(a): the details of barren land in the country including Bundelkhand, State-wise;
(b): whether the Government is aware that agriculture is the main source of employment in economically backward Bundelkhand;
(c): if so, whether the Government has resolved to run schemes in mission mode for development of barren land in Bundelkhand; and
(d): if so, the area of barren land made cultivable in the country including Bundelkhand in the last five years?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a): As per the Land Use Statistics for the year 2015-16 (latest available), the state wise details of area of Barren and Uncultable land in the country including Bundelkhand region is at Annexure I.
(b) to (d): The economy of Bundelkhand is an agrarian economy and a large population of this region is dependent on agriculture. As per Seventh Schedule of Constitution of India, land comes under the purview of State Government and, therefore, it is for the State Governments to take suitable steps for development of barren land. However, Government of India supplements the efforts of State Government through various programmes.
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Department of Land Resources (DoLR) in Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) primarily keeping at Center Stage the rainfed & degraded area development. DoLR has sanctioned 8214 watershed development projects in 28 States (except Goa) (now 27 States and UT of J & K and Ladakh), including Bundelkhand region from 2009-10 to 2014-15 covering an area of about 39.07 million hectare under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP). IWMP was amalgamated as the Watershed Development Component (WDC) of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in 2015-16. The activities being undertaken through the watershed development projects inter alia include ridge area treatment, drainage line treatment, soil and moisture conservation, rain water harvesting, nursery raising, afforestation, horticulture, pasture development, livelihoods for assetless persons, etc.
As per the information received from the States, between 2014-15 to 2020-21 (upto 1st Quarter of FY2020-21), about 6.90 lakh water harvesting structures were created / rejuvenated, an additional area of about 14.67 lakh hectares has been brought under protective irrigation, and about 31.15 lakh farmers have been benefited during the said period.
Details of number of sanctioned WDC-PMKSY projects in 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh comprising the Bundelkhand region and area covered by the projects are given in Annexure II.
Apart from this, Indian Council of Agricultural Research has developed location specific bio-engineering soil & water conservation measure, land management techniques, soil reclamation measures for saline, alkali, waterlogged and acid soils, and selection of suitable crop including agroforestry interventions to reclaim and develop barren lands.