Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context | CBSE Class 12 Geography Notes

This note covers approaches to planning, target area and target group programmes, hill area development, drought-prone areas, the Bharmaur tribal region, the changing meaning of development, sustainable development, the Indira Gandhi Canal command area, irrigation impacts and measures for ecological, social and economic sustainability.

What is planning, and how do sectoral and regional approaches differ?

Definition: Planning involves thinking, formulating a scheme or programme and implementing a set of actions to achieve a goal. In economic development, it provides a deliberate approach to reforms and reconstruction, which are often undertaken through traditional hit-and-miss methods.

Economic planning connects a development goal with schemes and their implementation. Thinking about an objective is therefore part of planning, but carrying out the actions needed to achieve it is also part of the process.

What does each approach focus on?

Generally, there are two approaches: sectoral planning and regional planning. The first organises development around economic activities. The second takes account of differences in development between places.

Regional imbalance means uneven development across areas. Economic development is not uniform over space in any country. Planners therefore need to consider the location of development, as well as the sectors in which it occurs.

How did planning institutions change in India?

After Independence, India adopted centralised planning, organised around central decision-making. Subsequently, it graduated into decentralised multi-level planning, involving planning at different levels, including the Centre, states and districts.

On 1 January 2015, NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission. It was set up to involve states in economic policy making for India and to provide strategic and technical advice to the Central and State governments.

The change in institutions belongs to the organisation of planning. The distinction between sectoral and regional planning concerns the approach used to address development needs.

Why are target area and hill area development programmes needed?

Target area planning directs development programmes towards particular areas needing special attention. A region's development depends on its resource base, but a resource-rich region can also remain backward. Resources require technology and investment if they are to support economic development.

After about one-and-a-half decades of planning experience, regional imbalances were becoming more pronounced. Target area and target group approaches, the latter directed towards particular groups of people, were introduced to arrest increasing regional and social disparities.

Which programmes illustrate these approaches?

A command area is the area served by an irrigation system. Infrastructure means facilities supporting economic and social activity, such as roads, electricity, schools and healthcare services.

How were hill areas selected and developed?

Hill Area Development Programmes began during the Fifth Five Year Plan and covered 15 districts. These comprised the hilly districts of Uttar Pradesh, now Uttarakhand, Mikir Hill and North Cachar hills in Assam, Darjeeling in West Bengal and Nilgiri in Tamil Nadu.

In 1981, the National Committee on the Development of Backward Area recommended treating hill areas above 600 metres, and not covered under the tribal sub-plan, as backward hill areas. Both the height condition and the tribal sub-plan condition are part of this recommendation.

Plans took account of topographical conditions, meaning the form of the land, along with ecological, social and economic conditions. Ecological conditions concern relationships between living things and their environment.

The programmes aimed to use indigenous resources, meaning resources of the hill areas themselves. Activities included horticulture, or cultivation of garden crops such as fruits, plantation, agriculture, animal husbandry or livestock rearing, poultry or domestic bird rearing, forestry or the management of forests, and small-scale and village industry.

How does the Drought Prone Area Programme address development and ecological balance?

The Drought Prone Area Programme began during the Fourth Five Year Plan. Its objectives were to provide employment in drought-prone areas, which are vulnerable to drought, and create productive assets, meaning assets that support economic activity.

How did its priorities change?

Initially, the programme emphasised labour-intensive civil works, meaning construction works requiring substantial labour. Later, its emphasis widened to irrigation projects, land development, afforestation or establishing tree cover, grassland development and basic rural infrastructure.

The infrastructure supported under the programme included electricity, roads, markets, credit and services. Credit means access to borrowed funds for activities such as production.

The National Committee on Development of Backward Areas reviewed the programme. Its activity was observed to be largely confined to agriculture and allied sectors, with a major focus on restoring ecological balance.

Why are alternative employment and watershed development important?

