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Land is, undoubtedly, the most pivotal and critical natural resource, on which the survival of humanity rests. The 1994 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) defines land as “the terrestrial bio-productive system that comprises soil, vegetation, other biota, and the ecological and hydrological processes that operate within the system” [1]. Land and Land Resources refer to a delineable area of the earth's terrestrial surface, encompassing all attributes of the biosphere immediately above or below this surface, including those of the near-surface climate, the soil and terrain forms, the surface hydrology (including shallow lakes, rivers, marshes and swamps), the near-surface sedimentary layers and associated groundwater and geohydrological reserve, the plant and animal populations, the human settlement pattern and physical results of past and present human activity (terracing, water storage or drainage structures, roads, buildings, etc[2].Land can also be defined with regard to its functions, i.e. as a multifunctional system that provides vital environmental (or ecosystem) services (water purification and storage, biodiversity hosting, carbon storage, etc.) as well as cultural/societal services (landscape, nature, tourism, etc.), and that supports the majority of human activities and production processes on Earth (agriculture, forestry, industries, transport, housing, tourism, etc.)

In the terminology of environmental economics, land can be regarded as a stock renewable resource. Land resources do not easily fit into the categories of renewable or non-renewable. In general, they are slowly renewable; however, their rate of degradation far exceeds their natural rate of regeneration. In practical terms, this means that land that is lost to degradation is not naturally replaced within a human time frame, resulting in a loss of opportunities for the next generation. [3]

Currently, land resources are clearly under stress. Traditional systems of land management are either breaking down or are no longer appropriate, and the management and technology needed to replace them is not always available. The primary reason for this situation is the increasing demands placed on land by the unprecedented rate of population growth and the effects it induces. Externalities related to global climate change are also becoming a constraint to sustainable land management [4].

The competing developmental objectives coupled with the exponential growth in technology in past century enabled humans to exploit the Land as a resource in more and more myriad ways, often unsustainably. Better late than never, the issue of land is getting increasing attention in the policy agenda both globally and regional levels. The UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20), the world leaders indicated land and soil degradation as a global problem and committed to “strive to achieve a land degradation neutral world in the context of sustainable development.” The European Commission’s Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe sets up the following milestones on land: “By 2020, EU policies take into account their direct and indirect impact on land use in the EU and globally, and the rate of land take is on track with an aim to achieve no net land take by 2050; soil erosion is reduced and the soil organic matter increased, with remedial work on contaminated sites well underway.” This was accompanied by a set of proposed targets -  “No net land take by 2050; By 2020, the area of land in the EU that is subject to soil erosion of more than 10 tonnes per hectare per year should be reduced by at least 25%; and By 2020, soil organic matter (SOM) levels should not be decreasing overall and should increase for soils with currently less than 3.5% organic matter.”[5]

1.5 The management of land resource is perhaps more pivotal to India, which has more than 17.5% of the world’s humanity in just 2.4% of the worlds area. It is a home to more than 1.2 billion people and its population is expected to overtake China in less than a decade. The population of India is expected to be 1.7 billion by 2050 [5]. The sustenance of this huge chunk of humanity is reason for extreme stress on the available land resources in the country, which are getting utilized way beyond the optimum level.  The continued economic growth particularly in the last 25 years, has ensured that the land is being exploited to the maximum.

Framework and Data

1. The study examines the land utilization pattern of India for a decade (year 2004 and year 2014) for all the states of the Union of India. India has a quasi-federalist structure of polity.  In 2004, the Union of India consisted of 28 states. However, on 02nd June, 2014 a new state of Telangana was created from the State of Andhra Pradesh [6]. For the purpose of this study, state of Andhra Pradesh includes the state of Telangana also, because for most of the decade 2004-14, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was one political unit only.

2. These 28 states offer stark contrast in terms of area, habitation, demography etc. As an Illustration, the State of Uttar Pradesh has 330 times the population of State of Sikkim and has 35 times the area [7] (For comparative analysis, the Uttar Pradesh has population equivalent to Brazil and area equivalent to United Kingdom). Accordingly, it would be neither prudent nor desirable to compare States like Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh on one scale. Hence for the purpose of this study, states were divided into Major States and Minor States. Under the category of Minor States, seven North Eastern states- Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura were included. The remaining 21 Major states, which constitute more than 99% of the Population of India and more than 94% of the area of the India, are the main focal point of the present study. Nonetheless, significant land utility changes in the Minor states are also examined at the relevant places.

3. This particular decade was chosen (2004-14), partly because the extensive data for the states were available for the analysis [8], and mainly because the decade 2004-14 witnessed one of the highest growth of Indian economy in the recordable history and hence modifications in terms of management and utilization of land resources were appreciable and stark. The land utilization during this decade highlights the facets of land-environment-growth constraints, when the millions were uplifted from extreme poverty. Further, at the national level, during the said decade, the Political dispensation was same and hence the management of land resources was more dictated by the regional policy perspectives. Nevertheless, land utilization pattern in a consequence of the unique set of policy formulations at the national as well as a regional level, which has the shaped the way the land is utilized for the fulfillment of the human want. The policy directions are itself the result of the complex politico-socio-economic milieu of a particular region, often governed less by the land suitability and more by the local politics.

