PIB Tracker6.38 lakh hectares that people made barren
The government told Parliament it has not assessed how land degradation hits crop yields — but ISRO's Desertification Atlas puts man-made degradation at 6.38 lakh hectares, and 310 districts are already rated climate-vulnerable.
What happened
- The government said no assessment has been made of degradation's impact on crop productivity.
- It cited the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India (2021) by ISRO's Space Applications Centre.
- The Atlas records 6.38 lakh hectares of man-made desertification and degradation as of 2018-19.
- NICRA runs in 651 districts; of 310 vulnerable districts, 201 are 'High' and 109 'Very High'.
- 448 Climate Resilient Villages operate across 151 districts in 28 States and UTs.
For Prelims
- Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India: published by the Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad; the 2021 edition covers up to 2018-19.
- Man-made degradation: 6.38 lakh hectares — distinct from total degraded area, which is far larger.
- NICRA: National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture, an ICAR project in 651 districts.
- Vulnerability rating: of 310 vulnerable districts, 201 are 'High' and 109 'Very High'.
- STCR: Soil Test Crop Response — fertiliser recommendations derived from soil testing against a yield target.
- Salt-affected soil remedies: gypsum, bio-drainage, subsurface drainage and salt-tolerant grasses.
- Bio-drainage: using deep-rooted trees to draw down a waterlogged, saline water table.
- Per Drop More Crop: the micro-irrigation component promoting farm-level water-use efficiency.
For UPSC: A land-degradation card with an admission attached. Use it for desertification and the UNCCD land degradation neutrality target, soil health and balanced fertiliser use, climate-resilient agriculture, and the gap between programme coverage and outcome measurement.
What it is NOT: The 6.38 lakh hectare figure is specifically man-made desertification and land degradation, not India's total degraded area; and the reply is an admission that yield-loss attribution has not been assessed.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS3.14 · GS3.4 · Linkage L2
Anchor
The state can name 448 climate-resilient villages but cannot say what degradation costs the harvest.
Substantiation (data)
6.38 lakh hectares of man-made degradation as of 2018-19 per ISRO's Atlas, with 310 districts rated climate-vulnerable and 2,661 of 2,900 new varieties stress-tolerant.
Exemplification
Gypsum, bio-drainage and salt-tolerant grasses for saline soils; contour bunds, trenches and check dams for eroding watersheds.
Problematisation
Without yield-loss attribution, remediation cannot be prioritised — money follows programme design rather than damage.
Way-forward
Commission a district-level degradation-to-yield assessment, link soil health cards to STCR-based dosing, and converge watershed works with NICRA vulnerability maps.
Position
Soil is capital; a country that does not measure its depreciation is running its farms at an unknown loss.
Deploys into: Conservation + agriculture (GS3.14, GS3.4) · desertification and land degradation neutrality, soil health and balanced fertiliser use, and climate-resilient agriculture.
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare · 2026-08-07 · PRID 2296210 · PIB source ↗