1. Growing population pressure forces society to use marginal lands, meaning lands with limited suitability for cultivation, for agriculture.
2. This agricultural use causes ecological degradation, or deterioration of environmental conditions.
3. Alternative employment opportunities are therefore needed in drought-prone areas to address this pressure.
4. An integrated watershed development approach at the micro-level should accompany development, with ecological balance between water, soil, plants, people and animals as a basic consideration.

Integrated watershed development means coordinated development of land and water within a drainage area. The micro-level refers here to a small local area. Its emphasis is on considering water, soil, vegetation and population together.

What criteria and distribution are important?

Broadly, drought-prone areas extend across arid and semi-arid tracts, meaning dry and relatively less dry regions, in Rajasthan, Gujarat, western Madhya Pradesh and Marathwada, as well as the Rayalseema and Telangana plateaus (elevated areas of relatively level land), the Karnataka plateau and highlands, and interior Tamil Nadu.

The drought-prone areas of Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan are largely protected by the spread of irrigation. This describes substantial protection; it does not claim complete protection.

Case study: Why did Bharmaur need an Integrated Tribal Development Project?

Bharmaur tribal area comprises Bharmaur and Holi tehsils, or local administrative divisions, in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. It has been a notified tribal area since 21 November 1975.

The region is inhabited by the Gaddis, a tribal community with a distinct Himalayan identity. They speak the Gaddiali dialect and have practised transhumance, the seasonal movement of pastoral people with their livestock. Pastoral activities centre on livestock rearing.

What physical and social conditions shaped development?

Bharmaur has a harsh climate, a low resource base and a fragile environment. It is one of the most economically and socially backward areas of Himachal Pradesh. Historically, Gaddis experienced geographical and political isolation and socio-economic deprivation.

The economy is largely based on agriculture and allied activities, including sheep and goat rearing. The environment and the historical isolation of the community together shaped the region's development needs.

Lofty mountains surround the region. Pir Panjal lies to the north and Dhaula Dhar to the south. Their extensions converge near Rohtang Pass in the east. The Ravi and its tributaries, rivers that join it, drain the region and carve deep gorges, or narrow valleys with steep sides. These tributaries are the Budhil and Tundahen.

The map labels Tundah, Kugti, Khani and Holi areas and the Ravi and Budhil rivers. Its key distinguishes district, tehsil and village boundaries, as well as rivers and boundaries of physiographic regions, meaning areas distinguished by their physical features. An inset locates Bharmaur within Chamba.

See Fig. 6.2 in your NCERT textbook

What did the project seek to achieve?

Development began in the 1970s when Gaddis were included among scheduled tribes. The tribal sub-plan, a planning provision for tribal development, was introduced in 1974 during the Fifth Five Year Plan.

Bharmaur became one of five Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDP) in Himachal Pradesh. It aimed to improve the Gaddis' quality of life and narrow the development gap between Bharmaur and other areas of the state.

The highest priorities were transport and communications, agriculture and allied activities, and social and community services. These priorities linked economic activities with the facilities needed to improve living conditions.

What benefits and limitations emerged from development in Bharmaur?

The most significant contribution of the tribal sub-plan was infrastructure development. Schools, healthcare facilities, potable water, roads, communications and electricity expanded. Potable water means water suitable for drinking.

Were the benefits distributed evenly?

Villages along the Ravi in Holi and Khani were the main beneficiaries of infrastructure development. Remote villages in Tundah and Kugti still did not have sufficient infrastructure. Development therefore brought improvements alongside continuing differences within the region.

This distinction matters when assessing an area development programme. The establishment of services in the region and their availability in remote villages are related issues, but the existence of the first does not establish the sufficiency of the second.

What social improvements occurred?

Social benefits included a tremendous increase in literacy, an improvement in the sex ratio, meaning the numerical relationship between females and males in the population, and a decline in child marriage.

Gender inequality in literacy, meaning the difference between male and female literacy levels, also declined. A reduction in the difference does not mean that the difference disappeared.

