Abstract

Management of natural resources particularly land and water are very essential for sustainable development of living being on the earth. The challenge to provide food security to our country?s increasing population is a big task. The stretches of land lying waste, which can be brought under use with reasonable efforts, merit urgent attention in the state. It has been rightly pointed out that these lands are not ?waste? lands but ?wasted? lands. To convert the wastelands to cultivable land, it is necessary to estimate and monitor the area under wastelands. IRS-IC/ID LISS-III digital data of three seasons i.e. Kharif, Rabi and Zaid for the years 2005-06 and 2008-09 was used. Change analysis matrix shows that the wasteland was 141.80 sq. km. in 2005-06 which decreased to 130.68 in 2008-09. It was found that land with open scrub in the district is 99.06 sq.km. followed by degraded pasture other classes like waterlogged, mining area etc. were also observed.

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