4. However, to corroborate the findings, the census figures of year 2001 and 2011 were examined, as the Census exercise [7] in done once in the first year of the decade. Though this may not be exactly co-terminus with decade 2004-14, the same may provide the direction of change and hence useful in analyzing the change in land use pattern.

5.  Further, to understand the same “direction” of changes, various other sets of data are examined. Bulk of data, as also the master data, is taken from Statistical Year Book India 2017, computed by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, Government of India [8]. The data on irrigation, electrified households for the period 2009-2014 was examined and correlated with the land use changes witnessed in the decade. Again, the period 2009-2014, obviously, does not cover the whole decade of 20042014, but still it would provide the indication of the factors which results in changes in land use pattern of the country.

6.  Data from other governmental and quasi-governmental organizations were procured, as can be perused from the later sections and examined from the viewpoint of utilization and management of land resources in the country.

Parameters

1. The Department of Land Resources, Government of India classified the Land under following 9 broad categories [9].

i. Forests

ii. Area under Non-agricultural uses

iii. Barren and Unculturable Land

iv. Permanent Pastures and Other grazing lands

v. Land under miscellaneous trees and crops

vi. Culturable Waste land

vii. Current Fallows

viii. Other fallows

ix)  Net Sown Areas

2.  Fallow lands are those agricultural lands that are not sown for 1-2 years (Current Fallows) or 3-5 years (Other fallows) so that soil regains its fertility naturally. Culturable Wastelands are those areas which have been abandoned for cultivation due to loss of soil fertility and degradation.

3. Further, the National government records [8] enumerates land under the category of Total cropped area which determines the Area Sown more than once, and hence determines the cropping intensity of the region, a single most pivotal element which holds the key for enhancing agricultural productivity and also a pretext for over exploitation of land.

4. For the purpose of this study and to present the more cogent inferences, Current fallows and Other fallows are combined under one roof of “Fallow Lands.”. The importance of Area Sown more than once also needs no elaboration at this stage. Accordingly, this paper has studied the total “reportable” land of India under 9 categories

i. Forests

ii. Area under Non-Agricultural Uses

iii. Barren and Unculturable Land

iv. Permanent pastures and Other grazing lands

v. Land under miscellaneous trees and crops

vi. Culturable Waste

vii. Fallow land

viii. Net Sown Area

ix. Area son more than once

5. For, the purpose of analysis and inferences, Barren & Unculturable wastelands and Culturable Wastelands are studied concomitantly, perhaps, because the strategies to develop them for human utility are similar and are addressed by similar policy interventions.

6. The reportable area of the Country and its constituent states have been changed and wherever the change is appreciable, the same is inferred based on the available data.

7. Further, this study aims at the analyzing the changing trends in management and utilization of land resources in the country for the decade and to present the strategies, hence the change is highlighted, rather than the actual value itself. Nonetheless, the changes are studied in the backdrop of the actual values only. Accordingly Table 1, which is a sort of Master Table for the purpose of this study, highlights the actual change and percentage change of land area utilized under all the 9 categories:

Table 1: Decadal (2004-2014) Changes in the land Utilization In India (in thousand hectares)

Source: Calculations from Statistical Year Book India

8.  A positive value indicates that there is an increase in the area under the said category. As an Illustration, between 2004 and 2014, there is an increase in 1860 thousand hectares of Forests land in India, showing an increase of 2.7% in 2014 compared to 2004. Similarly, land under Barren and Unculturable Wastes decreased by 518 thousand hectares, and accordingly Barren and Unculturable Wastes are 3% less in 2014 of what they are in 2004.

9.  The changes in land resource management for this decade are examined and analyzed hereunder along with the interplay of political factors.

Net Sown Area and Area Sown more than once

1.  Perhaps no sector is more dependent on land and soil resources, than the Agricultural sector. Though India has just 2.4% of the world’s area, India ranks first in the world, with 180 Mha of net cropland area (9.6 percent of the global net cropland area), as per the United States Geological Survey 2017. This represents both potential as well as challenges for the Indian Agriculture, which is an example of myriad ironies of its own. The Indian agriculture has passed through the four growth stages, with the fourth stage still continuing. On an average, there is an increase in Growth rate, but still it lags far behind China, which was on a similar Agricultural trajectory, half a century back [10]

Figure 1: Four stages of Agricultural Growth (Vertical Axis denotes Growth rate)

Source: Economic Survey, 2017-18

2. Even though, more than 50% of the population of the country is directly engaged in Agriculture, it just contributes 17% of the country’s Gross Value Added (GVA)[10] [11]. The GVA for the last four years is shown in Table 2, which empirically highlights the downward trend, as expected.

Table 2: GVA in Agriculture

Source: Central Statistics Office, Govt of India

3.  The lower GVA output with respect to the involvement of proportion of population is partly due to the basic economic premise that Agriculture provides less return as compared to the secondary or tertiary sectors. But it also an indication that resources under Indian Agricultural domain are not utilized sustainably and optimally, most notable the land resources.