How did livelihoods change?

Traditionally, the Gaddis had a subsistence agricultural-cum-pastoral economy, combining cultivation and livestock production mainly for their own needs. Foodgrains and livestock were its central components.

During the last three decades of the twentieth century, cultivation of pulses and other cash crops, crops grown for sale, increased. Crop cultivation still used traditional technology. Changing crops therefore did not amount to a complete technological transformation.

Only about one-tenth of total households practise transhumance. Pastoralism has declined in importance, but Gaddis remain very mobile: a sizeable section migrate to Kangra and surrounding areas during winter to earn a living through wage labour.

The photograph panel shows terrace farming, a traditional method of extracting wheat, people engaged in primary activity, settlements and traditional dress.

See Fig. 6.1 in your NCERT textbook

How has the meaning of development changed over time?

Development generally describes both the state of particular societies and the changes they experience. It is a multi-dimensional concept, signifying positive, irreversible transformation of the economy, society and environment.

How do societies interact with their environment?

For a fairly large period of human history, the state of societies has largely been determined by interactions with their bio-physical environment, meaning the living and physical surroundings. The level of technology and the institutions nurtured by a society influence these interactions.

Technology and institutions increase the pace of human-environment interaction. The resulting momentum, in turn, accelerates technological progress and the transformation and creation of institutions. Development therefore involves linked changes rather than a single economic measure.

Why did growth become an insufficient measure?

After the Second World War, development was treated as synonymous with economic growth. Growth was measured through increases over time in gross national product, a measure of national production, and per capita income or consumption, meaning income or consumption per person.

Even countries experiencing high economic growth saw poverty rise rapidly because growth was unequally distributed. During the 1970s, redistribution with growth and growth and equity entered the meaning of development. Equity concerns fairness in the distribution of opportunities and benefits.

The wider concept includes improved living standards, health, education, equality of opportunity, and political and civil rights. By the 1980s, development encompassed widespread improvement in both social and material well-being for all members of society.

What is sustainable development, and why did the concept emerge?

Definition: Sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” It links present development with the resources and opportunities available to future generations.

What concerns led to this idea?

The notion emerged with the general rise of awareness of environmental issues in the Western world during the late 1960s. People were concerned about the undesirable environmental effects of industrial development.

The Population Bomb, published by Ehrlich in 1968, and The Limits to Growth, published by Meadows and others in 1972, heightened fears among environmentalists in particular and people in general. These concerns created the setting for new models of development.

The United Nations established the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), headed by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. Its 1987 report, Our Common Future, also called the Brundtland Report, provided the definition of sustainable development.

Which dimensions must be considered together?

Sustainable development addresses ecological, social and economic aspects of development in the present. It also calls for resource conservation so future generations can use those resources. Ecological sustainability concerns maintaining environmental conditions that allow development to continue.

Social sustainability concerns the people participating in and benefiting from development. Economic sustainability concerns the continuing economic basis of development. These dimensions appear together in the need to conserve resources, improve living conditions and support livelihoods.

The concept considers the development of the whole of humankind, which shares a common future. Present gains must therefore be considered alongside future needs. Resource conservation belongs within development because future generations also require resources to meet their needs.

Case study: How is the Indira Gandhi Canal command area organised?

The Indira Gandhi Canal, formerly the Rajasthan Canal, is one of India's largest canal systems. Kanwar Sain conceived it in 1948, and the project was launched on 31 March 1958.

It begins at Harike barrage in Punjab and runs parallel to the Pakistan border through Rajasthan's Thar Desert, also called Marusthali, at an average distance of 40 kilometres from the border. A barrage is a structure used to control river water.

The system's total planned length is 9,060 kilometres. It caters to a total culturable command area, meaning land suitable for cultivation within the irrigation command, of 19.63 lakh hectares. A lakh means 100,000, and a hectare is a unit of land area equal to 10,000 square metres.

