You must have observed that the land around you is put to different uses. Some land is occupied by rivers, some may have trees and on some parts roads and buildings have been built. Different types of lands are suited to different uses. Human beings thus, use land as a resource for production as well as residence and recreation. Thus, the building of your school, roads on which you travel, parks in which you play, fields in which crops are grown and the pastures where animals graze represent different uses to which land is put.
Land Use Categories
Land-use records are maintained by land revenue department. The land use categories add up to reporting area, which is somewhat different from the geographical area. The Survey of India is responsible for measuring geographical area of administrative units in India. Have you ever used a map prepared by Survey of India? The difference between the two concepts are that while the former changes somewhat depending on the estimates of the land revenue records, the latter does not change and stays fixed as per Survey of India measurements. You may be familiar with land use categories as they are also included in your Social Science textbook of Class X.
The land-use categories as maintained in the Land Revenue Records are as follows :
(i) Forests : It is important to note that area under actual forest cover is different from area classified as forest. The latter is the area which the Government has identified and demarcated for forest growth. The land revenue records are consistent with the latter definition. Thus, there may be an increase in this category without any increase in the actual forest cover.
(ii) Barren and Wastelands : The land which may be classified as a wasteland such as barren hilly terrains, desert lands, ravines, etc. normally cannot be brought under cultivation with the available technology.
(iii) Land put to Non-agricultural Uses : Land under settlements (rural and urban), infrastructure (roads, canals, etc.), industries, shops, etc., are included in this category. An expansion in the secondary and tertiary activities would lead to an increase in this category of land-use.
(iv) Area under Permanent Pastures and Grazing Lands : Most of this type land is owned by the village ‘Panchayat’ or the Government. Only a small proportion of this land is privately owned. The land owned by the village panchayat comes under ‘Common Property Resources’.
(v) Area under Miscellaneous Tree Crops and Groves (Not included in Net sown Area) : The land under orchards and fruit trees are included in this category. Much of this land is privately owned.
(vi) Culturable Wasteland : Any land which is left fallow (uncultivated) for more than five years is included in this category. It can be brought under cultivation after improving it through reclamation practices.
(vii) Current Fallow : This is the land which is left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year. Fallowing is a cultural practice adopted for giving the land rest. The land recoups the lost fertility through natural processes.
(viii) Fallow other than Current Fallow : This is also a cultivable land which is left uncultivated for more than a year but less than five years. If the land is left uncultivated for more than five years, it would be categorised as culturable wasteland.
(ix) Net Area Sown: The physical extent of land on which crops are sown and harvested is known as net sown area.
Land-use Changes in India
Land-use in a region, to a large extent, is influenced by the nature of economic activities carried out in that region. However, while economic activities change over time, land, like many other natural resources, is fixed in terms of its area. At this stage, one needs to appreciate three types of changes that an economy undergoes, which affect land-use.
(i) The size of the economy (measured in terms of value for all the goods and services produced in the economy) grows over time as a result of increasing population, change in income levels, available technology and associated factors. As a result, the pressure on land will increase with time and marginal lands would come under use.
(ii) Secondly, the composition of the economy would undergo a change over time. In other words, the secondary and the tertiary sectors usually grow much faster than the primary sector, specifically the agricultural sector. This type of change is common in developing countries, like India. This process would result in a gradual shift of land from agricultural uses to non-agricultural uses. You would observe that such changes are sharp around large urban areas. The agricultural land is being used for building purposes.
(iii) Thirdly, though the contribution of the agricultural activities reduces over time, the pressure on land for agricultural activities does not decline. The reasons for continued pressure on agricultural land are:
(a) In developing countries, the share of population dependent on agriculture usually declines much more slowly compared to the decline in the sector’s share in GDP.
(b) The number of people that the agricultural sector has to feed is increasing day by d
Cropping Seasons in India
There are three distinct crop seasons in the northern and interior parts of country, namely kharif, rabi and zaid. The kharif season largely coincides with Southwest Monsoon under which the cultivation of tropical crops, such as rice, cotton, jute, jowar, bajra and tur is possible. The rabi season begins with the onset of winter in October-November and ends in March-April. The low temperature conditions during this season facilitate the cultivation of temperate and subtropical crops such as wheat, gram and mustard. Zaid is a short duration summer cropping season beginning after harvesting of rabi crops. The cultivation of watermelons, cucumbers, vegetables and fodder crops during this season is done on irrigated lands. However, this type of distinction in the cropping season does not exist in southern parts of the country. Here, the temperature is high enough to grow tropical crops during any period in the year provided the soil moisture is available. Therefore, in this region same crops can be grown thrice in an agricultural year provided there is sufficient soil moistu