4.  The fluctuations in the utilization and management of land in terms of Net Sown Area and Area sown more than once is both the result and the reason of the various Land-Agri Policies of the Federal as well as local State Governments. Any change in the Agricultural land statistics mirrors a specific policy paradigm. The overall change in Land Utilization and Management Pattern asshown in Table 1 highlights that though there is no substantial change in the Net Sown Area in the country, the Land under Area sownmore than once has increased by 104,780 sq. km, an increase of more than 21.4 percent in a decade. This is mostly attributed to the success of the Irrigation Programs in the country as well as the Introduction of Mechanization, though late compared to the other countries of the world, in agricultural domain.  Table 3 highlights the massive strides achieved in the Irrigation sector in the country.

Table 3: Net Area under irrigation (in Thousand Hectares)

Year				Source of Irrigation				Net Irrigated Area
		Canals		Tanks	Tube- Wells	Other Wells	Other Sources
	Government	Private	Total
2004	14251	206	14458	1916	26691	9693	4299	57057
2005	14553	214	14766	1734	25235	9956	7538	59229
2006	16490	227	16718	2083	26026	10044	5966	60837
2007	16802	224	17027	2078	26942	10698	5999	62744
2008	16531	217	16748	1973	28497	9864	6107	63189
2009	16686	195	16881	1981	28367	10389	6020	63638
2010	14789	188	14978	1587	28371	9992	7008	61936
2011	15472	171	15643	1980	28543	10629	6864	63659
2012	15833	172	16005	1919	29943	10595	7236	65697
2013	15506	165	15672	1753	30543	10763	7536	66266
2014	16115	163	16278	1842	31126	11312	7542	68100

Source: Calculations from Statistical Year Book India

5. The above strides are possible due to the success of the Policies under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Program (AIBP) and Command Area Development and Water Management Programs. Further, farmers collectively have a significant voting share, and hence signify a strong pressure group, more so at the regional level politics. No local political party can ignore this group for long. Consequently, the states where farmers are literate and represents dominant groups have performed exceedingly well in the intensifying the irrigation potential.

6. However, the impact of economic factors like increase farm incomes, better accessibility to markets, better availability of credit and the controversial farm loan waivers has led to the spurt in micro and mini irrigation projects which are individual/community managed and financed.

7.  Nonetheless, there is still irony in the fact that more than half of the net cropland area is under rain fed, and hence there lies a huge potential for development, provided sufficient water reaches the field. But just like land resources, the water resources of the country are in extreme stress, as the country has just 4% fresh water resources of the world [12]. This is in backdrop of the fact that India has world’s 11.6% of the livestock population [13], 17.5% of the world’s population and approximately 10% of the world’s total cropland. This calls for extreme policy interventions for sustainable use of water resources in the country.

9. Index of Crop Diversification

Even though there is a substantial increase in the Area sown more than once, possibly due to low base effect, the Index of Crop Diversification in the country has not shown a positive trend [10], as shown in Table 4. A negative trend in the Index of Crop Diversification squarely indicates that the agricultural land is not used optimally, and there lies lacuna in the policies. Nevertheless, it also entails that still there lies a huge potential in maximizing the agricultural output of the country as a whole. Among all the states, Odisha is the state where the Index of Crop Diversification has decreased astonishingly. In Odisha, by 2014-15, 80 per cent of the cropped area has been under rice, around 10 per cent under other pulses and around 4 percent under other food crops.

Table 4: Index of Crop Diversification (for selected states)

Source: Economic Survey, 2017-18

However, what is alarming are the agriculturally advanced states of Haryana and Punjab, where, perhaps, one would the find the richest farmers of the country, competing with their western counterparts in income and incentives. The Punjab, wheat and paddy cover 83 per cent of the cultivable area of the State. The issues related to mono-culture as witnessed in Odisha, Punjab and Haryana are declining productivity, lower fertilizer response ratio, degradation of soil health and declining profitability of cultivation, hence the overall lack of proper management of land resources. It is ironical that the Crop Diversification Program, flagship program of the government to introduce the benefits of diversified cropping pattern, has most vociferously advocated in the prosperous states of Haryana and Punjab, possibly due to the accepted psyche that the rich farmers of the region would able to understand and hence incorporate the benefits of the Diversified Program. It is scientific fact that a diversified cropping pattern will help in mitigating the risks faced by the farmers in terms of price shocks and production/harvest losses. The effect of monoculture is not only harmful in terms of production, but also critical to the land and soil environment of the region. The government has to vigorously pursue the Crop Diversification Program for enhancing agricultural productivity as well as health of the land by identifying the weakness in the current approach [10].

