Not wasted
Acquiring wasteland for sezs has been touted as an acceptable compromise, but it begs several questions. Though wastelands seem to be in high demand, be it for jatropha plantations to get biodiesel (Planning Commission target is 11 million ha), or for plantations for the paper and pulp industry (the Confederation of Indian Industries has a target of 36 million ha) or, now, for sezs, identifying which tract of land is waste is problematic.
Land classification in India is complex: compartmentalising land into the categories waste and agricultural is not as easy as the commerce ministry imagines. Both these classifications have numerous layers within them. Wastelands, for example, can be land with scrub, grazing land, pasture, land on which shifting cultivation is carried out or even agricultural land locked within a notified forest (India has 55.2 million ha of wastelands).
And, of course, there is the issue of people
Related Content
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding discharge of household sewage through drains in the pond at village Kharkhada, district Rewari, Haryana, 03/05/2024
- Climate watch country greenhouse gas emissions data and methodology
- Reducing post-harvest losses in India: farmer-level interventions and grain management strategies
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding encroachment of three ponds in Darbhanga, Bihar, 30/04/2024
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding protection of Laxmi Tal, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, 30/04/2024
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding Buckingham Canal pollution, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 30/04/2024