Land-use Changes in India

Land-use in any region is largely shaped by the kind of economic activities happening there. But while economic activities change over time, land is fixed in area. So, to understand how land-use shifts, you need to appreciate three broad types of economic changes that put pressure on land.

First, the size of the economy grows over time — due to rising population, changing incomes, and new technology. As the economy expands, pressure on land increases, and even marginal lands (previously unused) get brought into use.

Second, the composition of the economy changes. In developing countries like India, the secondary (industry) and tertiary (services) sectors grow much faster than the primary sector, especially agriculture. This leads to a gradual shift of land from agricultural to non-agricultural uses. You can see this sharp change around large urban areas, where agricultural land is being converted for buildings and infrastructure.

Third, even though agriculture's share in the economy declines, the pressure on agricultural land does not fall. Two reasons: (a) the share of population dependent on agriculture declines much more slowly than agriculture's share in GDP, and (b) the number of people that agriculture must feed keeps rising every day.

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Comparing Land-use Changes: 1950–51 to 2019–20

India has undergone major economic changes over the past four to five decades, and these have directly influenced land-use patterns. The textbook provides a figure (Fig. 3.1) comparing shares of different land-use categories between 1950–51 and 2019–20. Two important points to remember when interpreting that figure:

• All percentages are calculated with respect to the reporting area (the total area for which land-use data is available).
• Since the reporting area has remained relatively constant over the years, a decline in one category usually leads to an increase in another.

Five categories registered increases, while four registered declines.

Categories that increased

1. Area under non-agricultural uses — This showed the highest rate of increase. Reason: the changing structure of the Indian economy, with growing contributions from industry and services, plus expansion of related infrastructure. Also, expansion of both urban and rural settlements added to this increase. This area is increasing at the expense of wastelands and agricultural land.

2. Area under forest — The increase here is due to an increase in the demarcated area under forest (i.e., land officially classified as forest), not necessarily an actual increase in forest cover.

3. Permanent pasture and grazing land — Increased, though the textbook does not give a specific reason for this category.

4. Current fallow lands — The increase cannot be explained from just two time points. The trend of current fallow fluctuates a lot from year to year, depending on rainfall variability and cropping cycles.

5. Net area sown — This increase is a recent phenomenon, due to the use of culturable wasteland for agriculture. Before this, net area sown was registering a slow decrease, mostly because of increases in area under non-agricultural use.

Categories that declined

1. Barren and wasteland — Declined because pressure on land increased from both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.

2. Culturable wasteland — Also declined for the same reason: growing pressure from both sectors. …