Human Settlements and Land Use — Geography STD 12 Commerce / Arts — Question

1. In rural areas land use is mainly for agriculture and related activities. The Land Records Department has done classification of land use in rural areas as follows:
Net sown area: The land which is used to grow various crops is net sown area. This is main land used in rural areas for agriculture.
Area under tree crops and groves : This land is used to grow fruit crops and orchards.
Area under permanent pastures : This land is covered with grass permanently and it is used for grazing.
2. This land is mostly owned by government or village panchayat.
Current fallow : This is a cultivable land but it is kept empty that is without cultivation for twelve months or less than that.
3. Due to continuous cropping on same patch of land, the land loses its fertility, therefore to regain the fertility of the soil, rest is given to land. During this period land regains the fertility naturally.
Fallow other than current fallow : This land is kept fallow for more than one year but less than five years to regain fertility naturally. Land becomes culturable wasteland, if it is kept fallow for more than five years.
Culturable wasteland : If land is kept fallow for more than five years, it is called culturable wasteland. This land can be used again for cultivation after reclamation practices.
Barren land or wasteland : The land which is not useful for cultivation is called barren land and therefore it is wasteland. For example, hilly area, desert land, marshy land, ravines etc.
Non-agricultural land : The land used for residential purpose, for construction of canals, dams, roads, agro-based industries, fruit processing industries etc., comes under this category. Land under forest: In rural areas some lands are under forest.