It has been observed that considerable portions of Indian forests are such only in name & are subject to various forms of maltreatment. As a result, a hectare of forest land in India yields less utilisable timber than a hectare of forest in Europe. Having regard to these considerations, specially the lower productive capacity of the natural tropical forests in India, the National Forest Policy Resolution of 1952 proposed that the area under forests be raised steadily to 33% of the total area, the proportion to be aimed at being 60% in the hill regions & 20% in the plains. A comparative picture of the land-use patterns during 1950-51 & 1970-71 is presented in Table 3.

* A sizable portion of the non-reporting area consisted of the forest area. As such, the % of area under forests to the total reporting area was somewhat low

Owing to extension in the coverage of the land-utilisation statistics & changes in the concepts & definitions adopted for the classification, the two sets of figures are not strictly comparable. However, it can be inferred that there has been an increase in the area under forests, land under non-agricultural use, permanent pastures & grazing lands & the net area sown. This led to a decline in the barren & unculturable land, land under miscellaneous tree crops & groves, culturable wastelands & fallow lands. These shifts in the land-use patterns were mainly in response to the increasing demand for foodgrains & agricultural raw materials. The demand was partly met through the extension of the area under cultivation & partly through intensive cultivation. During the first & Second Plans, the increase in overall agricultural production resulted largely from the extension of the area, whereas during the Third Plan & thereafter, the increase in productivity contributed more to increased production. An idea about these trends can be had from Table 4 which shows the compound annual growth rates of production, area & productivity of all crops over the last two decades.