Regional variations in Land under Net Sown Area/Area sown more than once

1.  The four states that have shown dramatic increase in the net sown area are Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andGujarat. All these states have diverted huge chunk of Fallow lands to the Agricultural land, mainly relying on the intensification of irrigation. In Andhra Pradesh alone, 12,910 sq km of the area has been brought to cultivation, by converting mainly, 11,370 sq km of fallow land. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, more than 4,000 sq km of fallow land has been converted to cropland. Gujarat is a model example wherein, through intensive irrigational network, even wastelands along with the fallow lands have been converted to the 2.  Similarly, apart from above four states, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have witnessed tremendous increase in theArea sown more than once, highlighting the better productivity of agricultural output per unit of land. Nonetheless, as can be perused from Table 1, in many states, including many agriculturally advanced states like Haryana, the Net Sown area has decreased but Area sown more than once has increased.

3.  Since, the majority of Agriculture in India is rain fed and rudimentary, this study infers that the advent of irrigation and electricity to the rural households have changed the utilization of land resources in the states by bringing the fallow lands and wasteland under the agricultural fold.

4.  As per the data available, Table 5 highlights the change (2009-14) in the net irrigated area among the major states in the country

Table 5: Net Area under Irrigation for Major States (Area in thousand hectares)

Sr. No.	State	Net Irrigated Area in 2009	Net Irrigated Area in 2014	Actual Change
1	Andhra Pradesh	4820	5303	483
2	Assam	140	303	163
3	Bihar	3536	2933	-603
4	Chhattisgarh	1339	1462	123
5	Goa	35	38	3
6	Gujarat	4233	4233	0
7	Haryana	2877	2931	54
8	Himachal Pradesh	108	113	5
9	Jammu & Kashmir	314	323	9
10	Jharkhand	110	217	107
11	Karnataka	3238	3556	318
12	Kerala	390	397	7
13	Madhya Pradesh	6506	9455	2949
14	Maharashtra	3259	3248	-11
15	Orissa	2192	1245	-947
16	Punjab	4079	4143	64
17	Rajasthan	6245	7650	1405
18	Tamil Nadu	2931	2679	-252
19	Uttarakhand	340	328	-12
20	Uttar Pradesh	13435	14027	592
21	West Bengal	3135	3099	-36

Source: Calculations from Statistical Year Book India

5.  As can be perused from the Table 5, the states, which have witnessed the increase in Sown Area has also witnessed the increase in the Area under irrigation, highlighting strong correlation between the two. However, it is the source of irrigation, which determines the sustainability of such irrigational facilities. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are textbook examples wherein the maximum increase came from the indiscriminate extraction of ground water through mechanized tube wells, due to the subsidized power by the local state governments [11]. Following highlights, the top states wherein in area under the irrigation by tube wells increased.

Table 6: Increase in area under Irrigation from tube wells (Area in thousand hectares)

Sr. No.	State	Increase in area under tube well irrigation from 2009 to 2014
1.	Madhya Pradesh	1124
2.	Rajasthan	965
3.	Andhra Pradesh	516
4.	Uttar Pradesh	318
5.	Karnataka	182

Source: Calculations from Statistical Year Book India

6.  Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, each, have added close to 10,000 sq km of area under irrigation due to tubewells. The said practice of indiscriminately drawing ground water, which has taken millennia to store under the Earth Surface is highly unsustainable practice leading to the problems of degradation of land through excessive calcification and erosion. It is particularly more severe for arid regions of Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, wherein the upper soil cover is not able to hold the water and surface runoff is huge in form of ephemeral rivers.

7.  However, the analysis of the data also reveals that Madhya Pradesh have added close to 4000 sq km of area under canal irrigation. Canal irrigation, though capital intensive is more sustainable and provides long term results. However, excessive canal irrigation is a harbinger of new problems which highlights the imperfections in policy of land management. The case in point is the Indira Gandhi Canal, one of largest network of canals of Asia, which has not only brought surplus water to arid regions of Thar Desert in Rajasthan in its catchment area, but resulted in the altering the wildlife landscape of the region and outbreak of Malaria in the arid regions [14][15]. The cultivation of water intensive crops in the arid region is not only leading to excessive wastage of precious water but also degrading the land and soil characteristics [15].

8. Another critical parameter that has altered the management of land utilization in favor of cropland is the advent of gridsupplied electricity to the rural households. In fact, the advent of grid supplied electricity has catalyzed the advancement of tube wells, agricultural machinery and information dissemination to the local farmers. The farmers are now, somewhat, better suited to face the vagaries of the weather in India. As per Census 2011, only 55.3% of the rural households have been provided grid supplied electricity, though that’s a substantial increase from just 43.5% in 2001:

