Releasing the Wastelands Atlas of India brought out by Department of Land Resources, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said a slight increase in wastelands area was recorded in states like Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Uttarakhand.
The wastelands have undergone positive changes in the states of Rajasthan (10264 sq km), Mizoram (2669 sq km), Manipur (2391 sq km), Gujarat (2858 sq km), Bihar (1895 sq km), Karnataka (1478 sq km), Andhra Pradesh (1682 sq km) and Uttar Pradesh (1269 sq km), Ramesh told reporters here.
"Majority of the wasteland categories have been changed into cropland category, forest-dense/open and forest plantation categories (9600 sq km) and into other plantations (800 sq km)," he said. PTI TGB