Shrinking agricultural land on account of construction of residential settlements: Its impacts and remedies

Shafeeq Malik

Cultivable land in the country has marginally declined but the trend of increasing agricultural production is still expected to continue. Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, the then Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that cultivable land in the country has marginally declined from 182.7 million hectares in 2005-06 to 182 million in 2012-13 which fell further to 17.65 hectares in 2022-23.Whereas the population graph of India has reached to 139.34 crores (2021) which was 107.50 crores in 2001 whereas it was 125.03 crores in 2011. If the rate of decline remains same; within a short period of time, we will lose a considerable stretch of the agricultural land and shall have to strive hard for finding the alternate land and shall have to do a lot of work to make it fit for agriculture. It will have disastrous impact on economy of the country and shall have reciprocal consequences on account of the fast-growing population. The decline in agricultural land is the resultant of the human activity which is considered as an interference in the natural ecosystem. It involves construction of roads and railways, construction of buildings for urbanisation and housing, establishment of the industries,ports and airports etc to keep the development abreast with the global standards. In changing world with such a pace; infrastructure is required for comprehensive development of the country which involves numerous projects completion; it becomes unavoidable to use the agricultural land. It is therefore inevitable to be kept in mind that the roads and railwayscannot be avoided to pass through the land of agricultural importance as they provide connectivity to the produce, human resource and the infrastructure used for storage or processing units, equally. The airports (being the huge infrastructural units)too cannot be constructed without using the agricultural land but the other factors which include construction of buildings for urbanisation & housing and establishment of the industries may be kept on a check especially in hilly areas where the agricultural land is not abundantly available. For such constructions areas falling in and around the stretches of non-agricultural land may be taken into consideration and planned clustered settlements may be allowed to flourish. In this regard architectural endeavours are highly recommended to keep the structures raised for the purpose at par with international standards that fulfil all the basic amenities as we are living in 21st century. The villages and hamlets in far flung countryside too deserve development on such pattern that satisfies architectural fundamentals. It is observed that in the hilly areas the agricultural land is already under threat as the construction of houses to live in is indiscriminate and is going on a very high pace which has destroyed the agricultural land drastically whereas a huge area of barren land is kept untouched, unnoticed and unattended.In recent past, with mushrooming of the small towns, the unplanned housing colonies (which can be rightly said as concrete slums) have come up in such areas which were considered as the grain bowls. It is reciprocal to the increasing population which is destroying the natural balance of demand and supply of the grains. Thanks to the green revolution which increased the produce per hectare many folds otherwise it would be difficult to cope with the situation arising out of the declining agricultural land on account of such constructions. Green revolutions do not happen time and again!
In order to keep a check on further decline of the agricultural land and minimise its impact the remedial measures are to be taken as soon as possible. Some of the measures that can be taken may be listed as under;

1. Identifying the barren/non-agricultural land for construction of Housing colonies:-Appropriate and suitable land (the land which is not in agricultural use) for construction of the housing colonies and settlements may be established with all basic facilities that could satisfy the demand of modern life.
2. Construction of the Housing colonies: – The housing colonies are to be constructed on such pieces of land which are not productive by agricultural point of view and all the basic facilities including approach roads and connecting roads etc may be provided to give an opulent connectivity to the area with outside world. It may include providing flawless power supply, water supply and sewerage treatment to the inhabitants of the so-called advanced level colonies.
3. Provision of advanced facilities: – The provision of advanced facilities may be warranted so that resources may be utilised efficiently. To encourage the people to live in such housing colonies the advanced level assistance may be ensured to the inhabitants of the colonies and they may be given preference in all the fields of life. It may also be helpful in discouragement of the sporadic construction of the residential houses. To add to it the advanced level facilities may include sufficient provision of the education system that include establishment of the learning centres for contemporary education or technical education, sports facilities and any other such centres that may enhance the overall capacity of the people.
4. Concentrated Hamlets: -In remote areas the concept of concentrated hamlets may work hence the residential areas may be developed by allowing the construction of the houses at a well-defined place and the facilities may be provided accordingly. The public may be provided with the satellite connection of the net services, e-libraries, solar power, indoor sports facilities, distance education etc.Though it seems to be unrealistic for a huge country like ours (India) but it has to be started as soon as possible to set a precedence so that the facility for the future generations may be established. To start with a pilot project for some selected areas at first instance may be kick started on war footings. It has to be taken into account on the pattern of MGNREGA and PMGSY etc which proved to be a huge success and lifted both India’s economy and her face. Such programs will not only help in retention of human resources at the hamlet level but will also stop brain drain.
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