Land Use in India - Fallow Land, Net & Gross Sown Land, Culturable & Unculturable Land

In India the classification of Land Use has been under several heads which we are going to understand in this article/video -

1. Total Geographical Land Mass of India - 328.73 million hectares.

2. Reported Area which can be used for actual land utilisation - 308 million hectares.

3. Net Sown Area - 142 million hectares which is 46 percent of 308 million hectares.

4. Area occupied by forests - 68.75 million hectares.

5. Breakup of Area which is not under cultivation - (Area under non-agricultural uses - 22.45 million hectares) & (Barren and un-culturable land - 19.09 million hectares)

6. Fallow Lands - (Fallow Land other than Current Fallow 9.89 million hectares) & (Current Fallows 13.33 million hectares)

7. Other Uncultivated Land Excluding Fallow Land - (Permanent pasture and other grazing land 11.04 million hectares) & (Land under misc. Tree Crops and Grooves not included in Net Area Sown 3.57 million hectares) & (Culturable Waste Land 13.94 million hectares)

8. Gross Sown/Cropped Area - 189 million hectares.

9. Net Irrigated Area - 55 million hectares

10. Gross Irrigated Area - 73 million hectares

Understanding the meaning of above breakup - 

# Land put to Non Agriculture Use - Lands occupied by buildings, roads and railways or under water, & other lands put to uses other than agriculture. 

# Barren & Unculturable Land - Land like mountains, deserts, etc. Land which cannot be brought under cultivation except at an exorbitant cost. 

# Permanent Pastures & Other Grazing Lands - all grazing lands whether they are permanent pastures and meadows or not. Village common grazing land is included under this head. 

# Land under Misc tree crops & other groves not included in net area sown - This includes all cultivable land which is not included in ‘Net area sown’ but is put to some agricultural uses. 

# Culturable Waste Land - Lands available for cultivation, whether not taken up for cultivation or taken up for cultivation once but not cultivated during the current year and the last five years or more in succession for one reason or other. The land which has potential for the development of vegetative cover and is not being used due to different constraints of varying degrees, such as erosion, water logging, salinity etc. 

# Unculturable Wasteland - The land that cannot be developed for vegetative cover, for instance the barren rocky areas and snow covered glacier areas.

# Fallow Lands other than Current Fallows - This includes all lands, which were taken up for cultivation but are temporarily out of cultivation for a period of not less than one year and not more than five years. 

# Current Fallows - This represents cropped area, which are kept fallow during the current year.