Abstract

Today no nation can sit in comfort and afford to neglect the gravity of environmental problems which threaten the very survival of life on earth. India is no exception to the global phenomenon of environmental degradation. It shares, with the poorer seventy percent of the world, the painful results of the deterioration of its natural resources and the dilemmas in trying to halt this deterioration. It may be mentioned that the wasteland management of the drought striken Purulia district of West Bengal in India is not an easy task which requires high degree of technical input. The degradation of land and soil erosion causing vegetation loss have brought about such a stage, from where regeneration will take sufficient time. In some places, physiography plays obstruction for managing wasteland up to a mark. Communication system is not well developed throughout the district, so in the remote areas, wasteland management is difficult because of poor communication. Sankamarayan (1988) suggested agroforestry as means of reclaiming wastelands, which would further protect the land from degradation. Wastelands in terms of animal husbandry may provide sustenance to many animals by fodder cultivation. This condition holds true in Rajasthan, where a meagre unfit land may be sufficient to feed domestic livestock Singh S.N. (1969). The success of wasteland reclamation is based on micro-level planning with a clear understanding of topography, soil type, erosion, rainfall distribution and socio-economic conditions of local community (Hegde, 1993). Bhavani et al., (1996) concluded that the nutrient value of land and socio-economic aspects of farmer were the two major problems of wastelands in Tamil Nadu. This stressed the importance of economic conditions of farmers as an important input in the wasteland analysis. An inter-relationship among agriculture, forest and wasteland was explained by Shah (1995) and few of wasteland reclamation activities by growing salt-tolerant species were suggested by Rai (1999). Sen A.K. (1972), stressed on the importance of water and watershed management to wasteland development activities. They stated the utility of considering rainfall distribution, water level variations, soil condition and socio-economic condition of local community as factors in wasteland developmental activities. Nagarathinam (1997) explained the usefulness of remote sensing and GIS based approach to assess land potential for wasteland development at village level in a study conducted around Kalluthu village, Usilampatti Block of Tamil Nadu, India. Vijay and Pradeep Kumar (2001) integrated various thematic layers such as lithology, landforms, soil, groundwater level, rainfall and slope to understand their influences on wastelands and also explained the utility of remote sensing and GIS techniques for reclaiming them. The review helped to understand the utility of remote sensing in delineating various parameters such as landforms, lithology, soil and land use. It also emphasized the significance of integrating remote sensing and GIS in natural resources and could be well utilized in the study of wasteland. Such an integrated approach may help to understand and to identify problems pertaining to wastelands and ways for reclaiming them in the study area. For this purpose, a description on the terrain condition, landform, climate, land use and socio-economic condition of the local community are given in the following chapter.

Description

Today no nation can sit in comfort and afford to neglect the gravity of environmental problems which threaten the very survival of life on earth. India is no exception to the global phenomenon of environmental degradation. It shares, with the poorer seventy percent of the world, the painful results of the deterioration of its natural resources and the dilemmas in trying to halt this deterioration. It may be mentioned that the wasteland management of the drought striken Purulia district of West Bengal in India is not an easy task which requires high degree of technical input. The degradation of land and soil erosion causing vegetation loss have brought about such a stage, from where regeneration will take sufficient time. In some places, physiography plays obstruction for managing wasteland up to a mark. Communication system is not well developed throughout the district, so in the remote areas, wasteland management is difficult because of poor communication. Sankamarayan (1988) suggested agroforestry as means of reclaiming wastelands, which would further protect the land from degradation. Wastelands in terms of animal husbandry may provide sustenance to many animals by fodder cultivation. This condition holds true in Rajasthan, where a meagre unfit land may be sufficient to feed domestic livestock Singh S.N. (1969). The success of wasteland reclamation is based on micro-level planning with a clear understanding of topography, soil type, erosion, rainfall distribution and socio-economic conditions of local community (Hegde, 1993). Bhavani et al., (1996) concluded that the nutrient value of land and socio-economic aspects of farmer were the two major problems of wastelands in Tamil Nadu. This stressed the importance of economic conditions of farmers as an important input in the wasteland analysis. An inter-relationship among agriculture, forest and wasteland was explained by Shah (1995) and few of wasteland reclamation activities by growing salt-tolerant species were suggested by Rai (1999). Sen A.K. (1972), stressed on the importance of water and watershed management to wasteland development activities. They stated the utility of considering rainfall distribution, water level variations, soil condition and socio-economic condition of local community as factors in wasteland developmental activities. Nagarathinam (1997) explained the usefulness of remote sensing and GIS based approach to assess land potential for wasteland development at village level in a study conducted around Kalluthu village, Usilampatti Block of Tamil Nadu, India. Vijay and Pradeep Kumar (2001) integrated various thematic layers such as lithology, landforms, soil, groundwater level, rainfall and slope to understand their influences on wastelands and also explained the utility of remote sensing and GIS techniques for reclaiming them. The review helped to understand the utility of remote sensing in delineating various parameters such as landforms, lithology, soil and land use. It also emphasized the significance of integrating remote sensing and GIS in natural resources and could be well utilized in the study of wasteland. Such an integrated approach may help to understand and to identify problems pertaining to wastelands and ways for reclaiming them in the study area. For this purpose, a description on the terrain condition, landform, climate, land use and socio-economic condition of the local community are given in the following chapter.