ABSTRACT
Land use planning (LUP) research in India is reviewed in this article. It is noted that most of the work in the recent past is based on edaphic approach. The LUP research in India began with zonation of the country into different 626Agro-ecological regions (AER) using meteorological data in conjunction with soil survey data. Evaluation of soils to grow different crops is the most extensively reported topic after AER zonation. Third area of interest was observed to be farm or village based studies wherein prevailing crops were evaluated and/or alternative crops were suggested based on land evaluation. The land use planning however remained an academic exercise with little attention to practical constraints or adoption. Drawing from the practical experience, it is argued that paradigm shift is required from LUP based on edaphic factors to more inclusive LUP based on water, livestock, forest and common property resources. Now, geospatial tools have completely transformed the land use planning capabilities. It is anticipated that many problems like scale limitations in acquisition of varied data, bringing out uniformity and consistency, co-ordination amongst different related agencies, etc., could be overcome through remedial measures suggested in this review.
