Task Force For Wasteland Development

The rural development ministry has set up a task force to suggest measures to involve corporate houses in the development of wasteland. It will also conceive a mechanism for ensuring institutional credit for funding these activities.

Headed by the rural development secretary, the panel will have representatives from the Reserve Bank of India, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Indian Banks Association besides officials of the ministries concerned. The panel will submit its report within three months.

The task force will identify lead activities and appropriate region-specific technologies for reclaiming degraded wasteland. It will also suggest the requisite policy environment that could encourage corporates to enter this field. This apart, the panel will moot measures for sensitising both financial institutions and borrowers for a fair play in dealing with the investment in wasteland development.

The extent of land suffering from degradation has been estimated differently by different organisations. The figure varies from 38.4 million hectares to 147 million hectares.

The government has several programmes aimed directly or indirectly at conservation and reclamation of land. These include the Integrated Wasteland Development Programme, the Drought Prone Areas Programme and the Desert Development Programme.