How do the two construction stages differ?

Pasture development creates or improves grazing areas for livestock. It forms part of the water-management approach envisaged for Stage II.

In the Stage II area, summer temperatures soar to 50 degrees Celsius. The combination of shifting sand dunes and high summer temperatures forms part of its desert setting.

How do flow and lift systems distribute water?

About 70 per cent of the total command area was envisaged to receive irrigation through the flow system, and the rest through the lift system. Flow irrigation carries water with the slope; lift irrigation raises water so that it can flow against the land's slope.

All lift canals in this system originate on the left bank of the main canal. All canals on its right bank are flow channels. The banks are the sides of the canal.

The map marks Harike barrage, the main canal head and tail, and places including Ganganagar, Bikaner and Jaisalmer. Its legend distinguishes Stage I and Stage II command areas under flow and lift irrigation, alongside international, state and district boundaries.

See Fig. 6.3 in your NCERT textbook

The planned system length and the area intended for irrigation describe the project's design. The dates when irrigation reached the two stages describe the spread of irrigation over time.

How has canal irrigation changed the environment and agricultural economy?

Canal irrigation transformed the ecology, economy and society of the dry command area. Its environmental effects have been positive as well as negative. Increased water availability brought agricultural gains, while intensive irrigation and excessive water use created environmental problems.

What improvements followed irrigation?

Longer availability of soil moisture, the water held in soil, and afforestation and pasture development under Command Area Development (CAD) programmes helped green the land.

These changes also reduced wind erosion, the removal of soil by wind, and siltation, the accumulation of sediment, in the canal system. Vegetation development was therefore an important part of the environmental improvement associated with irrigation.

Soil moisture had limited successful crop growth. The spread of canal irrigation increased the cultivated area and cropping intensity, the frequency with which cultivated land is cropped. Both the extent and intensity of cultivation changed.

Waterlogging means excessive accumulation of water in the soil. Soil salinity means the presence or accumulation of salts in soil.

Why did water availability also create problems?

Intensive irrigation and excessive use of water caused the twin environmental problems of waterlogging and soil salinity.

The initial increase in agricultural and livestock productivity does not remove the longer-term damage. Waterlogging and salinity hamper agricultural sustainability over time. This is why development in the command area needs water management and restoration of ecological balance.

One photograph shows a broad canal bordered by trees. The other looks along a canal with a structure across it and vegetation in the adjoining landscape. The photographs show the canal and its surroundings.

See Figs. 6.4 and 6.5 in your NCERT textbook

Which seven measures can promote sustainable development in the canal command area?

Ecological sustainability requires a major thrust in development of the Indira Gandhi Canal command area. Environmental degradation has largely validated scholars' concerns about the project's ecological sustainability. Five of the seven proposed measures aim to restore ecological balance.

What are the ecological measures?

1. Implement water management policy strictly. The project envisages protective irrigation in Stage I and extensive irrigation of crops and pasture development in Stage II. Management must follow these different requirements.
2. Follow an appropriate cropping pattern. In general, the cropping pattern shall not include water-intensive crops, meaning crops requiring large quantities of water. People should be encouraged to grow plantation crops such as citrus fruits.
3. Implement Command Area Development effectively. Measures include lining watercourses, developing and levelling land, and using the warabandi system. Warabandi means equal distribution of canal water in the command area of an outlet. These measures reduce conveyance loss, meaning water lost during its movement through the distribution system.
4. Reclaim damaged areas. Land affected by waterlogging and soil salinity should be reclaimed, meaning restored for use. Existing environmental damage must be addressed as part of the development strategy.
5. Promote eco-development. This means environmental improvement through afforestation, shelterbelt plantation and pasture development. Shelterbelts are planted belts of trees that provide protection from wind. These measures are necessary particularly in the fragile environment of Stage II.

What social and economic measures are also necessary?

