INTRODUCTION
The Uttar Pradesh Hills popularly known as Uttaranchal or Uttarakhand is located between latitudes 29^o5’ -31^o25’N and longitudes 77^o45’ - 81^oE covering a geographical area of 53,485km². The Tons river separates the region from Himachal Pradesh in the north-west, while Kali separates it from Nepal in the east. Starting from the foot hills in the south the region extends upto the snow-clad peaks of the Himadri, marking the Indo-Tibetan boundary. The region being situated centrally in the long sweep of the Himalaya, forms a transitional zone between the per-humid eastern and the dry to sub-humid western Himalaya. The region comprises of two administrative units viz., Garhwal (north-west portion) and Kumaon (south-east portion). A separate state ‘Uttaranchal’ comprising the 12 districts of these two administrative regions and Haridwar district from Uttar Pradesh was created on 9th November 2000.
 

District legend:   1 Uttarkashi           2 Tehri                    3 Dehradun   4 Rudraprayag       5 Haridwar             6 Pauri   7 Chamoli              8 Pithoragarh          9 Bageshwar  10 Almora             11 Champawat       12 Nainital  13 Udham Singh Nagar

        The Uttaranchal region used to play an important role in the economy of Uttar Pradesh in terms of providing off-season vegetables, temperate fruits, forest products and several other resources including manpower resources. Its natural water resources such as natural springs, waterfalls and perennial streams are used fro generating hydro-electric power, for providing irrigation and drinking water. In terms of mineral resources, this region provides some amount of lime, magnesite, gypsum, sand stone, rock phosphate, asbestos, graphite, copper and lead. Many pilgrimage places viz., Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and immense potential for adventure tourism makes this region a great potential area for tourism based industry. The population of the region is growing at the rates near to national average during the last two decades. But the land which is needed to support this growing population is not available or the pace of technology and infrastructure development are not able to create opportunities to increase production of resources needed. While the region in totality represents the underdeveloped regions of the country, within the region the districts near to international borders are least developed interms of modern amenities and educational levels. In the present paper an attempt was made to assess the land use changes over two decades (1974-1994) using district wise revenue records and its relation to population growth. This includes only unsegregated data for Nainital, Pithoragarh, Almora & Chamoli, and exclude Haridwar district, and thus has limitations.

METHODOLOGIES
The data of five major categories of land use has been analyzed from agriculture census. The objective is to measure the changes in last two decades and focus on trend of changes of individual districts as well as Uttaranchal as a whole. All the districts are ranked according to the ascending order of exponential trend, and are presented in table 2-6 for different landuse pattern. Taking the general trend of statehood Uttaranchal as population mean, the deviation of individual districts for the respective parameters has been calculated. The qualitative marking (low, medium, and high) in figure 2-6 is based on the attributes of quantitative deviation from the population mean of the state as a whole. The ‘medium’ marked districts imprecisely fallow the general trend of the state, while ‘low’ and ‘high’ marked districts extremely deviate the general trend. Here, 95% confidence level (CL) has been taken to mark the intermediate districts, whereas low and high deviated districts are marked below LCL and above UCL respectively.
        Three different measures viz. population density, physiological density and agricultural density has been used to calculate the population pressure of Uttaranchal’s districts. The percentage changes over decades in these indices could reveal the pressure on agricultural land and economic disparities among the districts. Districts are arranged according to the descending order of population size (Table 7), the total geographical area is used to calculate the population density, whereas the agricultural land of the respective districts is used to calculate the physiological as well as agricultural density.
 

Figure 2. Changing pattern of forest cover		Figure 3. Changing pattern of area not available for cultivation

LANDUSE CHANGE ANALYSES
Of the 53,69,292 ha of reporting area of the Uttaranchal (this excludes Haridwar district), forest occupy 63.98% of land. This is almost the prescribed limits of landuse as per our national landuse policy. The net sown area which meets the food grain production demands of the population contributes only 12.42% of the reporting area. Uttarkashi recorded maximum forest area (726,290 ha). All the districts of Uttaranchal have more than 50% of forest land in their respective reporting area. Nainital is the only district which shows a significant amount of net sown area (204,317 ha) mainly concentrated in tarai region of the district.