Table 7: Rural households with grid-supplied electricity

Sr. No	States	Rural Households having	Rural Households having	Increase
		Grid-electricity in 2011	Grid-electricity in 2001
1	Jammu & Kashmir	1208821	868695	340126
2	Himachal Pradesh	1265980	1037156	228823
3	Punjab	3166429	2484038	682390
4	Uttarakhand	1167426	601667	565759
5	Haryana	2586398	1926753	659645
6	Rajasthan	5532882	3148949	2383932
7	Uttar Pradesh	6063067	4076835	1986232
8	Bihar	1677204	645660	1031543
9	Sikkim	83318	68792	14525
10	Arunachal Pradesh	108626	73204	35423
11	Nagaland	214253	150975	63278
12	Manipur	205480	155586	49894
13	Mizoram	72153	34999	37155
14	Tripura	361629	171618	190010
15	Meghalaya	217854	99892	117961
16	Assam	1526373	696329	830045
17	West Bengal	5528026	2265860	3262166
18	Jharkhand	1513567	380241	1133325
19	Odisha	2899268	1315879	1583390
20	Chhattisgarh	3068878	1548535	1520343
21	Madhya Pradesh	6484339	5061747	1422592
22	Gujarat	5750593	4243778	1506815
23	Maharashtra	9606289	7167842	2438447
24	Andhra Pradesh	12778939	7567702	5211237
25	Karnataka	6818258	4819475	1998783
26	Goa	119188	130058	-10869
27	Kerala	3772116	3237370	534746
28	Tamil Nadu	8684020	5891650	2792370
	INDIA	92808182	60148128	32660054

Source: Census 2011

9.  As can be perused from the Table 7, there exists a strong correlation in the increase in number of rural households having grid-supplied electricity and increase in the area under agriculture, highlighting the imperative role of mechanization. The maximumincrease is registered in Andhra Pradesh, where more than 50 million households have been supplied with grid electricity in thedecade. Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka are other notable gainers, which is clearly highlights increase in NetSown Area and Area sown more than once in these states. Though there is a substantial increase in number of rural households connected with grid supplied electricity in the States of Bihar and West Bengal, nonetheless, even in 2011, only 10.4% rural households in Bihar (from just 5.1% in 2001) and 40.3% rural households in West Bengal (from just 20.3% in 2001) are girdelectrified, signifying low electrification in these states. The corresponding proportions in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, for the year 2011, are 89.7% and 86.7% respectively.

10.  On the flip side, this grid-supplied electricity is often heavily subsidized for the farmers, which results in the wastage of the precious power derived from the non-renewable sources like hydrocarbons. India, derives its 64% of the power needs from hydrocarbons, highlighted the green house impact of wastage of power.  

11. There are certain states where Net Sown Area has decreased, highlighting the shift of agriculture land to other uses. Table 8 highlights the states which have witnessed notable decrease in Net Sown Area.

Table 8: Decadal Decrease in Sown Area (Area in thousand hectares)

Sr.No.	State	Change in Net Sown Area		Change in Area Sown more than Once
		Actual	Percent change	Actual	Percent Change
1	Odisha	-1300	-22.4	-2169	-76.3
2	Bihar	-461	-8	158	7.3
3	Uttar Pradesh	-204	-1.2	660	7.6
4	West Bengal	-194	-3.6	151	3.6
5	Jharkhand	-188	-11.6	104	56.5
6	Kerala	-139	-6.3	-199	-26

12.  Bihar, one of the backward state of the country, has most primitive form of Agriculture and hence dependence of agriculture on the vagaries of nature is disproportionately high. This can be substantiated from the fact that only 10.4% of the rural households have grid-supplied electricity, compared to the national average of 55%. Further, as can be perused from Table 5, the state has witnessed substantial decrease in the net area under irrigation. The state has witnessed a spade of natural disasters in the form of floods during the impugned period. The Himalayan River Kosi along with its tributaries, having its origins in Nepal, have devastated the agricultural land twice, in year 2004 and 2007, to such an extent that millions of people were evacuated and millions of livestock was perished.  In the flood of 2004, 1.4 Million hectare agricultural land was devastated [16]. Similarly, the government statistics reveal that total human causalities in 2007 flood was 1287, destroying the crops worth more than a billion dollars [16]. The extent of deluge was such an extent that all forms of flood mitigating policies have failed to contain the crisis. There are host of studies which highlight that the receding of flood waters critically impacts the productivity of land, as due to extremely hot temperatures the salinity of the soil increases and the absence of oxygen in the soil impedes the growth of soil ecosystem [17][18][19]. Consequently, in the absence of purchasing power capacity, the farmers are forced to leave their land fallow so that the soil may regain its productivity naturally. Hence, one can witness an increase of approximately 4000 sq km Fallow lands.

13. These floods have not spared the sown area of Jharkhand also, where proportion of Fallow land have shown a rise, possibly because of the same reason.

14.  In case of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, with the decrease in Net Sown Area, once can witness the corresponding increase in the Area under Non-agricultural uses, highlighting the impact of forces of urbanization. This aspect is analyzed in later sections.

5. However, from the standpoint of economic productivity and optimization of agricultural land, if the decrease in Agricultural area is accompanied with the corresponding increase in the Area sown more than once, the same scenario highlights the intensification of productivity from then cropland and hence may not be such an undesirable preposition, as the Total Cultivated area remains more or less constant (Total Cropland Area is the sum of Net sown Area and Area sown more than once).