The sixth measure is support for poorer land allottees. Land allottees are people allotted land. Social sustainability can be achieved only if those from poor economic backgrounds receive adequate financial and institutional support to cultivate their land.

Financial support concerns funds; institutional support concerns assistance through organisations and arrangements. The requirement is adequate support for cultivation, so that poorer land allottees can participate in the development of the command area.

The seventh measure is economic diversification. Diversification means developing a wider range of economic activities. Economic sustainability cannot be attained only through agriculture and animal husbandry. Agricultural and allied activities must develop alongside other sectors of the economy.

This development should create functional linkages, or connections through economic activities and services, between basic villages, agro-service centres and market centres. Agro-service centres provide services related to agriculture; market centres support exchange.

Note: All seven measures belong together: water management, crop choice, efficient water distribution, land reclamation, eco-development, support for poor land allottees and economic diversification. The first five restore ecological balance, while the remaining two address social and economic sustainability.

The proposed strategy therefore combines changes in water use and land management with support for people and a broader economic base. Increased agricultural production by itself does not fulfil these ecological, social and economic requirements.

Glossary

• Planning — Thinking, formulating programmes and implementing actions to achieve a particular goal, including goals of economic development.
• Sectoral planning — Formulation and implementation of schemes aimed at developing different sectors of the economy.
• Regional planning — Planning with a spatial perspective to reduce imbalances in development between different areas.
• Target area planning — Planning directed towards particular areas whose development needs require special attention and programmes.
• Target group approach — Planning directed towards particular groups of people, such as small farmers and marginal farmers.
• Transhumance — Seasonal movement of pastoral people with livestock, associated with the traditional livelihoods of the Gaddis.
• Integrated Tribal Development Project — An area development project intended in Bharmaur to improve Gaddi living conditions and narrow regional development gaps.
• Sustainable development — Development meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
• Culturable command area — Land suitable for cultivation within the area served by an irrigation system.
• Lift irrigation — Irrigation in which water is lifted so that it can flow against the slope of the land.
• Waterlogging — Excessive accumulation of water in soil, associated with intensive irrigation in the canal command area.
• Soil salinity — Presence or accumulation of salts in soil, a problem associated with excessive irrigation in the command area.
• Warabandi — Equal distribution of canal water within the command area served by an outlet.
• Economic diversification — Development of a wider economic base through activities in different sectors of the economy.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Sectoral planning and regional planning have the same focus. Correct: Sectoral planning develops economic sectors; regional planning addresses uneven development between places.
• Misconception: A resource-rich region must be economically developed. Correct: Resources require technology and investment, and resource-rich regions can remain backward.
• Misconception: Every hill area above 600 metres was recommended for the backward hill area category. Correct: The 1981 recommendation also required that the area was not covered under the tribal sub-plan.
• Misconception: Bharmaur's infrastructure improvements benefited all villages sufficiently. Correct: Holi and Khani villages along the Ravi were the main beneficiaries; remote Tundah and Kugti villages still lacked sufficient infrastructure.
• Misconception: Declining transhumance means Gaddis stopped migrating. Correct: Only about one-tenth of households practise transhumance, but a sizeable section still migrate in winter for wage labour.
• Misconception: The canal's agricultural gains establish long-term sustainability. Correct: Intensive irrigation initially raised productivity tremendously but also caused waterlogging and soil salinity.
• Misconception: All seven sustainability measures concern ecology alone. Correct: Five restore ecological balance; support for poorer land allottees and economic diversification address social and economic sustainability.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. Plan A formulates and implements schemes for agriculture, manufacturing and transport. Plan B addresses unequal development between areas. Identify each planning approach and explain its focus. [2 marks]

1. Plan A is sectoral planning because its schemes aim to develop different sectors of the economy.
2. Plan B is regional planning because it addresses spatial differences and seeks to reduce regional development imbalance.

