Wastelands refer to degraded lands that are currently underutilized, and are deteriorating for lack of appropriate soil & water management or on account of natural causes. Wastelands develop naturally or due to influence of environment, chemical and physical properties of the soil or management constraints. The classification scheme adopted for monitoring of wasteland on 1:50,000 scale. On the other hand, the Wasteland Development Board and some other institutions have considered all those categories of land as wastelands which are not under the use of forest pasture and cultivation. From the utilization point of view, wastelands are classified as forest wasteland and non-forest wasteland, cultivated wasteland and non-cultivated wasteland . In the wasteland classification scheme followed by Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development and National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organization, Department of Space, Govt. of India during 2003 for Wastelands Atlas of India 2005, 28 categories of wastelands were identified which have been now brought down to 23 categories in the wasteland classification scheme followed in 2006 for the preparation of Wastelands Atlas of India 2010. Following thirteen categories of lands were classified under wastelands in India. Gullied and/or ravenous land Upland with or without scrub. Water logged and marshy land. Land affected by salinity/alkalinity-coastal /inland. Shifting cultivation area. Underutilized /degraded notified forest land. Degraded pastures/grazing land. Sands-deserted/coastal Mining-industrial wastelands. Barren rocky/stony waste/ sheet rocky area. Steep sloping areas. Snow covered land/or glacial area. Degraded land under plantation crops

1. SUBMITTED BY:-
Hanamant Savalagi

2. INTRODUCTION
 Wastelands refer to degraded lands that are currently
underutilized, and are deteriorating for lack of appropriate
soil & water management or on account of natural causes.
 Wastelands develop naturally or due to influence of
environment, chemical and physical properties of the soil or
management constraints.
 The classification scheme adopted for monitoring of
wasteland on 1:50,000 scale.

3.  On the other hand, the Wasteland Development Board and
some other institutions have considered all those categories of
land as wastelands which are not under the use of forest
pasture and cultivation.
 From the utilization point of view, wastelands are classified
as forest wasteland and non-forest wasteland, cultivated
wasteland and non-cultivated wasteland .
 In the wasteland classification scheme followed by
Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural
Development and National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian
Space Research Organization, Department of Space, Govt. of
India during 2003 for Wastelands Atlas of India 2005, 28
categories of wastelands were identified which have been
now brought down to 23 categories in the wasteland
classification scheme followed in 2006 for the preparation of
Wastelands Atlas of India 2010.

4. Causes of Wasteland Formation
 Deforestation
 Over-cultivation
 Over grazing
 Unskilled irrigation
 Improper developmental activities such as
dumping of wastes, mine wastes

5.  Gullied and/or ravenous land
 Upland with or without scrub.
 Water logged and marshy land.
 Land affected by salinity/alkalinity-coastal /inland.
 Shifting cultivation area.
 Underutilized /degraded notified forest land.
 Degraded pastures/grazing land.
 Sands-deserted/coastal
 Mining-industrial wastelands.
 Barren rocky/stony waste/ sheet rocky area.
 Steep sloping areas.
 Snow covered land/or glacial area.
 Degraded land under plantation crops.
Following thirteen categories of lands were classified
under wastelands in India.

9. 1) Gullied or Ravinous Land
 Gully is a narrow channel
when surface water flow
increases in response to
clearing and excessive use of
land.
 Other factors that play a role in
gully initiation are the type of
landscape, geology, rainfall,
soil texture,hill-slope length
and seasonal climatic
extremes.
 The intricate network of
gullies is referred to as ravines.
 Two categories of ravines viz.,
1. Medium ravines
2. Deep ravines

10. Medium Ravines: These are
the ravines with a depth of
gullies ranging between 2.5
and 5 meters. Generally, these
are seen confined to the head
region of the stream close to
agricultural land.
Deep Ravines: The depth of
ravines is more than 5 meters.
Deep ravines, generally, occur
along the higher order stream
areas that are close to the main
river.

11. Management
 There arises the need to prevent erosion by easing of slopes of
gullies and by checking the surface flow.
 Therefore, the ravines should be put under an afforestation and
horticultural programme to stabilise the present rate of erosion.
 The gullies need to be plugged by using locally available rock
structure.
 Soil conservation measures such as contour furrowing, check
damming, gully plugging, etc. could be used for the management
of ravines.
 Diverting the run-off water from active gully is important to arrest
their expansion.

12. 2) Scrub-land
 This is the land, which is
generally prone to
deterioration due to erosion.
 Based on the presence of
vegetation cover, two sub-
classes could be delineated
i.e., land with dense scrub and
land with open scrub.

13. Land with dense scrub
 These areas have shallow
and skeletal soils, at times
chemically degraded,
extremes of slopes, severely
eroded and are subjected to
excessive aridity with scrubs
dominating the landscape.
Land with open scrub
 This category is same as
mentioned in the earlier
category except that it has
sparse vegetative cover or is
devoid of scrub and has a
thin soil covers.

14. Management
 Scrub lands which have been occupying undulating
upland having flat top could be converted into a potential
woodland by planting some perennial species.
 The scrub lands could be used as a protective cover to
check excessive erosion.
 For such maintenance there will be involvement of a
small amount of capital.

