with the funds allocated, released and utilised/ spent for the purpose during the last three years and the current year and the extent of success achieved therefrom, State-wise?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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(a): Government has not carried out any survey to ascertain the status and position of agricultural/arable, non-agricultural, rainfed and barren land/area across the country. However, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare compiles annually district/State-wise data on agricultural/arable land, non-agricultural land, rainfed and barren land etc. based on the information received from respective State/ UT Governments. As per Land Use Statistics for 2013-14 (latest available) State-wise details of agricultural/arable land, non-agricultural land, rainfed and barren land in the country are given in the Annexure.

(b) & (c): As per Seventh Schedule of Constitution of India, land comes under the purview of State Governments and, therefore, it is for the State Governments to take suitable steps to convert barren land and rainfed area into cultivable/fertile land.

However, to supplement State’s efforts to convert barren land and rainfed area into cultivable/fertile land by extending irrigation facilities, the Government of India launched Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in July, 2015 which aims at providing end to end solutions in irrigation supply chain, viz. water sources, and distribution network and farm
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level applications. It adopts State level planning and projectised execution that allows States to draw up their own irrigation development plans based on District Irrigation Plans and State Irrigation Plans. Under the above Scheme, micro irrigation is also popularised to ensure ‘Per drop-More crop’. State-wise details of releases under PMKSY for 2015-16 and 2016-17 are given in Annexures –I(A) & I(B)

Besides, Ministry of Rural Development had also been implementing an Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) for development of rainfed/ degraded areas. From 2015-16 onwards, the IWMP has been converted as the Watershed Component of PMKSY. State-wise details of Central assistance released under PMKSY-Watershed Development Component (WDC) in the country are given in Annexure-II.