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Ldesu
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I The land which nature has endowed us is a common heritage. We have shared it with the past generations and will have to do so with the future generation. Human greed has increased so much 3 so that we have almost stopped to think for the future. This is not a healthy trend. In an agricultural Li country like ours, we should not allow its depletion and degradation. Soil erosion is a serious / problem in hills, and arid and semiarid areas. Some plains have also been affected by soil erosion. Besides natural causes, there are some human activities also, which cause degradation of land. These are degradation of natural vegetation caused by overgrazing by animals, deforestation and careless management of forests. Mining and industry are two important activities of human kind. 9 Surface mining leads to degradation of land. The mining sites are abandoned after excavation work i. is complete. The mineral processing, like grinding of limestone for cement industry, and calcite and it soapstone for ceramic industry, generates heavy amount of dust and releases it in the atmosphere. It later on settles down in the surrounding areas, affecting infiltration of water and crop cultivation. In recent years, industrial effluents and wastes have become a major source of land and water pollution in several parts of the country. At present, there are 130 million hectares of degraded land in India. About 28 per cent of it belongs to the category of forest degraded area, 57 per cent is water eroded area, 10 per cent wind eroded area, and the rest is affected by saline and alkaline deposits. There are several measures of controlling land degradation. Sod erosion in hilly areas can be checked by construction of terraces for farming and plugging of gullies by construction of check dams. Afforestation can control soil erosion on slopes. Preparation of shelter belts of plants, I control of overgrazing by animals and bushes are some of the methods used for reducing soil erosion in arid areas. Moisture conservation and weed control in agricultural lands, regularisation of grazing and proper management of waste lands and control of mining activities are some of the methods which can be used to curb land degradation in sem•arid areas.