The productivity of waste lands is very low and people owning these lands are poor and are forced to earn a living from wage employment. Therefore, waste lands is regarded as a powerful tool and attacking the issues of poverty and backwardness.
Land and water are of critical importance for Agriculture development. Loss of vegetation cover leads to loss of soil through erosion, which ultimately creates wasteland. Vast tracts of the land that are degraded and brought under plough with some effort are known as waste lands.
A Technical Task Group was formed by the Planning Commission and National Wasteland Development Board (NWDB). This group has defined the wastelands as the land which is degraded and is presently lying unutilized except as current follows due to different constraints (CSIR 1990). Depending upon the casual factors the waste lands may be grouped under
Water-erosion
Wind-erosion and
Salinity and Alkalinity
The uncultured wastelands include barren rocky/stony waste areas, steep-sloping areas and snow covered areas.
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