Article and Image courtesy: Down To Earth
Author: Moyna
Rural development ministry suggests land reservation for agriculture.
Source: Chaitanya Chandan
AMID countrywide agitations over land acquisition and growing food security concerns, the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj is considering reserving land for agriculture. The ministry has suggested a bill that would make it mandatory for all states to declare the most fertile land (or category I agricultural land) as reserved agricultural zone, which cannot be diverted for any other use.
The reserved zone would not exceed 40 to 50 per cent of the existing net sown area and include multi-cropped land. The remaining agricultural land, which could also include category I land, would be sub-categorized for grazing, rural housing and agro-based activities. “To conserve the fertility of the zone, no polluting industry would be allowed in its vicinity,” adds Anita Choudhary, secretary of the Department of Land Resources in the Union rural development ministry. She was giving the details of the bill at a workshop on country and town planning and national land use policy held recently in Delhi.