16.  Consequently, the policy makers should be alarmed at the states wherein, both the land under Net sown area as well as Area sown more than once are showing the downward trend, signifying the deep-rooted problem of agricultural system in the state and hence harbinger of broader land-based problems. Odisha has witnessed a loss of more than 22% Net Sown Area and more than 76% loss of Area sown more than once. Though this may be the result of some statistical corrections, the deep-rooted problems of the state cannot be ignored. The Constitutional Auditor of the country has itself acknowledged that the State has jeopardized agricultural land in favor of Industry. Further, the state has been diverting the prime agricultural land for the extraction of minerals at such a rate, which is making not only agriculture but mining also unsustainable. The Auditor noted that in 2010, the State, through various MOUs with the Industry, committed for supplying 74.61 tonnes of bauxite per annum even though the total availability of bauxite in the State is 1806 tonnes, thus exhausting the whole bauxite reserve by 2024 [20]. Such zeal of indiscriminate mining and industrial activities is not only spelling doom for the future generation but the lack of proper regulation is impacting the available soil productivity through soil and water degradation. The State has witnessed more 4000 sq km increase in the barren land, possible left over after the excessive mining of the area. Further, perhaps to restore the productivity of the soil, more than 7000 sq km of cropland has been added as fallow land to increase the productivity. The burgeoning mining and industrial has led to the spurt of small mining towns in the State which has led to the increase in area under Non-agricultural uses

17. However, Kerala represents a different set of land crisis, which is analyzed in the subsequent sections.

18.  As far as seven Minor states are concerned, the most dramatic rise is seen in the State of Tripura, which witnessed more than 4000% increase in the Area sown more than once, amply highlighting the low base effect, wherein hardly any sown area was sown more than once in 2004.

19. Land under Agriculture and Climate Change
The climate change is real and the its impact is first and foremost on the Agriculture. The Agricultural land needs to be managed and well prepared for the onset of wide fluctuations in weather which would impact the food security and livelihood in the country. There is plethora of international literature on the analysis of climate change vis a vis agriculture [21]. However, as noted by the Government of India itself [10] these analyses are ill suited in context of India, because of the very unique nature of the Indian agriculture. Based on the calculation from the data available from Indian Metrological Department, the impact of abrupt rainfall and temperature, the two basic constituents of weather, was noted separately for the yield of Kharif and Rabi Crops (Kharif and Rabi season, roughly translates to Summer and Winter sowing season in the Indian context). Figure 2 and Figure 3 plots of the yields of crops on vertical axis against the vagaries in temperature and rainfall [10]:
Figure 2: Impact of Temperature changes on yield of Crops

Source: Economic Survey 2017-18

Figure 3: Impact of Rainfall changes on yield of Crops

Source: Economic Survey 2017-18

As can be inferred from above, the impact of vagaries of climate on unirrigated areas is stark and presents an impending challenge for the country.

Table 9 provides a detailed quantitative break-up of the effects of temperature shocks (when the area is significantly hotter than usual- top 20 percentiles of the area-specific temperature distribution) and rainfall shocks (when it rains significantly less than usual- bottom

20 percentiles of the district-specific rainfall distribution) between irrigated and non-irrigated areas in kharif and rabi seasons

Table 9: Impact of Weather Shocks on Agricultural Yields

	Extreme Temperature shocks	Extreme Rainfall Shocks
Average-Kharif	4%	12.8%
Kharif, Irrigated	2.7%	6.2%
Kharif, non Irrigated	7%	14.7%
Average-Rabi	4.7%	6.7%
Rabi, Irrigated	3%	4.1%
Rabi, non Irrigated	7.6%	8.6%

Source: Economic Survey, 2018

The Table 9 highlights the impending crises, which would not impact the farm revenues but jeopardize the whole facet of food security and the sectors of the economy. Further, this is only the impact of the excessive variation in Temperature and Rainfall, which is just one of the outcome of changing climate. The climatic change can further necessarily entails other devastating weather phenomenon like long dry spells, excessive rainfall in short spells, unpredictability of monsoon etc, the impact of which may be computed in decades only.

However, the institutions and policies needs to be strengthened to protect the Agriculture in general and Agricultural land in particular. The first and foremost requirement is the spread of irrigational facilities to the rainfed areas. But this spread must not be at the expanse of excessive pumping of ground water, which is already a scarce resource in the Northern and Western parts of India, posing the risk to the ground water hydrology in the states. The concept of Climate Smart Agriculture is already gaining stream in the research. But adaptation of Climate Smart Agriculture in a politically chaotic country like India require a strong political will and a proactive implantation strategy coupled with the strong support from the farmers community itself. If the same is not conceptualized and implemented at the earliest, India may be facing an impending socio-economic crisis, the magnitude of which is impossible to fathom.

Land under Non-agricultural sources

1.  Area under Non-agriculture uses include the area under towns, cities, industrial complexes, transports etc. and reflects the growing urbanization in the country.

