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Efficient utilization of land available for a variety of uses needs a variety of information pertaining to the Land, and the approach adopted or propagated by the use of Geographical Information System which is one the latest technological break through. However to enable an accurate G.I.S., the information has to be positionaly accurate and a variety of related information therefore is built on the cartographic base map, which has to be accurate, so that the G.I.S. developed on it is also accurate, and the planning based on the results obtained through application of such G.I.S., becomes highly relevant. Thus the cartographic data base created has to be highly accurate, in whatever scale it is made and to have a 3-D G.I.S., we should also have height information in the form of contours or Digital Elevation Model (DEM), built, as close an interval as possible, appropriate to the topography of the area.
Similarly, the Land Information System of which we are aiming at should not only have appropriate cartographic data base on scales relevant to build such a system with as close a vertical data as possible. The present day technology of L.I.S. aims at providing a variety of information, particularly to provide data base at about a scale of 1:5000 with contours of around 1 meter or even lesser, to enable may practical activities in the field particularly flat regions and to cover a large number of so called marginal farmers, who hold small areas of Land, such as, say 2 or 3 acres per head. While many people, particularly politicians and administrators may feel that provision of such an information system is expensive, but it may be stated that it should be considered more as an investment than as an expenditure. This has high relevance in areas which at presented depend on rainfed agriculture, and harvesting the rainfall occurring in such areas for a very short period of time in a year is not effectively carried out. Being a dry and hot country, evaporation loss is quite high, as such whatever rainfall occurs get either evaporated or gets run off fast along the slopes, of which we are not fully aware, for want of micro watershed information. In fact even the nutrients applied gets dissolved in such running water and the elevated area does not sustain plants as effectively as in the lower part of the field.
Secondly there is already a big thrust to convert the revenue or cadastral maps, now available and produced almost a century ago, using crude methods in to digital form by digitizing as such. This is like putting the 'Cart before the horse' as the data to be digitized are not only grossly unreliable and inaccurate, but also does not have the height information which is essential as explained above.
It is therefore imperative that we should make all efforts to first ensure the cadastral / revenue maps are corrected and updated using highly modern digital field instruments or using aerial photos as well as other processing instruments and obtain data directly in digital format, so that it could also be used for building an L.I.S., which can have many other attributes. For achieving this considerable field and processing work would be required and there cannot be any better shortcut. If this is done and each land holdings are clearly defined, such a system can be used by even small or marginal farmers, regarding the manner in which the run off takes places in their own field and try to adopt innovative methods to retain or harvest as much water as possible and enhance the moisture retention in their field for a longer period, which can also to some extent percolate below the ground in to the ground water system. This first phase of the activity itself will provide enhanced productivity, before going into more complex problems of applying regulated amount of nutrients.
Statistics indicate that over 67 percent of the total cultivated area in India depend on rainfed agriculture, that too with smallholdings in land area. About 44% of our total food grain, supporting about 40% of the population is provided by such rainfed agriculture (Dr.Singh). In such areas in general the rainfall is also rather limited and occurs in a small part of the year, more or less being semi arid in character. Ultimately, the production in such areas is only about 0.7 to 0.8 tons per hectare, where as in irrigated areas it is on an average 2 to 2.5 tons per hectare.
Creating an L.I.S., at least initially covering such areas, as quickly as possible is bound to increase the productivity higher even at the very first attempt, before we go into the more complex application of L.I.S.
Green Revolution gave us confidence in producing more in irrigated areas by adopting many innovate inputs, but further improvement in the productivity can be limited in Character as such areas are already showing signs of fatigue and production tending to reach a plateau. Therefore the need to create a large scale 3-D data base using the most modern technological tools available and building up an L.I.S., and simultaneous improving our Land records directly in digital form will ultimately lead us to improve increased agricultural productivity, less disputed based on land ownership and even bring in land reforms most conducive to our cultural and developmental needs, as Rural development and agriculture is our primary 'life line' over a period of time, for attaining fuller employment and improved living conditions, of the masses over a period of time. Our Government should look forward to support all such activities and remove any impediments leading to achieving such a goal by at least making a right beginning now.
I feel that our Government has to take a conscious decision to create L.I.S in the correct and accurate manner in which case, our cadastral system would also get improved and brought into digital format, our effort to improve agricultural productivity particularly in semiarid low rainfall areas, improve employment opportunities to a number of rural people and bring in participation of local women in this effort. Computers and Information Technology is a very effective tool and will bring benefits only if used intelligently as otherwise we may only face more problems and the people will lose confidence in our effort. The work involves a multidisciplinary approach and I.T. is only a vehicle to take us to the right goal. By not attempting to create an upto date and correct land records we are only increasing possible opportunities for corruption, land-grabbing and benami transactions. It is absolutely necessary to inter-link the revenue records with registration of every transaction so that the records are kept updated without delay and in digital form, which is not easily susceptible to tampering.
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