Question : Status of Waste-Barren Land

(a) the details of fallow and barren/ waste land in terms of percentage and total area in the country, State/UT-wise;

(b) the details of the projects implemented and areas of waste land brought under cultivation along with the methods used to turn the waste land into arable land and to prevent the land from becoming barren and the extent of success achieved therefrom;

(c) whether the Government proposes to constitute a high powered committee to invite suggestions regarding development of barren land in the country, if so, the details thereof;

(d) the details of funds sanctioned/ released and expenditure incurred under the programme for reclamation of wasteland particularly in the tribal areas of the country, State/UT-wise; and

(e) the agencies through which these programmes have been /are being implemented and the steps taken/being taken by the Government to make the said programme successful?

MINISTER FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI BIRENDER SINGH)

(a): As per the information received from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the State /UT-wise details of fallow and barren /waste land are given at Annexure I.

(b) There is no scheme/ programme exclusively to convert waste land into arable land. However, the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development had been implementing an area development programme namely the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) with effect from 2009-10 for development of rainfed/degraded areas including wastelands in the country. The majoractivities taken up under IWMP inter alia include ridge area treatment, drainage line treatment, soil and moisture conservation, rain water harvesting, nursery raising, afforestation, horticulture, pasture development etc. The IWMP has been amalgamated as the WatershedDevelopment Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) from 2015-16. The State-wise details of the projects sanctioned and area covered under PMKSY (erstwhile IWMP) are at Annexure-II.As per the Common Guidelines for Watershed Development Projects-2008 (Revised Edition-2011), the period for completing PMKSY (Watershed Development) projects is between 4-7 years. These projects are in different stages of implementation.

(c) There is no proposal in the Department to constitute a high powered committee to invite suggestions regarding development of barren land in the country.

(d) The State/UT-wise details of funds released and expenditure incurred under the Watershed Development Component of PMKSY(erstwhile IWMP) for reclamation of wasteland includingin tribal areas of the country are given at Annexure-III.

(e) For implementation of the programme, agencies/ institutional structures at the State, District and project levels have been constituted. The Department has, inter alia, taken a number of steps for effective implementation of the programme such as insistence of public participation through the formation of the village Watershed Committee which implements the programme; dedicated implementing structures; third party concurrent monitoring and evaluating agencies; Bhuwan IWMP portal; Drishti mobile app; field visits and regular review meetings etc.

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