There is a need for a national land use policy for land use planning and optimum utilisation of land resources.
Such policy should aim at conducting a detailed and scientific survey of country’s land use, formulating appropriate plans to achieve the national objective of putting 33.3% of the total geographical area under forests, taking effective steps to check the rapid increase of area under non- agricultural use by increasing vertical dimension of settlements and transport routes, devising scientific methods for the reclamation of barren and uncultivable land, increasing the area under permanent pastures, tree crops and groves, restoring cultivable wasteland either to agriculture or forests; taking suitable steps for bringing fallow lands to the agriculture; and increasing cropping intensity by augmenting multiple cropped area.
The policy needs proper implementation of land reforms restoring tiller’s right on land, allotment of patta of degraded and wasteland to landless and small farmers for their reclamation, fixing up category of land use for each type of land on micro-regional basis and fixation of responsibility on Gram Panchayat for the proper implementation of land use policy.
The organisations like All- India Soil and Land Use Survey in consultation with planners, administrators, environmentalists, agricultural scientists, local people and NGOs should monitor the plans for land use development and make suitable changes in land use policy at local, regional and national levels in accordance with the changing socio-economic needs of the time. Although it is difficult for a democratic country like
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India to introduce drastic changes in land use pattern but with steady long range planning and appropriate propoganda through public information system and mass education objectives are not very difficult to achieve.