Question

Which one of the following is the main cause of land degradation in Punjab?
a). Intensive cultivation
b). Deforestation
c). Over irrigation
d). Overgrazing

Answer 1

Hint: The northern state of Punjab is called the Granary of India and is a leading producer of many crops. It produces 35% of India’s wheat and 25% of the country’s rice. It was one of the sites for the first wave of the Green revolution.

Complete answer: Land degradation refers to loss in productivity of land due to various natural and human induced processes. India has 130 million hectares of degraded land. Some of these fall under the category of forest degraded,some under the category of water eroded and the rest are affected by saline and alkaline deposits. Let us look at the options given to us:
Option (A ) Intensive cultivation can lead to decrease in soil fertility. Decline in organic matter, nutrients and degradation of physical properties of soil is found in soils which are intensively cultivated with cereal crops like rice and maize. This is a common phenomenon in hill states of North East.
Option (B )Deforestation is the cause of land degradation in mineral rich states of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha. The forest here is cleared for mining and left untreated post mining leading to land degradation.
Option (C) over irrigation is the correct answer as Punjab, after the green revolution, has been growing water intensive crops . Over irrigation leads to increase in salinity and alkalinity of the soil which degrades the productivity of the same.
Option (D ) Overgrazing leads to land degradation as it removes the humus content, strips the soil of the vegetal cover making it dry and poor in nutrients. Overgrazing causes land degradation in states of Maharashtra , Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Therefore the correct option is option (C )

Note: Increase in agricultural production, use of High Yielding Variety seeds, mechanization of farms are some of the features of the Green Revolution that took place in the 1960s. Aided by the government, these changes were focused in the states of Haryana , Punjab in the first wave of Green revolution. However this green revolution had major environmental impacts and degraded the soils of these states because of over irrigation and excessive use of pesticides.For example Punjab is the highest consumer of fertilizer in the country, its water level is falling 50cm to 70cm every year and almost 97% of its cultivable area is under plough.