CITY PLANNING PROCESS
IN INDIA
(CPPI)
NATIONAL LAND UTILISATION POLICY (2013)
• The goal of the National Land Utilisation Policy is to achieve improvement of
livelihood, food and water security, and best possible realisation of various
developmental targets so as to ensure sustainable development of India.
• To create an enabling environment for sustainable development of land resources
which meets people’s needs and demands.
• It assesses the physical, socio-economic, institutional and legal potentials and
constraints with respect to optimal and sustainable use of natural resources and land
and empowers people to make decisions about how to allocate those resources.
• Another definition of “land use planning” is the process of evaluating land and
alternative patterns of land use and other physical, social and economic conditions for
the purposes of selecting and adopting those kinds of land use and course of action
best suited to achieve specified objectives.
• Land use planning may be at national, regional, state, district, watershed, city, village
or other local levels.
Core Issues to be Addressed:
• Unregulated land use shifts.
• Reducing per capita land resource.
• Meeting the demands of rural and agriculture sectors.
• Protecting lands under natural resources and ecosystem services.
• Meeting urbanisation demands.
• Meeting industrialisation demands.
• Meeting mining sector demands.
• Meeting transport sector demands.
• Development vs. sustainable development.
• Protecting social interests.
• Protecting heritage.
• Inadequate land use planning capacities.
Current Land Use Planning and Utilisation Trends:
• Urban area planning.
• Industrial investment zones planning.
• Eco sensitive area planning.
• Mining area planning.
• Watershed management for productivity of agricultural lands.
• Coastal zone planning.
• Land administration.
• Land Use Boards.
• Relevant existing policies.
Objectives of the National Land Utilisation Policy:
To ensure optimal utilisation of the limited land resources in India for achieving
sustainable development, addressing social, economic and environmental
considerations and to provide a framework for the States to formulate their respective
land utilisation policies incorporating state specific concerns and priorities.
Objectives related to social concerns:
• Protection of agricultural lands from land use conversions so as to ensure food
security and to meet consumption needs of a growing population and to meet
livelihood needs of the dependent population.
• To identify and protect lands that are required to promote and support social
development, particularly of tribal communities and poor section of society for their
livelihood.
• To preserve historic and cultural heritage by protecting, places/sites of religious,
archaeological, scenic and tourist importance.
Objectives related to environmental concerns:
• To preserve and conserve lands under important environmental functions such as
those declared as National Parks, Wild Life Sanctuaries, Reserved Forests, Eco-
Sensitive Zones, etc. and guide land uses around such preserved and conserved areas
so as not to have land use conflicts or negative environmental impacts.
• To preserve the areas of natural environment and its resources that provide
ecosystem services.
Objectives related to developmental / economic concerns:
• To promote properly guided and coordinated development in a sustainable manner of
all developmental sectors including agriculture, urban, industrial, infrastructure and
mining so as to minimise land use conflicts or negative environmental impacts.
Objectives related to enforcement and implementation of the policy.
Objectives related to enforcement and implementation of the policy:
• To suggest a general implementation framework for implementing land utilisation
policy by all concerned at different levels, viz. national, state, regional and local.
State Land use Policy:
The National Land Utilisation Policy shall serve as a guiding framework for preparation
of state land utilisation policies by different states having regard to the state-specific
needs, potentials, priorities and legal provisions.
The following six types of Land Utilisation Zones (LUZs) are to be identified on the basis
of predominant land use:
• Predominantly Rural and Agricultural Areas.
• Areas Under Transformation.
• Predominantly Urban Areas.
• Predominantly Industrial Areas.
• Predominantly Ecological Areas, Landscape Conservation & Tourism Areas.
Heritage areas and
• Major Hazard Vulnerable Areas.
While deciding on the predominant land use, all the relevant aspects such as legal
status accorded to the use of land in the area, land potential, socio-economic needs,
pattern of land use changes etc. should be taken into consideration.
