Large part of the increase caused by diversion of agricultural land
Mumbai, India. Photo for representation: iStock India’s built-up area has steadily increased over the past 17 years from 2005-06 to 2022-23, expanding by almost 2.5 million hectares, a new analysis showed.
The trend underscored the rapid pace of urbanisation and infrastructure development across the country during this period.
The built-up land showed a modest increase with an overall growth of around 31 per cent during the period from 2005-06 and 2022-23, according to a comprehensive assessment of annual land use and land cover released by the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO, Hyderabad this month.
During this period, around 35 per cent of built up area has been added, with an average increase of around 2.4 per cent annually from land cover, which include wasteland and agricultural land cover.
Wasteland, which includes degraded and unproductive land, contributed significantly (12.3 per cent) to built-up area expansion by 12.3, according to the NRSC assessment titled Annual land use and land cover atlas of India.
The atlas indicates that a considerable proportion of the increase of built-up areas can be attributed to the diversion of agricultural land covers.
“A substantial percentage of built-up area expansion originated from agricultural land covers, which includes 6.3 per cent of double / triple / annual crop, 5.3 per cent of kharif crop, 3.1 per cent of rabi crop, 2.9 per cent of plantation and 5.8 per cent of fallow land,” the report read.
Contribution of different land covers to built-up extents
The trends of built-up area for rapidly growing states seem to be quite stable, with a slight rise in area in 17 years. Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh showed a distinct increase in the built-up area.
Long-term trends of built-up land across states over annual mapping cycle
According to the NRSC atlas, the term ‘built-up area’ refers to an area with buildings (roofed structures), paved surfaces (roads, parking lots), commercial and industrial sites (ports, landfills, quarries, runways) and urban green areas (parks, gardens).
According to the Reserve Bank of India, the state and union capital expenditures increased significantly from Rs 1.28 lakh crore in FY 2005-06 to Rs 11.92 lakh crore in FY 2022-23.
The highest rate of growth (76.34 per cent) in capital expenditures occurred during FY 2019-20 and FY 2022-23.
| Period | Percentage Change in capital expenditure by states/UTs |
| FY 2019-20 to 2022-23 | 76.34 |
| FY 2014-15 to 2018-19 | 69.52 |
| FY 2009-10 to 2013-14 | 48.72 |
| FY 2004-05 to 2008-09 | 62.71 |
New roadways, highways, railway lines and other infrastructure development projects are clear indicators of this progress.
Between 2005 and 2023, the length of national highways increased in all the five states: Gujarat (175 per cent), Karnataka (109 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (94 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (75 per cent) and West Bengal (58 per cent).
In fact, according to the media reports, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has recently approved the construction of the 34-km Indore Western Bypass (also known as the Western Ring Road).
While such infrastructural development is important, these come at the cost of agricultural land, which is the source of livelihood for farmers. The NRSC atlas too has revealed this. But, the farmers are not adequately compensated show the recent protests by farmers against poor compensation for such development projects.
In Gujarat the farmers had protested against the development of National Highway 56 from Vapi to Shamlaji. In Feb 2024, the farmers in Madhya Pradesh too came out in protest against the land acquisition for Indore’s Western Ring Road and the Indore-Budhni rail link.
In this context, the findings on land cover and use in the atlas are very relevant for the formulation of development projects including infrastructural projects.
“This atlas will serve as a compass, guiding our understanding of land resources and facilitating sustainable development practices. It is my sincere hope that this atlas will act as a catalyst for informed decision-making,” said Prakash Chauhan, outstanding scientist and director, National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in his foreword.
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