Q2. In 1981, a committee recommended treating hill areas above 600 metres and outside the tribal sub-plan as backward hill areas. Detailed plans considered topographical, ecological, social and economic conditions. Identify the two selection conditions and explain the basis for drawing detailed plans. [3 marks]

1. The height condition is that the hill area lies above 600 metres. This is one part of the recommendation for identifying backward hill areas.
2. The second condition is that the area is not covered under the tribal sub-plan. Height alone does not satisfy the recommendation.
3. Detailed plans should reflect the area's topographical, ecological, social and economic conditions, so the development approach takes account of its particular circumstances.

Q3. The Drought Prone Area Programme initially emphasised labour-intensive civil works, then irrigation, land development, afforestation, grasslands and rural infrastructure. Population pressure pushed cultivation onto marginal land, causing ecological degradation. Alternative employment and integrated watershed development, coordinating land and water development within a small local drainage area, were proposed. Explain four elements of this development approach. [4 marks]

1. The initial emphasis on labour-intensive civil works used construction activities as an important part of the development programme.
2. The later approach widened to irrigation, land development, afforestation, grasslands and basic rural infrastructure, extending the range of supported activities.
3. Alternative employment was needed because population pressure was forcing cultivation onto marginal land and causing ecological degradation.
4. Integrated watershed development at the micro-level addressed development in a small local area through coordinated attention to land and water.

Q4. Bharmaur gained schools, healthcare, potable water, roads, communications and electricity. Villages along the Ravi in Holi and Khani benefited most, while remote Tundah and Kugti villages still lacked sufficient infrastructure. Female literacy rose from 1.88 per cent in 1971 to 65 per cent in 2011; the male-female literacy gap declined, the sex ratio improved and child marriage declined. Assess the gains and the continuing limitation in five points. [5 marks]

1. Infrastructure improved through schools, healthcare, drinking water, roads, communications and electricity. These facilities represent a substantial improvement in the services available within the region.
2. Female literacy increased tremendously, from 1.88 per cent in 1971 to 65 per cent in 2011, demonstrating a major educational gain.
3. The difference between male and female literacy levels declined. This shows reduced gender inequality in literacy, without establishing that the gap disappeared.
4. The improvement in the sex ratio and the decline in child marriage were additional social benefits of development in the region.
5. Infrastructure gains remained uneven. Holi and Khani villages along the Ravi benefited most, while remote villages in Tundah and Kugti still lacked sufficient infrastructure.

Q5. Stage I of the Indira Gandhi Canal has 5.53 lakh hectares of culturable command area, gently undulating terrain and irrigation from the early 1960s. Stage II has 14.10 lakh hectares, desert land with shifting dunes and irrigation from the mid-1980s. Compare the stages using these three features. [3 marks]

1. Stage I has a culturable command area of 5.53 lakh hectares, whereas Stage II covers 14.10 lakh hectares. Stage II therefore has the larger area.
2. Stage I has gently undulating terrain. Stage II consists of desert land dotted with shifting sand dunes, giving it a different physical setting.
3. Irrigation began in Stage I in the early 1960s. Stage II started receiving irrigation in the mid-1980s, so irrigation reached it later.

Q6. In the dry canal command area, longer soil-moisture availability, afforestation and pasture development greened the land and reduced wind erosion and canal siltation. Irrigation increased cultivated area and cropping intensity, replacing gram, bajra and jowar with wheat, cotton, groundnut and rice. Agricultural and livestock productivity initially increased tremendously, but excessive irrigation caused waterlogging and salinity, hampering agriculture over time. Explain five effects. [5 marks]

1. Longer soil-moisture availability, afforestation and pasture development greened the land. These changes improved vegetation conditions within the previously dry command area.
2. The greening of the land also helped reduce wind erosion and siltation of canal systems, providing further environmental benefits.
3. Irrigation increased both cultivated area and cropping intensity, so agricultural change involved the extent of cultivation as well as how frequently land was cropped.
4. The crop pattern changed from gram, bajra and jowar to wheat, cotton, groundnut and rice. Agricultural and livestock productivity initially increased tremendously.
5. Excessive irrigation caused waterlogging and soil salinity. These problems hamper agricultural sustainability in the long run despite the initial production gains.

