Suitability of Land

for
various
Developments
Land suitability is the fitness of a given type of land for a defined use.

The land may be considered in its present condition or after

improvements.

The process of land suitability classification is the appraisal and

grouping of specific areas of land in terms of their suitability for
defined uses.

A land—use classification is a classification providing information on

land cover, and the types of human activity involved in land use.

It may also facilitate the assessment of environmental impacts on,

and potential or alternative uses of, land.

Toposheet and ancillary data have been used for slope maps and soil
properties determination.

Remote Sensing techniques are used in classifying land use/

land cover mapping
An integrated land suitability potential (LSP) index was computed
considering the contribution of various parameters of land suitability.

LULC categories were arrived at by integrating various layers with

corresponding weights in a geographical information system (GIS).
Remote Sensing in land suitability mapping
The framework has the same structure, i.e. recognizes the same categories, in all of the kinds of
interpretative classification (see below). Each category retains its basic meaning within the context
of the different classifications and as applied to different kinds of land use. Four categories of
decreasing generalization are recognized:

i. Land Suitability Orders: reflecting kinds of suitability.

ii. Land Suitability Classes: reflecting degrees of suitability within Orders.

iii. Land Suitability reflecting kinds of limitation, or main kinds of

Subclasses: improvement measures required, within
Classes.

iv. Land Suitability Units: reflecting minor differences in required

management within Subclasses.
Land suitability Orders indicate whether land is assessed as suitable or not suitable for the use
under consideration.

There are two orders represented in maps, tables, etc. by the symbols S and N respectively.

Order S Suitable: Land on which sustained use of the

kind under consideration is expected
to yield benefits which justify the
inputs, without unacceptable risk of
damage to land resources.

Order N Not Suitable: Land which has qualities that appear

to preclude sustained use of the kind
under consideration.
 Land suitability Classes reflect degrees of suitability.

 The classes are numbered consecutively, by arabic numbers, in sequence of

decreasing degrees of suitability within the Order.

 Within the Order Suitable the number of classes is not specified.

 There might, for example, be only two, S1 and S2.

 The number of classes recognized should be kept to the minimum necessary to meet
interpretative aims; five should probably be the most ever used.

 If three Classes are recognized within the Order Suitable, as can often be
recommended, the following names and definitions may be appropriate in a
qualitative classification:

Class S1 Highly Suitable:
Class S2 Moderately Suitable:
Class S3 Marginally Suitable:
Land having no significant limitations to
sustained application of a given use, or only
minor limitations that will not significantly reduce
productivity or benefits and will not raise inputs
above an acceptable level.
Land having limitations which in aggregate are
moderately severe for sustained application of a
given use; the limitations will reduce productivity
or benefits and increase required inputs to the
extent that the overall advantage to be gained
from the use, although still attractive, will be
appreciably inferior to that expected on Class S1
land.
Land having limitations which in aggregate are
severe for sustained application of a given use
and will so reduce productivity or benefits, or
increase required inputs, that this expenditure
will be only marginally justified.
 Within the Order Not Suitable, there are normally two Classes:

Class N1 Currently Not Suitable: Land having limitations which may be

surmountable in time but which cannot be
corrected with existing knowledge at currently
acceptable cost; the limitations are so severe
as to preclude successful sustained use of the
land in the given manner.

Class N2 Permanently Not Suitable: Land having limitations which appear so

severe as to preclude any possibilities Of
successful sustained use of the land in the
given manner.
Land Suitability Subclasses reflect kinds of limitations, e.g. moisture deficiency, erosion hazard.
Subclasses are indicated by lower-case letters with mnemonic significance, e.g. S2m, S2e, S3me.
There are no subclasses in Class S1.

Qualitative classifications are based mainly on the physical productive potential of the land,
with economics only present as a background. They are commonly employed in reconnaissance
studies, aimed at a general appraisal of large areas.

Quantitative classification is one in which the distinctions between classes are defined in
common numerical terms, which permits objective comparison between classes relating to
different kinds of land use.
 India’s mainland comprises of four broad geographical areas

1. Northern Mountains which has Great Himalayas,

2. Vast Indo-Gangetic plains,

3.Southern (Deccan) Penninsula bounded by Western and Eastern Ghats,

4.Coastal plains and islands

Northern Mountains:
Himalayan Zone, along with country’s northern boundaries including Jammu and Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkand, Sikkim, part of Assam, and North-Eastern States of
Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya.

