MINISTER OF STATE FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI LALCHAND KATARIA)
(a)& (b) The Department of Land Resources in collaboration with National Remote Sensing
Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad commissioned the project entitled ?Identification of Wastelands in
India?. The results of the project were published as Wastelands Atlas of India- 2000.
Subsequently, the Department of Land Resources in collaboration with National Remote Sensing
Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad brought out Wastelands Atlas of India in 2005, 2010 and 2011. As
per the Wastelands Atlas of India-2000, 2005, 2010 and 2011, the extent of wastelands in the
country was 63.85 million hectare, 55.64 million hectare, 47.23 million hectare and 46.70
million hectare respectively.
(c) to (e) There is no specific scheme in the Department of Land Resources for converting non
arable land into arable land in the country. However, the Department has been implementing
three area development programmes viz. Integrated Wastelands Development Programme
(IWDP), Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) and Desert Development Programme (DDP)
since 1995-96 on watershed basis. The above three programmes have been integrated into a
single modified programme called Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)
w.e.f. 26.02.2009, for development of rainfed/degraded areas. The major activities 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, livelihoods for asset less persons. Against the target of 27.65 million hectares, an
area of 29.21 million hectare has been sanctioned under IWMP from 2009-10 to 2012-13 and
central assistance of Rs. 6584.76 crore has been released to States.
