(a) the details of the total area of infertile and barren land across the country, State-wise;
(b) the details of the schemes to convert existing infertile and barren land into fertile land in
near future;
(c) whether the Government proposes to distribute the said land amongst the landless poor
people and if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government is implementing any scheme at present to control the problem of
increasing barren land; and
(e) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV)
(a) to (e): As per the information received from Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, the State / UT-wise details of barren and unculturable land are given in Annexure I.
There is no specific scheme / programme exclusively to convert existing infertile and barren land into fertile land. However, Department of Land Resources has sanctioned 8214 watershed development projects in 28 States (except Goa) [during the period 2009-10 to 2014-15] covering an area of about 39.07 million hectare under the Watershed Development Component (WDC) of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) principally for development of rainfed portions of net cultivated area and culturable wastelands.
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.
State-wise details of number of sanctioned projects, area covered by the projects and funds released as Central share [from 2009-10 to 2017-18 (upto 28th February 2018)] are given in Annexure II.
In addition, other Central Ministries / Departments like Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare are implementing schemes and programmes like the Per Drop More Crop component of PMKSY which inter alia includes activities for water conservation, drought proofing, water harvesting, ground water recharge, etc. that complement and supplement interventions undertaken under the WDC-PMKSY.
As per Entry 18 and Entry 45 of List II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the subject of ''Land'' and its management including distribution of land amongst the landless poor people falls in the jurisdiction of the States.
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