 Himalayas comprise of mountain ranges form physical barrier as world’s biggest and
largest mountain range.

Himalayas also contain cold arid deserts and fertile valleys.

The Great Plains also known as Indo-Gangetic plain formed by three river systems
Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra.

Plains extend from Rajasthan in the West to Brahmaputra valley in the East
covering States of Punjab, Haryana, and Union Territory of Chandigarh and Delhi and
major parts of U.P., Bihar, West Bengal, and parts of Assam.

These plains comprise one of the world’s greatest stretches of flat and deep
alluvium and are among the most densely populated areas of the world (456
persons/km2).

Desert region, contains the Great Thar desert, extends from the edge of Rann of
Kutchh to larger parts of Rajasthan (Western) and lower regions of Punjab and
Haryana.
Deccan Penninsula covers whole of South India Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Covers Madhya Pradesh and parts of Bihar, Odisha, part of West Bengal.

Density of population is 202 persons per km2.

Indo-Gangetic plains and penninsular plateau are separated by mountain

ranges of Aravali, Vindhya, Satpura, Ajanta and Maikala ranges.
Coastal Plains and Islands is flanked on either side by Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats.

 Either side of Ghats outward to sea lies a coastal strip.

 Western coastal plains lie between Western Ghats and Arabian sea in the West,

 Eastern Coastal Plains face Bay of Bengal in the East.

 A region with very high-density population (349 person/km2).

India has a diverse
Agro-climate,
Topography and
Soil type

on the basis of which it has been categorised into various regions.

Major part of the country is rain fed.

Rainfall, constitutes an important parameter in the classification of the

country into various regions for the purpose of planning.
Agro-Climatic Regions: India has been divided into 15 agro-climatic zones
on the basis of climate, in combination with soil and other factors that
affect the agriculture in the region.

This classification originated in 1979 by the Indian Council of Agricultural

Research (ICAR) through National Agricultural Research Project (NARP).
These are:

1. Western Himalayan Region.

2. Eastern Himalayan Region.
3. Lower Gangetic Plains Region.
4. Middle Gangetic Plains Region.
5. Upper Gangetic Plain Region.
6. Trans Gangetic Plains Region.
7. Eastern Plateu and Hill Region.
8. Central Plateau and Hill Region.
9. Western Plateau and Hill Region.
10. Southern Plateau and Hill Region.
11. East Coast Plains and Hill Region.
12. West Coast Plains and Ghat Region.
13. Gujarat Plains and Ghat Region.
14. Western Dry Region.
15. Island Region.
 LAND USE CLASSIFICATION
Level I Level II
11 Residential
12 Commercial and Services
13 Industrial
1 Urban or Built-up Land 14 Transportation, Communications, and Utilities
15 Industrial and Commercial Complexes
16 Mixed Urban or Built-up Land
17 Other Urban or Built-up Land
21 Cropland and Pasture
22 Orchards, Groves, Vineyards, Nurseries, and Ornamental Horticultural areas
2 Agricultural Land
23 Confined Feeding Operations
24 Other Agricultural Land
31 Herbaceous Rangeland
3 Rangeland 32 Shrub and Brush Rangeland
33 Mixed Rangeland
41 Deciduous Forest Land
4 Forest Land 42 Evergreen Forest Land
43 Mixed Forest Land
51 Streams and Canals
52 Lakes
5 Water
53 Reservoirs
54 Bays and Estuaries
61 Forested Wetland
6 Wetland
62 Nonforested Wetland
71 Dry Salt Flats.
72 Beaches
73 Sandy Areas other than Beaches
7 Barren Land 74 Bare Exposed Rock
75 Strip Mines Quarries, and Gravel Pits
76 Transitional Areas
77 Mixed Barren Land
81 Shrub and Brush Tundra
82 Herbaceous Tundra
8 Tundra 83 Bare Ground Tundra
84 Wet Tundra
85 Mixed Tundra
91 Perennial Snowfields
9 Perennial Snow or Ice
92 Glaciers