Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context — NCERT Solutions

According to the Brundtland Report (1987), sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It balances ecological, social and economic aspects.

The positive impacts of irrigation in the Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area include: increase in cultivated area, increase in intensity of cropping, greening of land due to better soil moisture and afforestation/pasture development, and a rise in agricultural and livestock productivity. It also helped reduce wind erosion and siltation of canal systems.

The Drought Prone Area Programme was started in the Fourth Five Year Plan to provide employment and create productive assets in drought-prone areas. Later it focused on irrigation projects, land development, afforestation, grassland development and basic rural infrastructure like electricity, roads, markets, credit and services.

It helps dryland agriculture by promoting irrigation, land improvement, afforestation, grassland development, and integrated watershed development. It also aims at restoring the ecological balance between water, soil, plants, humans and animals, and encourages alternative employment so that pressure on marginal lands is reduced.

Measures for promoting sustainability in the Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area are:

1. Strict water management policy should be implemented.
2. The cropping pattern should avoid water-intensive crops and encourage crops like citrus fruits.
3. CAD programmes such as lining of watercourses, land development and levelling, and the warabandi system should be effectively implemented to reduce water loss.
4. Areas affected by waterlogging and soil salinity should be reclaimed.
5. Eco-development through afforestation, shelterbelt plantation and pasture development is necessary, especially in Stage-II.
6. Poor land allottees need adequate financial and institutional support.
7. The economy should be diversified beyond agriculture and animal husbandry, with linkages among villages, agro-service centres and market centres.

These steps together improve ecological, social and economic sustainability.