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Sub Topic- LAND RESOURCES
1. Land is the basic natural resource on which all other resources exist.
a. India’s total land area: 3.28 million sq.km.
i. Plains:43%
ii. Mountains:30%
iii. Plateaus:27%
2. Land is an asset of a finite magnitude
About 43 per cent of the land area is plain, which provides facilities for agriculture and
industry.
Mountains account for 30 per cent of the total surface area of the country and ensure
perennial flow of some rivers, provide facilities for tourism and ecological aspects.
About 27 per cent of the area of the country is the plateau region. It possesses rich
reserves of minerals, fossil fuels and forests.
LAND UTILISATION
Land resources are used for the following purposes:
1. Forests
2. Land not available for cultivation
(a) Barren and waste land
(b) Land put to non-agricultural uses, e.g. buildings, roads, factories, etc.
3. Other uncultivated land (excluding fallow land)
(a) Permanent pastures and grazing land,
(b) Land under miscellaneous tree crops groves (not included in net sown area),
(c) Cultruable waste land (left uncultivated for more than 5 agricultural years).
4. Fallow lands
(a) Current fallow-(left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year),
(b) Other than current fallow-(left uncultivated for the past 1 to 5 agricultural years).
5. Net sown area Area
Sown more than once in an agricultural year plus net sown area is known as gross cropped
area.