Analyze the major drivers of human-induced land-use changes in India and their geographical consequences.
15 marks · answer in 250 words · directive: Analyze
The core of a good answer
Population growth, agricultural expansion and intensification, urbanisation, infrastructure, mining and industrial projects are the main human drivers of land-use change in India, and they show up as forest and wetland loss, land degradation, altered hydrology, urban heat and greater disaster exposure, especially in fragile Himalayan and Western Ghats landscapes.
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What the question asks
Analyze asks you to separate the drivers, explain how each changes land use, and connect each to geographical consequences on soils, water, climate, biodiversity and hazards. Support with Indian data and recent cases.
Answer outline
Introduction
Land use in India is under heavy pressure because a large share of the world's population lives on a small share of its land; satellite atlases show that nearly 30 per cent of the country's geographical area was undergoing land degradation in 2018 to 19.
Drivers
- Agriculture: expansion into marginal lands, monocropping, over-irrigation and excessive fertiliser use.
- Urbanisation: urban population was 31.16 per cent in Census 2011, and cities spread over farmland, wetlands and floodplains.
- Infrastructure: highways, dams, rail corridors and hill roads fragment forests and slopes.
- Mining and industry: open-cast coal and iron ore mining in Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh clear forest and topsoil.
- Shifting cultivation with shortened fallow cycles in the North-East.
Consequences for land and soil
- Desertification and land degradation over about 97.85 million ha in 2018 to 19 (ISRO SAC Atlas, 2021).
- Soil erosion, salinisation and waterlogging in canal-irrigated areas.
Consequences for water, climate and ecology
- Falling groundwater tables and loss of wetlands and lakes increase urban flooding.
- Urban heat islands raise local temperatures.
- Habitat fragmentation raises human-wildlife conflict.
- Forest and tree cover was 25.17 per cent of geographical area in ISFR 2023.
Hazards in fragile regions
- Land subsidence at Joshimath, Uttarakhand, a town on a ridge, reported in January 2023.
- Landslides in Wayanad, Kerala, on 30 July 2024; studies cited deforestation for tea plantations and changing land use as contributing factors.
Responses
- Target to restore 26 million ha of degraded land by 2030.
- Compensatory afforestation, watershed development and land-use planning.
Conclusion
Land-use change is the point where economic growth meets ecological limits; scientific land-use planning, protection of commons and restoration are needed so that development does not erode the land base it depends on.
Examples and data to cite
- Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India (ISRO SAC, released 17 June 2021): about 97.85 million ha degraded in 2018 to 19.
- India State of Forest Report 2023 (released 21 December 2024): forest and tree cover 8,27,357 sq km, 25.17 per cent of geographical area; forest cover 21.76 per cent.
- Joshimath land subsidence, reported January 2023.
- Wayanad landslides, 30 July 2024.
- Land degradation neutrality target: restore 26 million ha by 2030.
Facts to remember
- India's geographical area is about 328.7 million ha, so 97.85 million ha is nearly 30 per cent.
- Census 2011 urban share: 31.16 per cent.
- ISFR 2023: forest and tree cover rose by 1,445 sq km over 2021.
- Main human drivers: agriculture, urbanisation, infrastructure, mining and industry.
Where it sits in the syllabus
- GS1: Resources and industrial location
Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).
- GS1: Geophysical phenomena and changes
Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location: changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.