Himachals’ Farmland Shrinks, Forests Expand
Shakeel Qureshi
Out of total 55,673 square kilometres geographical area of Himachal Pradesh, 37,033 square kilometres of the area comes under forests. Apart from this, farming is practised in 7,55,211 hectares of land in Himachal Pradesh. It is said that area under farming was larger earlier in the hill state. But it is continuously shrinking, as people have left agriculture in search of other forms of livelihood or because of monkey menace. In fact big bungalows have been constructed in fields now.
The analysis of figures of last five years further supplements the fact that area under agriculture is continuously declining in Himachal Pradesh. In 2010-11, the area under farming was 7,94,757 hectares which reduced to 7,88,048 hectares in 2011-12. However things improved marginally in 2012-13, when there was a marginal increase in area under farming. The area under farming was 7,89, 526 hectares in 2012-13. Thereafter huge decline was witnessed in area under farming in Himachal. The area under farming was 7,74,709 hectares in 2013-14 that further reduced to 7,55,211 in 2014-15 in Himachal. These figures clearly reveal that area under farming in continuously decreasing in Himachal and people here have reduced dependency on farming as a livelihood.
On the other hand, area under forests has increased marginally. According to analysis of Forest Survey of India, forests are spread over an area of 37,033 square kilometres in Himachal in 2013-14. Experts opine that area under forests has increased slightly in Himachal Pradesh for which forest department was pouring in efforts in plantation drives. A total of 26.35% of total geographical area of Himachal comes under forests. Out of it, 3224 square kilometres is under dense forest wealth, 6383 sq. km. under moderate dense forest and 5031 sq. km. area comes under open forest.
According to National Forest Policy 1988, two-third area of every state must come under forests. This provision is made for hill states like Himachal Pradesh. But tribal areas of Himachal, that makes 20% of total geographical area of Himachal Pradesh, are not suitable for tree plantation. Therefore Himachal government has set a target of bringing 50% of total area of the state under forests. The barren lands of Himachal that comes under the jurisdiction of forest department under different categories has remained an issue of controversy since long. According to a 1952 notification, the barren government land will fall under the definition of forestland. Till then all the government barren lands comes under the jurisdiction of forest department.
Plantation Drives
The Forest Department spends crores of rupees to increase area under forests. Every year plantation is done in vacant government lands during van mahotsavs. The department claims that survival rate of the planted saplings is more than 70%.
7,94,757
Area under agriculture in Himachal in 2010-11
7,55,211
Area under agriculture in Himachal in 2015
39,546
The land (in hectares) on which farmers abandoned practising farming
Lahaul-Spiti Has Maximum Area
District Area Under Forest (in sq. km.)
Lahaul-Spiti 10,133
Kinnaur 5,093
Chamba 5,030
Kullu 4,952
Kangra 2,842
Mandi 1,860
Sirmour 1,843
Solan 728
Una 487
Bilaspur 428
Hamirpur 219
Kangra Has Maximum Area Under Agriculture
District Area under Agriculture (in hectares)
Kangra 1,68,268
Mandi 1,46,513
Hamirpur 74,274
Una 67,955
Chamba 63,675
Sirmour 55,307
Solan 53,690
Bilaspur 52,265
Shimla 28,691
Kullu 39,374
Kinnaur 3,340
Lahaul-Spiti 1,859
Himachal-o-Meter
The state’s ups and downs this week
ISIS Posters Create Scare In Subathu
Solan: Panic struck people in Subathu after mysteriously handwritten posters claiming arrival of the ISIS were found affixed at various places in the Cantonment area. putting the Army and police on an alert. Though the posters appeared in the civil area outside the main establishment of the Army, the authorities were on their toes to find out those behind the act. Xerox posters bearing messages in Hindi and English claiming to be “ISIS fatwa” in the form of “electronic boom”, “TV boom”, “computer boom” and “washing machine boom” were found affixed at 15 places in the town. The police have ruled out the possibility of posters’ link with any terrorist organisation as the pattern of the ISIS slogans appearing on various other places bears no similarity to this pattern. The area earlier too had been plagued by mysterious water poisoning and fire cases. Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kanwar said a joint surveillance would be undertaken by the Army and civil authorities to rule out any adverse eventuality in the area.
Kangra Police Freeze Assets Of Drug Peddlers
Dharamshala: In a first of its kind action against drug peddlers, Kangra police have frozen five properties of drug peddlers worth about Rs 3.5 crore under the NDPS Act. Sources said that assets included houses and commercial complexes in Nurpur sub division of Kangra district. Kangra SP Sanjeev Gandhi said that hardcore drug peddlers in the district had been engaged in drug peddling despite multiple cases being registered against them. “We had invoked the provisions under the NDPS Act to freeze the assets of drug peddlers. In some cases it was witnessed that the drug peddlers had amassed assets worth crores despite no visible source of income. We are hoping that the action would act as a deterrent against those involved in drug peddling in the state”, the SP said. Under a special drive, Kangra Police had registered 266 cases under the NDPS Act, 96 cases under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and arrested 443 persons. In most of the cases it was found that heroine was making its way into the state through Punjab. The drug peddlers were generally Himachali youth from the border areas of the state.
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