The Ministry of Environment and Forests established the National Wasteland Development Board (NWDB) in 1985 with the primary goal of putting the nation's wastelands to productive use through a major program of afforestation and tree planting. The National Wasteland Development Board was reorganized in July 1992 and incorporated into the Ministry of Rural Development's newly established Department of Wasteland Development. This article will explain to you about The National Wastelands Development Board (NWDB) which will be helpful in preparing the Environment Syllabus for the UPSC Civil Service exam.

Why Focus on Wastelands?

• The land is the most significant natural resource and the foundation of all human activities.
• However, the unending, constant development of man has seriously harmed our land resource base.
• Additionally, several types of soil erosion, environmental deterioration, and deforestation affect the land.
• The range of estimates for the size of the area affected by land degradation is 38.40 million to 187 million hectares.
• According to the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) of the Department of Space, Hyderabad, wastelands cover 63.85 million hectares or almost 20% of the nation's overall geographic area.
• Thus the development of wastelands is crucial in order to maximize the use of the available land resources and stop future degradation.

NWDB - Background

• India accounts for 16% of the world's population while occupying only 2% of the total geographical area. Naturally, the land is frequently stressed beyond its carrying capacity.
• As a result, productive lands in India, particularly farmlands, are constantly degrading to varying degrees and are rapidly becoming wastelands.
• In India, approximately 68.35 million hectares of land are currently designated as wastelands. Approximately half of these lands are non-forest lands that can be made fertile again if properly treated.
• It was unprotected non-forestlands that suffered the most degradation, owing to tremendous biotic pressure.
• In the last 50 years, India's lush green village forests and woodlots have been extensively deforested.
• NWDB was one of Rajiv Gandhi's top initiatives. In 1985, he made an announcement about creating the National Wastelands Development Board (NWDB) to demonstrate his commitment to the environment.
• Its goal to convert five million hectares of wastelands into green space each year, which, if successful, would cover one-third of India with vegetation by the year 2000.
• The core of his dream was still more in paper than timber even four years later.
• To address this ecological imbalance by developing degraded non-forest wastelands, the Government of India established the Department of Wasteland Development in July 1992 under the Ministry of Rural Development, which was later reorganised and renamed the Department of Land Resources, with a broader mandate.

What is National Wastelands Development Board (NWDB)?

• The National Wasteland Development Board was established in 1985 under the Ministry of Forests and Environment to address the problem of land degradation, ecological restoration, and meeting the growing national demand for fuel wood and fodder.
• The National Wasteland Development Board's strategy for wasteland development during the Seventh Five Year Plan focused more on tree planting activities than on community participation.
• The National Wasteland Development Board was established in 1992 as a new Department under the Ministry of Rural Development (now Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment).
• The Board was reconstituted in August 1992 and was given overall responsibility for the development of wastelands in non-forest areas by involving local people at all stages of development.
• It aims to create a scenario in which the government serves as a facilitator and the people at the ground level are the true implementers of the programme.
• The Integrated Wasteland Development Programme is a major programme implemented to improve the productivity of waste and degraded lands while keeping poverty, backwardness, gender, and equity in mind.

NWDB - Vision & Mission

Vision

• To ensure sustainable improvement in productivity and livelihood / income potential of land, in particular rainfed cultivated areas and culturable wastelands.
• To develop an appropriate integrated land information management system, which will inter alia improve real-time information on land, optimize use of land resources and assist in policy / planning.

Mission

• To ensure sustainable development of rainfed cultivable and degraded lands through a participatory approach by involving the stakeholders in decision making in the watershed development programmes.
  • It makes a concerted effort to enhance the productivity of wastelands thereby enhancing livelihood opportunities in rural areas.
• To put in place effective agrarian reforms, including an efficient land use policy, and a transparent Land Records Management System (LRMS) with the aim of to build an Integrated Land Information Management System (ILIMS).
  • This system of integrated land information management will ultimately yield into security of tenancy to citizen, reduced land disputes, simplified procedure for transfer of properties title, fraudulent free landed properties transactions, etc.

NWDB - Objectives

The major objectives of the National Wastelands Development Board are as follows:

• To prevent good land from becoming a wasteland.
• To enhance the number of trees and other types of green cover on wastelands.
• To create plans and programs for the management and development of the nation's wastelands within the context of the overall national policy.

NWDB - Functions

The functions of the National Wastelands Development Board which is now referred to as the Department of Land Resources are as follows:

• Watershed program implementation for the improvement of rain-fed and degraded areas.
• Helping States to update their management of land records and develop a land information system.
• Assist States in their efforts to implement a conclusive titling system.
• Administration of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013; and matters connected to the acquisition of land for purposes of the Union and Registration Act, 1908; and the right to just compensation and transparency in land acquisition.
• To make it easier for a policy to be adopted on the rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced people.
• Reforms to the land, land tenure, land records, holdings consolidation, and other related issues.

Importance of People’s Participation

• The environment and the community living within it have a close relationship because the community relies on it for sustenance.
• Increased biotic pressure leads to resource over-exploitation and degradation. Inadequate resources also cause internal conflict, which allows others to take advantage of the situation.
• People must understand the inherent relationship between population, poverty, and the degraded environment in which they live.
• Only they can restore the health of the environment that has been ruined; outside actors can only help but never replace stakeholders.
• As a result, there can be no sustainable natural resource management unless all residents of affected areas participate actively in developing and implementing development plans.
• It is critical to integrate indigenous technologies into development. The knowledge of rural people and technological advancements complement each other's strengths and weaknesses.
• They may be able to accomplish what neither could do alone. Low-cost locally available technology combined with appropriate intervention from latest advancements yields the best solution.
• The treatment of land in a haphazard manner will not result in wasteland development. Land treatment alone is insufficient. As a result, the best strategy would be to treat the land by empowering the people who live on it.
• Participation by the public also ensures the conservation and development of Common Property Resources.
• Furthermore, when people decide what they need to do, their stake in development becomes more pronounced, leading to their participation. This participation in decision making is the key to success and long-term development.

Integrated Wastelands Development Project (IWDP) Scheme

• This scheme has been in place since 1989-90, and it was brought to this Department by the National Wastelands Development Board. This Scheme focuses on the development of non-forest wastelands.
• The scheme calls for the holistic development of an entire micro watershed rather than piecemeal treatment in sporadic patches. The scheme's focus remains on the development of wastelands.
• The primary goal of this scheme is to develop integrated wastelands based on village/micro watershed plans. These plans are created after considering the land's capability, the site's condition, and the people's local needs.
• The scheme also aims to improve the content of people's participation in wastelands development programmes at all stages, which is accomplished by providing modalities for equitable and sustainable sharing of benefits and usufructs arising from such projects.

Categories of Wasteland in India

National Wasteland Atlas

• The "Wastelands Atlas of India," was first published in 2000 by the National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad.
• This was done with funding from the Department of Land Resources and the Ministry of Rural Development, features maps at a scale of 1:50000, and offers district-level estimates of the various types of wastelands in the nation.
• The maps also include the boundaries of the micro-watersheds.
• As a result, a reliable estimate of the size of the nation's wastelands has now been produced on a thoroughly scientific basis.
• The Union Ministry for Rural Development, Agriculture, Farmers Welfare, and Panchayati Raj is now released by the National Wasteland Atlas.

Conclusion

The management of degraded land is thus a complicated, multifaceted issue that calls for an inventive, all-encompassing, and scientific solution. Whether such land is truly a waste or if it can be improved to make it viable for farming once again is the need of the hour.