JAIPUR: Wastelands in Rajasthan has reduced by around 8% in the last one-and-half decade. Officials of the watershed department of the state government had claimed that from 30% in 2008-09 at present there would around 22% wastelands in the state.
Officials stated, the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) – one of the primary centres of Indian Space Research Organization – updates the figures related to wastelands in all states and union territories of India at a certain interval.
In 2008-09 when watershed programmes were started in Rajasthan there were 30% of wastelands as per data released by NRSA.
In 2015-16 NRSA had updated the data and in those seven years west land in Rajasthan got reduced by 4803.56 sq.km, which is around 4%.
“At present we feel that in the last seven years wastelands in Rajasthan has reduced by another 4%. It means, at present, the state has only 22% of wastelands. We are waiting for the next update of NRSA, which is expected in this year,” Sushila Yadav, the joint director of Watershed and Development and Soil Conservation Department, told TOI.
The department implements several interventions to improve the livelihood of villages across the state.
It includes, water harvesting, afforestation, horticulture, farming related activities like vermicomposting or crop and fodder demonstration and livestock related activities like improving feeders and breeds of the livestock.
“Out of these projects the water harvesting projects had contributed majorly in reducing the size of wastelands in the state. 20% of wastelands got reduced in areas where we had implemented the water harvesting projects successfully,” added Yadav.
Officials said, in the last 15 years Rajasthan is one of leading states in the country to reduce the area of its wastelands to a great extent.
This was successfully because of the convergence in projects by different departments of the state. Besides the Watershed Department, Panchayati Raj Department, Rural Development Department, Ground Water Department, Horticulture Department, Forest Department, Agriculture Department and Water Resources Department jointly contributed to the integrated watershed management project.
“Under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi SInchai Yojna 1.0 and the Rajiv Gandhi Jal Sanchay Yojna of the state government we had implemented 820 projects from 2009 to 2022, treating around 46 lakhs hectares of land in the state. Such projects had helped to reduce the wastelands of Rajasthan – a state which has barely 1.16% of water resources in the whole country,” Yadav signed off.
Officials stated, the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) – one of the primary centres of Indian Space Research Organization – updates the figures related to wastelands in all states and union territories of India at a certain interval.
In 2008-09 when watershed programmes were started in Rajasthan there were 30% of wastelands as per data released by NRSA.
In 2015-16 NRSA had updated the data and in those seven years west land in Rajasthan got reduced by 4803.56 sq.km, which is around 4%.
“At present we feel that in the last seven years wastelands in Rajasthan has reduced by another 4%. It means, at present, the state has only 22% of wastelands. We are waiting for the next update of NRSA, which is expected in this year,” Sushila Yadav, the joint director of Watershed and Development and Soil Conservation Department, told TOI.
The department implements several interventions to improve the livelihood of villages across the state.
It includes, water harvesting, afforestation, horticulture, farming related activities like vermicomposting or crop and fodder demonstration and livestock related activities like improving feeders and breeds of the livestock.
“Out of these projects the water harvesting projects had contributed majorly in reducing the size of wastelands in the state. 20% of wastelands got reduced in areas where we had implemented the water harvesting projects successfully,” added Yadav.
Officials said, in the last 15 years Rajasthan is one of leading states in the country to reduce the area of its wastelands to a great extent.
This was successfully because of the convergence in projects by different departments of the state. Besides the Watershed Department, Panchayati Raj Department, Rural Development Department, Ground Water Department, Horticulture Department, Forest Department, Agriculture Department and Water Resources Department jointly contributed to the integrated watershed management project.
“Under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi SInchai Yojna 1.0 and the Rajiv Gandhi Jal Sanchay Yojna of the state government we had implemented 820 projects from 2009 to 2022, treating around 46 lakhs hectares of land in the state. Such projects had helped to reduce the wastelands of Rajasthan – a state which has barely 1.16% of water resources in the whole country,” Yadav signed off.