2.  Country is witnessing a messy transformative change in urban landscape. Between the impugned decade, as per the World Bank Statistics [5], the share of urban population in the country increased from 28.9% to 32.4%, adding some 93 Million under urban households. On official census figures, the share of the region’s population officially classified as living in urban settlements increased only marginally from 27.4 percent in 2001 to 30.9 percent in 2011, an annual growth rate of 1.1 percent.  By contrast, when it was at a level of urbanization similar to that in South Asia today, China experienced growth in it urban share of population of 3.1 percent a year in moving from 26.4 percent in 1990 to 35.9 percent in 2000. Likewise, Brazil’s urban share grew at 2.5 percent a year between 1950 and 1960, while moving from 36.2 percent to 46.1 percent.  Going back even further, for the United States, the urban share rose from 25 percent to 35.9 percent between 1880 and 1900, for growth of 1.8 percent a year. [22]

3.  Nonetheless, the country’s urban population is expected to rise up to 60% population of the total population, adding some 300 Mn urban residents in next 3 decades [5]. This necessary entails a unique set of policy formulations for management of land under urban areas, which are stressed beyond the limit in the urban agglomerations of the country.

Regional variations in land under Non-agricultural uses.

1. Table 10 highlights the States, which have seen substantial increase in land under Non-agricultural uses

Table 10: Decadal Change in land under Non-agricultural uses (Area in thousand hectares)

Sr.No.	State		Change
		Actual	Percent Change
1	Uttar Pradesh	433	16.7
2	Andhra Pradesh	298	11
3	Odisha	281	28
4	Madhya Pradesh	237	12.3
5	West Bengal	225	14
6	Assam	209	19.6
7.	Rajasthan	129	7.3
8.	Kerala	116	29.3

Source: Calculations from Statistical Year Book India

2.  The changes in heavy populated states of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal can be attributed to the shift of Net Sown Area to the Area under Non-agricultural uses. Both the states have witnessed burgeoning increase in urban population. An extremely high density of population ensured the shift of agricultural lands to the urban lands. During the census decade of 2011-2001, States of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal witnessed more than 26% increase in urban population.

3.  Odisha represents a state where numerous mining/industrial towns have surfaced due to indiscriminate push to Mining and Industrial activity.

4.  Andhra Pradesh has witnessed, increase in urban lands from the fact the Andhra Pradesh vigorously pursued development of urban lands after the perceived loss of its major Urban Agglomeration of Hyderabad to the newly formed state of Telangana [23]. The whole coastal Andhra has witnessed mushrooming of new towns, expansion of existing towns and the development of future capital of the region – Amravathi between the urban centers of Vijayawada and Guntur.

5. However, the most critical is increase of 29.3% land in Kerala, the maximum of any major state in the country. This represents the extent of rapid urbanization of the state, which has recorded 93% growth in Urban population in the state between 2001 and 2011, thus engulfing the agricultural land under its Urban centers. So fast is the pace of Urbanization in Kerala that the State added 6 six cities under the fold of Million cities within the decade. [7]

6.  All this change in landscape is accompanied by the loss of traditional paddy lands of the state. Infact, so rampant was the change that the State was forced to pass the Kerala Conservation of Paddy land and Wetland Act, 2008 to protect the paddy lands of the state but the implementation proves to be shoddy. [24]

7.  Though the shift of land to non-agricultural purposes is somewhat predictable, but the same should not be at the cost of prime agrarian lands, as it may critically impact the food security. As shown by the examples of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat (Table 1), the increase in urban lands should be at the cost of wastelands and fallow lands, which highlights the sustainable land policy in these states, specifically pertaining conversion of lands to urban lands.

Land under Forests

Analysis of the table reveals that forests cover in the country has increased by 18,600 sq km in the studied decade, from 22.9% of the total area in 2004 to 23.3% of the total area in 2014. However, as we analyzed this increase in forests is not due to the specific policy interventions but due to the change in the reporting area in the country and of the respective state. The forest area has remained constant throughout the decade, a significant development, considering the fact that the country achieved one of the maximum economic growth rate during the period, which is usually characterized by the replacement of forest cover for other economic activity. Nonetheless, there were regional changes in the forest cover.

Regional variations of land under Forests

1. Following states have witnessed the substantial increase in the Forest cover in the country

Table 11: Decadal increase in land under Forests (Area in thousand hectares)

Sr.No.	State	Actual Change in Forest Cover	Percentage Change
1	Uttarakhand	334	46
2	Jammu and Kashmir	231	11.4
3	Rajasthan	97	3.6
4	Andhra Pradesh	37	6
5	Chhattisgarh	31	4.9

Source: Calculations from Statistical Year Book India

2. The significant change in forest cover is witnessed in the Hill states of Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir. This is, perhaps, due to change in reporting area in both the states. The hitherto areas which were densely forested were not coming in the survey calculations in 2004, which surfaced in 2014, resulting in increase in Forest cover.

3.  Following states witnessed reduction in land under Forest cover

Table 12: Decadal decrease in land under Forests (Area in thousand hectares)

Sr.No.	State	Actual Change in Forest Cover	Percentage Change
1	Assam	-101	-5.2
2	Punjab	-50	-16.2
3	Gujarat	-20	-1
4	Maharashtra	-8	-0.2
5	Haryana	-6	-13.3

Source: Calculations from Statistical Year Book India

4.  In Assam, with the successful commercialization of tea industry, more and more forest land, particularly on the eastern regions were converted to the Net Sown Area. However, the more significant are changes in the state of Punjab and Haryana, wherein the total forest cover is already less than 1% of the total area, and its still decreasing. Such phenomenon is depressing in terms of long term sustainability of land resources.

