Lok Sabha Question No. 4173 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-19
Subject: Conversion of Wasteland into Fertile Land
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Naveen Jindal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF LAND RESOURCES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4173

TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.08.2025

## Conversion of Wasteland into Fertile Land

## 4173.  Shri Naveen Jindal:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the wasteland has been successfully converted into fertile agricultural land in rural area since 2020, State and year-wise:
- (b) the  details  of  the  initiatives  taken  by  the  Government  to  convert  wasteland  in  rural areas into arable land for agriculture;
- (c) the details of the skill development programs are in place to train rural communities in wasteland restoration techniques;
- (d) the  details  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  identify  and  map  wasteland  in rural India using satellite technology and remote sensing;
- (e) whether there are any new scientific or technological innovations being explored for largescale wasteland reclamation, if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether any financial or technical support is available for farmers and rural communities to transform wasteland into productive agricultural land under Government scheme, if so, the  details of  the  beneficiaries  covered  under  the  aforementioned  scheme,  since  2020, year-wise ?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (Dr. CHANDRA SEKHAR PEMMASANI)

(a),  (b)  &  (f): As  per  the  Seventh  Schedule  of  Constitution  of  India,  'land'  falls  under  the purview of State Government and, therefore, it is for the State Governments to take suitable steps for converting wasteland into fertile agricultural land. However, Government  of India supplements the efforts of State Governments through various programmes.

The  Department  of  Land  Resources  (DoLR)  is  implementing  Watershed  Development Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY) for development of rainfed / degraded areas. The activities undertaken in the scheme, inter alia, include ridge area treatment, drainage line treatment, soil and moisture conservation, rainwater harvesting, nursery raising, pasture development, livelihoods for asset-less persons etc.

Under  WDC-PMKSY  1.0  (projects  sanctioned  between  2009-10  to  2014-15),  DoLR supported implementation of 6382 watershed projects covering an area of 29.59 million hectare in 27 States and UTs of J&K and Ladakh and Central share of Rs. 19,926.67 crore was released to the States/UTs. Between 2014-15 to 2021-22, about 7.64 lakh water harvesting structures were created  /  rejuvenated,  an  additional  area  of  about  16.40  lakh  ha  was  brought  under  protective irrigation and 36.34 Lakh farmers were benefitted. In addition to this, 3.36 lakh ha of culturable wasteland has been treated from 2018-19 to 2021-22. The period of WDC-PMKSY 1.0 projects got over in March, 2022.

On 15th December 2021, Government of India approved continuation of programme as WDC-PMKSY 2.0 for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26.  Under WDC-PMKSY 2.0, DoLR has sanctioned 1220 watershed development projects covering an area of 52.95 lakh ha to 28 States and  UTs  of  J&K  and  Ladakh  at  a  total  cost  of  Rs.12972.85  crore  (Central  share:  Rs.8487.96 crore). The cost norms for watershed projects are Rs.22,000/ ha for plain areas, Rs.28,000/ha for hilly / difficult areas and upto Rs.28000/ha for Left Wing Extremism Affected /Integrated Action Plan Districts. So far, Central share of Rs.5152 crore has been released to the States/ UTs.

Under WDC-PMKSY 2.0,  from 2022-23 to 2024-25 about 1.35 lakh water harvesting structures  have  been  created  /  rejuvenated,  an  additional  area  of  about  1.90  lakh  ha  has  been brought  under  protective  irrigation,  6.76  lakh  hectare  of  degraded  /rainfed  area  has  been developed and 13.42 lakh farmers have benefitted.

Further, about 1.18 Lakh SHGs have been formed in the watershed project areas and supported with revolving funds of around Rs.523 crore.

(c) Trainings  on  Natural  Resource  Management  techniques  and  adoption  of  improvised Production Systems are held for watershed communities at regular intervals.

(d) The  Department  of  Land  Resources  in  collaboration  with  the  National  Remote  Sensing Centre (NRSC) has brought out the 'Wasteland Atlas- 2019' with robust geospatial information. The  Atlas  aims  at  articulation  of  the  spatial  change  of  different  wasteland  categories  that happened between 2008-09 and 2015-16 in the country, at 1:50,000 scale.

(e) The  Department  is  promoting  use  of  Geographical  Information  System  (GIS)  &  Remote Sensing  (RS)  technologies  in  planning,  execution  and  monitoring  of  watershed  development projects  under  WDC-PMKSY  2.0.  Further,  Land  Resource Inventerization (LRI) based watershed management is being practiced in selected project areas on pilot basis.

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