Identify the correct statements about landuse changes in India between 1950-51 to 2014-15.
(A) The rate of increase is the highest in case of area under non-agricultural uses.
(B) The area under net sown category has recorded a sharp decline.
(C) The barren and culturable waste land category registered a decline.
(D) The share of area under forests has declined due to rapid deforestation.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A) and (C) only
Land use means how land is used: for farming, forests, pastures, settlements, roads and so on. The total reporting area stays almost the same, so when one category grows, some other category must shrink.
(A) The rate of increase is the highest in case of area under non-agricultural uses. — Correct. Industry and services are growing, and towns, villages, roads and other facilities keep spreading. All of them need land, so land under non-agricultural uses grew the fastest.
(B) The area under net sown category has recorded a sharp decline. — Incorrect. The net sown area increased. Its share rose from 41.7 per cent of the reporting area in 1950-51 to 45.5 per cent in 2014-15, as culturable waste land was brought under farming.
(C) The barren and culturable waste land category registered a decline. — Correct. As the pressure on land grew from both farming and other uses, barren land and culturable waste land were taken up, so their share fell.
(D) The share of area under forests has declined due to rapid deforestation. — Incorrect. The share of area under forests increased, so it did not decline. The rise came from more land being marked (demarcated) as forest, not from a real rise in forest cover.
Note: This question is taken from an earlier edition of the NCERT book (2023-24), which gives the land-use data from 1950-51 to 2014-15. The latest edition (2026-27) gives newer data (up to 2019-20). Both editions are given below for your benefit.
NCERT (2026-27): “Land-use Changes in India … Five categories have undergone increases, while four have registered declines. Share of area under forest, area under non-agricultural uses, permanent pasture and grazing land, current fallow lands and net area sown have shown an increase. The following observations can be made about these increases: (i) The rate of increase is the highest in case of area under non-agricultural uses. … (ii) The increase in the share under forest, as explained before, can be accounted for by increase in the demarcated area under forest rather than an actual increase in the forest cover in the country.” “The four categories that have registered a decline are barren and wasteland, culturable wasteland, area under tree crops and groves and fallow other than current fallow lands.”
NCERT (2023-24): “Land-use Changes in India … India has undergone major changes within the economy over the past four or five decades, and this has influenced the land-use changes in the country. These changes between 1950–51 and 2014–15 have been shown in Fig. 3.1. … Four categories have undergone increases, while four have registered declines. Share of area under forest, area under non-agricultural uses, current fallow lands and net area sown have shown an increase.” “The four categories that have registered a decline are barren and wasteland, culturable wasteland, area under pastures and tree crops and fallow lands.” |