Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Titre : Impact of reclamation of saline and alkali lands on the rural development of Aligarh District

Auteur : Najmul Islam Hashmi, S

Université de soutenance : Aligarh Muslim University

Grade : Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Geography 1987

Résumé partiel
In a country like India, where about 77 percent of the population is engaged in agriculture , where there is tremendous pressure on land, and which is bedeviled by poverty, illiteracy , unemployment, socio-economic inequalities, al l the planning should be directed towards making cest use of land. Comprehensive analysis of the nature of the soil necessarily precedes better utilization of land. Assessment of soil conditions is not only relevant in agriculture but is also very relevant to the planning of other land uses such as the development of forests, pasture lands, recreation grounds, extension of settlement sites, communication lines, establishment of factories, schools etc . Large tracts of lands have become unsuitable for cultivation due to floods, erosion and other natural calamities like saline and alkali lands and waterlogged lands. These lands could be reclaimed and utilized in various ways if a detailed knowledge about the conditions in these areas are available before hand. This calls for a micro-level study of the areas which have remained unproductivp and unattended. Wherever attempts have been made to reclaim problematic soils, critica l examination must be made of the methods adopted for the development of the area, input-output balance sheet of the expenditure involved and etc . With this aim in view. Impact of Reclamation of Saline and Alkali Lands on the Rural Development of Aligarh District^, was undertaken. Aligarh, one of the important districts of utta r Pradesh, lie s in the centra l part of the Ganga-Yamuna doab. It spreads from 27°29 » to 28°11’N latitude s and 77°29’ to 78^38’E longitudes. The distric t has been divided into seventeen blocks Spread over 1,769 villages. The tota l area of the distric t is 502,580 hectares, out of which 77.66 percent is net cultivated, while the tota l cultivated area is 127,9 per cent. The tota l area under usar (saline-alkali and alkali lands in common parlour) and unculturable lands is 33,810 hectares which is 6,73 percent of the total area .

The salient features of the present study are - i) to survey, delineate and map the intensity of saline and alkal i lands in the 1,769 village s of Aligarh district ; i i ) to assess Ititsoil conditions and evaluate the causes which led to the formation of such soils ; iii ) to criticall y examine the different reclamation measures adopted in the various villages and to suggest suitabl e measures for reclamation based on the conditions in different areas ; iv) to prepare a balance-sheet of expenditure involved and the likely additions to food production and to make future projections for the whole distric t and v) to evaluate the impact of reclamation on socioeconomic c3evelopment of the rural masses living near the saline and alkali lands. Présentation et version intégrale (Shodhganga)