15. 3) Waterlogged / Marshy Land
Waterlogged land is that
low lying land where the
water is at/or near the
surface and the water
stands for most part of the
year.
Depending on duration of
waterlogging, two sub-
classes viz.,
1. Permanently waterlogged
2. Seasonally waterlogged

16. Permanent: Permanently waterlogged
areas are those where the waterlogging
conditions prevail during most part of
the year.
These areas are mostly located in low-
lying areas, with impervious substratum
along the canals/ river banks, coastal
inlands, etc.
Seasonal: Seasonally waterlogged
areas are those where the waterlogging
condition prevails usually during the
monsoon period.
These lands are mostly located in plain
areas associated with the drainage
congestion.

17. Management
 Draining of excess water, reducing salinity.
 Proper soil working, changing the schedule of planting
operations and selection of suitable species for afforestation.
 Planting trees on ridges may also minimize adverse effects of
waterlogging.
 Afforestation of these areas may be of considerable economic
importance.
 These lands can also be utilized for growing grasses like Para,
Dallis, Napier and Guinea.
 Marshy area has enormous potentiality to effectively utilize for
the economic benefits of villagers by converting these into
profitable fish tanks.

18. 4) Land affected by salinity/alkalinity
 Land affected by salinity/alkalinity have excess soluble salts (saline)
or high exchangeable sodium.
 Salinity is caused due to capillary movement of water, during
extreme weather conditions leaving salt encrustation on the surface.
 Alkali soils have exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) values of
15 or more.
 The predominant salts in alkali soils are carbonates and bicarbonates
of sodium.
 The following two subclasses viz.,
1. moderately saline / alkali
2. strongly saline / alkali areas

19. Moderately Saline/Alkali land :
These are the areas located in the
alluvial plains with the degree of
salinity
EC =8 to 30 (dS/m),
pH =9.0 – 9.8
ESP= 15 – 40.
Strongly Saline/Alkali land : These
are the salt-affected lands with
EC = >30 dS/m,
pH = 9.8 and
ESP = >40.

20. 5) Shifting Cultivation Areas
Shifting cultivation is a traditional practice of growing crops
on forested/ vegetated hill-slope by the slash and burn method.

21. Management
 There is very much urgent to initiate an educative
workshop for the villagers.
 The peoples are required to make aware about the
defective system of their land tenurial system.
 The very important thing to eradicate the shifting
cultivation practice lies in making alternative
arrangement for their living.
 Cultivators should be motivated to adopt scientific
method o f agricultural practice to check the present rate
of degradation.

22. 6) Scrub Forest
Two sub-classes viz.,
1. scrub dominated
degraded forest
land
2. Agriculture land
inside notified
forest area

24. 7) Degraded pastures
These are the lands in non-forest areas that are either under
permanent pastures or meadows, which have degraded due to
lack of proper soil and water conservation and drainage
development measures.

25. Management
 A strategy o f improving pastures is by reseeding and
allowing time for regeneration.
 Planting new fodder/forage crops etc.
 It is also necessary to motivate and demonstrate to the
farmers regarding the usefulness and economic
advantages of stall feeding viz-a-viz open grazing.

26. 8) Degraded land under plantation crop
These are the degraded lands that have been brought under
plantation crops after reclamation, and are located outside the
notified forest areas.

27. 9) Sand (coastal / desert / riverine)
This category refers to land with accumulation of sand, in
coastal, riverin or inland areas. Generally, these lands
vary in size, occur in various shapes with contiguous to
linear pattern.
These lands are mostly found in deserts, riverbeds and
along the shores.

28. 10) Coastal sand
Coastal sands are the
sands that are
accumulated as a strip
along the seacoast due
to action of seawater.
These are not being
used for any purpose
like recreation.

29. 11) Desertic sand
Desertic sands are those
confined to arid
environment where the
rainfall is scanty.
These have developed
as a result of
transportation of soil
through Aeolian
processes.

30. CHOICE OF SPECIES
a) GRASSES :
1. Saccharum spontaneum ,
2. S. mungi
3. Cenchrus ciliaris
b) SHRUBS :
1. Calotropis procera,
2. Dodonia viscoa
3. Cassia auriculata
c) TREES:
1. Acacia arabica ,
2. Prosopis spicigera
3. Prosopis juliflora ,
4. Dalbergia sisoo ,
5. Tamarind auriculata,
6. Eucalyptus spp.

31. 12) Riverine sand
Riverine sands are those
that are accumulated in
the flood plain of the
river as sheets, or sand
bars.
Deposits by wind action
leading to long stretches
of sand dunes or sand
cover areas noticed in
Indo-Gangetic alluvial
plains.

32. 13) Mining /Industrial wastelands
 Mine dumps: are those lands
where waste debris is
accumulated after extraction
of minerals, surface and sub-
surface) by manual and
mechanized operations.
 Large scale quarrying and
mechanical operations result
in creation of mine dumps.
 It includes surface rocks and
stone quarries, sand and
gravel pits, soil excavation
for brick kilns, etc

33. Industrial: These are
areas of stockpile of
storage dump of
industrial raw material
or slag/effluents or
waste material or
quarried/mixed debris
from earth’s surface.

34. 14) Barren Rocky Area
These are rock exposures of varying lithology often
barren and devoid of soil and vegetative cover.
Barren rocky areas occur on steep isolated hillocks/hill
slopes, crests, plateau and eroded plains associated
with barren and exposed rocky/stony wastes, lateritic
out-crops, mining and quarrying sites.
The category also includes steep sloping areas devoid
of vegetation cover that were classified separately in
the earlier exercise.

35. 15) Snow Covered and / or Glacial Area
These lands are under
perpetual snow cover
and are confined to
the Himalayan region.
The mountain peaks
and slopes and high
relief areas are the
places where
snow/glacial areas
occurs.

38. Thank you!