Question

Compare the changes of land-use between 1950–51 and 2014–15 using the below-mentioned graph.

Accepted Answer

The change in the Indian economy over the fast four or five decades has influenced greatly the land-use changes in the country. These changes between $1950 - 51$ and $2014 - 15$ have been depicted with the help of above-mentioned graph. It can be observed from the graph that there are five land categories that have gone increase within this period, while remaining four registered declines:

The rate of increase in case of area under forest: $37 %$

The rate of increase in case of area under non-agricultural land use: $171 %$

The rate of increase in case of area under permanent pasture and grazing land: $43 %$

The rate of increase in case of area under current fallow lands: $32 %$

The rate of increase in case of area under net area sown: $9 %$

From this data following conclusions and explanations regarding the increase can be drawn:

The rate of increase seems to be the highest in the case of is the highest in case area under non-agricultural uses. This can be attributed to changing structure of the Indian economy, which is day by day increasingly dependent upon the service and industrial sectors and increase in the related infrastructure facilities. Also, an expansion of area under both urban and rural settlements has added on to this increase.

The increased rate of shares of area under forest can be attributed to increase in the demarcated area under forest rather than an actual increase in the forest cover in the entire country.

The increase in the share under current fellow can be because of the fluctuation of trend of current fellow over years, which depends upon the variability in the rainfall and cropping cycles.

The increase in the net area sown can be attributed to the use of cultivable wasteland for the purpose of agricultural.

The remaining four categories have registered a decline:

The rate of decrease in case of area under barren and wasteland: $5.8 %$

The rate of decrease in case of area under pastures and tree crops: $0.85 %$

The rate of decrease in case of area under cultivable wasteland: $0.5 %$

The rate of decrease in case of area under Fallow (other than current fallow) land: $0.40 %$

The following explanations and conclusions can be drawn for the declining trends:

The wasteland and cultivable wasteland have witnessed decline over time as the pressure on the land increases, both from the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.

The pressure from the agricultural land can be the reason for decline under pastures and grazing lands. The illegal encroachment majorly due to expansion of cultivation on the pasture lands is largely responsible for this decline.

Land Use Classes	1950-51 (Million Hectare)	Per cent	2014-15 (Million Hectare)	Per cent
Reporting Area	284.32	100	307.82	100
Forests	40.48	17.0	71.79	23.3
Area under non-agricultural use	9.36	3.2	26.88	8.7
Barren and unculturable waste Land	38.16	13.4	17.00	5.5
Permanent Pasturer and Grazing Land	6.68	2.3	10.26	3.3
Area under Misc. Tree crops and Groves	19.83	6.9	3.10	1.0
Culturable Waste Land	22.94	8.0	12.47	4.0
Fallow other than Current Fallow	17.45	6.1	11.09	3.6
Current Fallow	10.68	3.7	15.09	4.9
Net Area Sown	118.75	41.7	140.13	45.5

Compare the changes of land-use between 1950–51 and 2014–15 using the below-mentioned graph.

Important Questions on Land Resources and Agriculture

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