Q7. Proposed ecological measures for the canal area are: strict water management, with protective irrigation in Stage I and extensive irrigation and pasture development in Stage II; in general, avoiding water-intensive crops and encouraging citrus; lining watercourses, land development, levelling and warabandi (equal distribution of canal water in an outlet’s command area) to reduce conveyance loss; reclaiming waterlogged and saline land; and afforestation, shelterbelts and pastures, particularly in fragile Stage II. Explain these five measures. [5 marks]

1. Strictly implement water management appropriate to each stage: protective irrigation in Stage I, and extensive irrigation of crops with pasture development in Stage II.
2. In general, avoid water-intensive crops in the cropping pattern and encourage plantation crops such as citrus fruits as part of the proposed approach.
3. Reduce water lost during distribution through watercourse lining, land development, levelling and warabandi, which distributes canal water equally within an outlet's command area.
4. Reclaim land affected by waterlogging and soil salinity. Restoring these damaged areas is a necessary part of the proposed ecological measures.
5. Promote afforestation, shelterbelt plantation and pasture development. These eco-development measures are necessary particularly in the fragile environment of the Stage II command area.

Q8. Sustainable development meets present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs. It considers ecological, social and economic aspects and conserves resources for future use. Explain its present and future responsibilities in two points. [2 marks]

1. It addresses present needs through development that considers ecological, social and economic aspects together.
2. It conserves resources and protects future generations' ability to meet their own needs without compromise.

Key takeaways

• Sectoral planning develops economic sectors, while regional planning addresses spatial differences and seeks to reduce regional imbalance.
• Target area programmes respond to particular regional needs; resources require technology and investment to support development.
• Drought-prone area development requires alternative employment and ecological balance between water, soil, plants, people and animals.
• Bharmaur gained infrastructure and social improvements, but remote Tundah and Kugti villages still lacked sufficient infrastructure.
• Sustainable development connects present ecological, social and economic needs with future generations' ability to meet their needs.
• Indira Gandhi Canal irrigation greened the land and raised productivity, but excessive irrigation caused waterlogging and salinity.
• The canal area's seven sustainability measures combine ecological restoration, support for poorer land allottees and economic diversification.
• Keep the canal project's planned length, envisaged irrigation shares and stage-specific development distinct from claims about completed achievements.

Test yourself

How does regional planning differ from sectoral planning?

Regional planning reduces development imbalances between areas; sectoral planning develops different sectors of the economy.

What two conditions appeared in the 1981 backward hill area recommendation?

The hill area should be above 600 metres and not covered under the tribal sub-plan.

Why does drought-prone area development need alternative employment?

Growing population pressure forces cultivation onto marginal land, causing ecological degradation and creating a need for alternative livelihoods.

Which parts of Bharmaur received the main infrastructure benefits?

Villages along the Ravi in Holi and Khani were the main beneficiaries; remote Tundah and Kugti villages still lacked sufficient infrastructure.

What does the decline in transhumance leave unchanged about Gaddi mobility?

Gaddis remain very mobile, with a sizeable section migrating to Kangra and surrounding areas in winter for wage labour.

Which report defined sustainable development, and when?

Our Common Future, also called the Brundtland Report, defined sustainable development in 1987.

What is warabandi, and what purpose does it serve with other Command Area Development measures?

Warabandi distributes canal water equally within an outlet's command area. Alongside lining, land development and levelling, it helps reduce conveyance loss.

Why is agriculture alone insufficient for economic sustainability in the canal area?

Agriculture and allied activities must develop alongside other sectors, diversifying the economic base and linking villages, agro-service centres and market centres.