5.  As far as seven Minor States are concerned, Arunachal Pradesh witnessed a stupendous jump of 30% increase in the Forest cover, adding 15470 sq km of area under Forests. But as the data analyzed, it is ascertained, that the said increase is due to the increase in Reporting Area of the state i.e. the forested areas in the higher reaches of Himalayas were not getting reported.  Infact, this seems to be one of the major reason that India, as a whole has shown increase in forest cover, statistically, though there is hardly any change in reality on ground.

6.  The importance of increasing the Forest Lands by converting wastelands needs no importance. The definition of Forests, adopted in 2016, under the aegis of Forest Conservation Act has statistically increased the share of Forests in the country. However, what is required is an actual change in Forest cover, which seems to be not an easy task, considering the huge stress of land and current economic growth.

10. The dynamics of the land resource management of the India, as examined above, highlights that in consonance with the economic growth in the country, the management of land is getting altered at a rapid pace. There are many states, as examined, which are moving towards sustainable use of land resources. But at the same time, certain states are showing signs of acute unsustainability and chaos. The fact that enormous swaths of land are being transformed in a matter of decade in a country, wherein the emotional attachment to land is unparalleled, shows that there is an imperative need to formulate and implement a comprehensive policy for sustainable utilization and management of land resources in the country, before its too late. The complex socio-economic-political paradigm of the country coupled with the impending crises in terms of climate change and food security coupled with land for economic progress necessitates the same.

The solution from the Public policy perspective.

1. The solution to the sustainable utilization of land resources in a country like India, which is endowed with extreme stress, lies in the Regional Integrated Landscape management coupled with a holistic National Land Utilization Policy. This is imperative because India is at such a point in development-growth trajectory that India has to manage multiple problems simultaneously: poverty, environmental degradation, dismal agricultural productivity, comparatively low industrial output, food security, land rights and burgeoning population.

2. India has sectoral policy approach for development, conservation and management of different land patterns: Urban Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) Guidelines, 1996 for the development of Urban land areas along with the relevant Master Plans, National Manufacturing Policy 2011 for development of Industrial land, Guidelines under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for the land under Eco Sensitive Zones, Forest policy, 1988 for Forest’s land Conservation and Protection, National Wetland Conservation Program for protection of the Wetlands, Coastal Regulations Zone Notification, 1991 for planning of coastal lands, various agricultural centric planning like Drought Prone Area Program, Desert Development Area program etc. However, without a comprehensive National Land Utilization policy, these conventional sectoral approaches failed to achieve the desired results. The country instead needs sustainable strategies to address the broader land resource issues. The Government of India, too, accepts that the current land use planning in the country is inadequate and does not cover all the levels of local, regional as well as at state levels. The Government accepts that there is a need for a systematic and scientifically based land use planning in the country.

3. On a regional scale, the systematic land use planning lies in the Integrated landscape management, which drives its genesis from the Ecosystem Approach and the concept of water-energy-food nexus [25]. The term has multiple definitions. Nevertheless, integrated landscape approach is a conceptual framework whereby stakeholders in a landscape aim to reconcile competing social, economic and environmental objectives. It seeks to move away from the often-unsustainable sectoral approach to land management. A landscape approach aims to ensure the realization of local level needs and action (i.e. the interests of different stakeholders within the landscape), while also considering goals and outcomes important to stakeholders outside the landscape, such as national governments or the international community [26]. Worldwide, many governmental and non-governmental organizations have experimented with the approach and results are, indeed encouraging. The CBD has already developed the 10 Principles of Landscape Approach, which involves cohesive planning and integrated management among the stakeholders [27]. India, too, needs to adapt its regional planning processes on the line of these 10 principles.

4. On a national level, the Government has prepared Draft National Land Utilization Policy, 2013 [28] and a closely related Draft National Land Reforms Policy, 2013 [29]. The Draft Land Utilization policy envisages identification of six types of Land Utilization Zones (LUZs) in the country viz.,
a. Predominantly Rural and Agricultural Areas
b. Areas under Transformation
c. Predominantly Urban Areas
d. Predominantly Industrial Areas
e. Predominantly ecological Areas, landscape Conservation, Tourism and Heritage Areas f) Major Hazard Vulnerable Areas

5. The definition provided in the draft policy is quite over-lapping and mired in perceptible ambiguities. The policy further envisaged that within these LUZs, four Land Management Areas (LMAs) need to identified for the purpose of planning:  a) Protected Areas, b) Regulatory Areas, c) Reserved Areas and d) Guided Development Areas. The policy further proposes a three tier Institutional set up for the purpose of implementation, - National level Set up, State Level Set up and District Level set up. The authors support this Multi-level planning approach for land-use planning, but expects that expertise outside the politico-bureaucracy may be involved in the implementation level. It is expected that Land-use Atlas of India may be prepared at the earliest consisting of the maze of LUZs-LMAs and Integrated landscape approach may be developed for the requisite sectors.

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