Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, National 
Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Department of Space carried 
out the nation-wide wasteland mapping which contain details 
on different type of wastelands, down the line at the district and 
even to village levels (Wasteland Maps of India, Ministry of 
Rural Development, Government of India, 2000). In addition to 
village boundaries, micro-watershed boundaries have also been 
integrated in the wasteland maps. 
Presently, these maps, serving as primary input in planning 
reclamation measures, micro-level inventory and monitoring of 
the wastelands reclamation measures, are being used by 
Department of Land Resources of Ministry of Rural 
Development, State Forest and Agriculture Departments, 
District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs), NGOs etc for 
various institutional interventions aimed at poverty alleviation. 
For example, wasteland maps provide valuable inputs to the 
Integrated Wastelands Development Project IWDP), which has 
been under implementation since 1989-90. The scheme is being 
implemented on watershed basis, and is focused on 
employment generation in rural areas besides enhancing 
people’s participation in the wasteland development 
programme. Similarly, there are other rural development 
programmes: Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), Desert 
Development Programme (DDP), besides formulating land 
reforms policies, which will be supported by village level 
wastelands information. With the current emphasis on creating 
digital environment to enable e-governance especially in a 
sector like rural poverty alleviation, digital archives of village 
level wastelands is of great significance to harness the benefits 
of ICTs at grassroots levels. 
3.0 INCIDENCE OF POVERTY, FOOD INSECURITY & 
WASTELANDS- NEED FOR DISAGGREGATED 
POVERTY MAPPING 
In the simplest thinking, one could argue, ceteris paribus, that 
poor individuals, in their search for food, would convert forests 
to farms, grow food on steep slopes and degrade marginal 
farmlands. The derivative of Wasteland map generated by 
NRSA, areas showing marginal agricultural lands which are 
comparable to spatially broad level incidence of poverty map at 
State level, has also captured this (Figure-1). 
WASTELAND ~ INCIDENCE OF POVERTY LINKAGES 
B2 CATEGORY WASTELANDS POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LINE 
(GOVT. AS CATALYST) 
    
At 
x $9 
ME Districts having more than 30% 
WEE Districts having 5% to 30% 
Figure 1.0: Marginal lands (Source: NRSA) and incidence of 
poverty (Source: Food Insecurity Atlas of Rural India) 
In poor economies the pressure of population would force 
agriculture on to more and more marginal lands, permanently 
impairing nature’s regeneration capabilities, this argument 
IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002 
would lead one to conclude. Finite natural resources would thus 
face increasing problems of negative externalities, and 
ecological systems would be irreversibly degraded in their 
physical capabilities. To examine this simplistic assumption, 
wasteland maps provide valuable insights. Wastelands at state 
levels are listed along with other poverty and other socio- 
economic indicators in Table 1.0. 
Despite more than 70 per cent population in the rural India 
dependent on natural resources, the relationship between 
wasteland and poverty is seen to be very complex (Figure 2). In 
fact, at state level, the occurrence of wastelands does not seem 
to be connected with incidence of poverty. 
o Bihar, for example, is characterized by just 6 % 
wastelands with 57% population below poverty line. 
o Jharkhand, with 19% wastelands, has got more than. 
60% population below poverty line. 
o Uttar Pradesh has 9% wastelands with more than 44% 
population below poverty line. 
o Similarly, West Bengal with just over 6 % 
wastelands has got more than 40 % population below 
poverty line. 
There is another set of states wherein the incidences of poverty 
as well as wastelands both are equally high. 
o  Forexample, Assam with more than 25 96 wastelands 
has got more than 45 96 population 
O below poverty liné. 
Oo Similarly, Rajasthan is characterized by more than 30 
% wastelands and 26 % incidence of 
poverty. 
o On the other hand, there are States like Punjab with 
just 4% wastelands and 11% population below 
poverty line, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, 
Kerala, Gujarat etc. 
  
  
70 + 
e 
Be BO Bihar + 
> + 
2 50 4 + Assam 
$ . e R? = 0.0167 
+ 
= 40 + 
o * Maharastra 
o e 
= 304 u. > € * Rajasthan 
= 204 + 
2 * Andhra Pradesh 
a e 
o 10 4 
a 
x 
0 v" " "v Lu 
0 10 20 30 40 
% Waste land 
Figure 2.0 Wastelands & Incidence of Poverty linkages at State 
level 
  
   
Incidence of Poverty (% poor) 
sch N e d Gi o =} 
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