Lok Sabha Question No. 2142 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-02
Subject: Research on Landslides and Soil Erosion
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Pradyut Bordoloi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOKSABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2142

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 2 ND  AUGUST, 2023

## RESEARCH ON LANDSLIDES AND SOIL EROSION

## 2142. SHRI PRADYUT BORDOLOI:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  study  to  identify  natural  and  traditional methods for reducing landslides and soil erosion in hilly areas;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the  Ministry  has  collaborated  with  local  communities  to  gather  insights  and knowledge on indigenous practices for landslide and soil erosion control and if so, the details of such collaborations;
- (d) the  appropriate  steps  taken  or  likely  to  be  taken  for  promoting  sustainable  land  use practices  and  land  management  techniques  to  reduce  the  above-highlighted  problem; and
- (e) the details of the funds allocated for research and development on addressing landslides and soil erosion?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES

## (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

- (a) to (b)   The  Geological  Survey  of  India  (GSI),  under  administrative  control  of  Ministry  of Mines,  being  the  nodal  agency  for  landslide  studies,  carries  out  landslide  studies  on various scale (meso- scale, macro-scale & site specific) in all the landslide prone states of  the  country  and  short-  &  long-term  recommendations  are  suggested  for  landslide management based on the site conditions wherein local traditional methods as well as available best practices are also suggested. Further, geoscientific inputs are recommended  for  the  areas  covered  under  mesoscale  and  macro  scale  mapping programmes for use in regional and local land-use planning.
- (c) GSI carries out all the landslide investigations in field and GSI geoscientists interact extensively with  the  local  community  in  understanding  the  past  signatures  and  slope modification  pattern  of  the  terrain  and  gather  relevant  valuable  information  for identifying  the  causes  and  suitable  recommendations  are  documented  which  are communicated to state authorities for landslide management.
- (d) GSI does not carry out work related to promoting sustainable land use practices and land  management  techniques.However,  GSI  carries  out  field  and  laboratory-based landslide  studies  as  per  approved  annual  field  season  programme.  For  effective landslide management, data on landslide susceptibility are collected at different scales for regional to  site-specific  land  planning  and  for  spreading  awareness  among communities. Landslide Awareness/Contact programmes are also being conducted such as  Pre-disaster  studies  (multi-scale  landslide  susceptibility  mapping);  Post-disaster studies  (landslide  inventory  mapping  and  site  specific  detailed  geological  mapping, slope stability analysis and landslide monitoring), and Regional landslide forecasting.

As per National Landslide Susceptibility Mapping (NLSM) of GSI on 1: 50,000 scale, 4.3  lakh  sq.km  is  mapped  of  the  landslide  prone  area  in  India.  These  landslide  data were  collected  by  GSI  through  onsite  field  investigations  under  the  Post-Disaster Studies programme taken up annually in all the landslide prone States/ UT as per GSI's Standard  Operating  Procedure  and  in  response  to  the  requests  received  from  the concerned State Governments.Under LANDSLIP  project,GSI has developed an experimental  regional  Landslide  Early  Warning  System  (LEWS)  based  on  rainfall thresholds  for  two  pilot  study  areas  viz.  Darjeeling  district  of  West  Bengal  and  the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. Since 2020, GSI started issuing daily landslide forecast bulletins during monsoon to the district administrations in these two pilot areas. Now GSI is in the process of extending Susceptibility Maps to classify landslide prone hilly terrains of the country into High, Moderate and Low zones based on proneness to land sliding.  GSI  has  collected  data  of  major  landslides  that  occurred  between  2015  and 2022 in different States/ UT, which have impacted lives. GSI has already extended the Landslide Early Warning System in Kalimpong district, West Bengal and Rudraprayag district,  Uttarakhand  and  started  issuing  daily  landslide  forecast  bulletins  during monsoon  to  the  district  administrations(Kalimpong  -  from  July  2021;  Rudraprayag from  August  2022).  GSI  has  also  initiated  R  &  D  activities  for  developing  regional landslide forecasting systems.

- (e) The  details of fund allocation  and  expenditure by GSI  on  various  specialized investigations including landslide studiesfor last 3 years and current year are as follows:

| Budget (in lakhs)   |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |   2022-23 |   2023-24 30.06.2023) | (upto   |
|---------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------------------|---------|
| Budget Grant        |    190    |    300    |    300    |                340    |         |
| Expenditure         |    182.82 |    292.33 |    291.15 |                 67.56 |         |

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