Table 1. District-wise land utilization pattern of Uttaranchal (1993-94)
 

Code-District	Total	Percentage distribution of reporting area in major landuse category
	Reporting area (ha)	Forests	Non-agricultural use	Barren & unculturable	Permament pastures grazing	Misc. tree crops & groves	Culturable waste land	Current fallow	Other than current fallow	Net sown area
27 Uttarkashi	817631 (15.23)	88.83 (21.14)	0.85 (5.08)	2.47 (6.81)	1.71 (6.12)	0.94 (3.52)	1.12 (2.89)	0.01 (0.52)	0.48 (6.06)	3.61 (4.43)
28 Dehradun	307377 (5.72)	68.87 (6.16)	5.57 (12.56)	0.54 (0.56)	0.03 (0.04)	1.40 (1.98)	3.93 (3.82)	0.92 (33.99)	1.55 (7.42)	17.20 (7.93)
29 Tehri	574544 (10.70)	69.13 (11.56)	1.88 (7.94)	2.09 (4.05)	0.49 (1.23)	Neg. (0.01)	12.46 (22.68)	0.01 (0.66)	1.44 (12.86)	12.50 (10.77)
30 Chamolia	841382 (15.67)	61.93 (15.17)	2.15 (13.27)	19.60 (55.59)	2.59 (9.56)	4.20 (16.24)	3.96 (10.56)	0.01 (1.10)	0.19 (2.51)	5.37 (6.77)
31 Pauri	759650 (14.15)	59.40 (13.14)	2.30 (12.81)	4.50 (11.52)	5.69 (18.93)	8.09 (28.23)	5.83 (14.04)	0.02 (1.75)	2.34 (27.76)	11.82 (13.47)
32 Almorab	728701 (13.57)	54.06 (11.47)	2.39 (12.80)	4.42 (10.85)	8.33 (26.59)	6.38 (21.35)	8.26 (19.06)	0.09 (7.83)	1.03 (11.72)	15.00 (16.39)
33 Pithoragarhc	637200 (11.87)	51.84 (9.62)	2.46 (11.52)	4.22 (9.06)	13.26 (37.02)	7.18 (21.01)	8.77 (17.70)	0.18 (14.08)	2.05 (20.33)	10.03 (9.59)
34 Nainitald	702807 (13.09)	57.41 (11.75)	4.66 (24.01)	0.66 (1.55)	0.17 (0.51)	2.38 (7.67)	4.15 (9.24)	0.47 (40.07)	1.04 (11.35)	29.07 (30.65)
Uttaranchal*	5369292 (100)	63.98 (100)	2.54 (100)	5.52 (100)	4.25 (100)	4.06 (100)	5.88 (100)	0.15 (100)	1.19 (100)	12.42 (100)

*Excludes Haridwar; ^{a,b,c, & d} include Rudraprayag, Bageshwar, Champawat, and Udham Singh Nagar respectively; figures within () indicate the percentage contribution of individual district to the respective landuse pattern of the Uttaranchal.

Table 2. Changes in forest cover

Code-District	Five-year average				% change	Exponential trend
	1974-79	1979-84	1984-89	1989-94	1974-94
31 Pauri	470107	455528	453119	450393	-5.99	0.9973
30 Chamoli	540301	526936	524265	523397	-7.33	0.9977
32 Almora	402299	394449	392610	392513	-2.41	0.9984
33 Pithoragarh	331814	330288	330335	330283	-1.94	0.9997
27 Uttarkashi	710458	710278	710270	713480	2.25	1.0003
34 Nainital	400593	402208	404635	404703	0.90	1.0007
29 Tehri	356547	397250	397249	397201	11.39	1.0061
28 Dehradun	191322	222568	219519	218068	23.79	1.0086
Uttaranchal	3403441	3439505	3432000	3430038	0.43	1.0004

        The exponential trend of Uttaranchal (>1) shows an increasing inclination of forest cover, however four districts viz., Pauri, Chamoli, Almora, and Pithoragarh show a marginal decrease in forest cover. The Pauri Garhwal is the worst affected district, whereas Dehradun, though sole urbanized district (>50% population belongs to urban settlements) shows the best use of forest cover in the last two decades.

Table 3. Changes in the area not available for cultivation*

Code-District	Five-year average				% change	Exponential trend
	1974-79	1979-84	1984-89	1989-94	1974-94
32 Almora	62056	51153	46624	49207	-23.39	0.9850
34 Nainital	36075	36425	36186	37070	9.08	1.0020
29 Tehri	22516	16033	18298	23029	-5.38	1.0032
28 Dehradun	17378	17935	18095	18713	6.57	1.0044
33 Pithoragarh	35304	41471	39433	41080	26.12	1.0088
30 Chamoli	136787	195914	197104	182103	49.97	1.0191
31 Pauri	31795	39089	45694	51697	72.31	1.0321
27 Uttarkashi	9050	10205	22013	26694	209.70	1.0791
Uttaranchal	350960	408225	423447	429593	29.12	1.0131

*Includes area under non-agricultural uses, barren and unculturable land

        The land under area not available for cultivation is increasing in almost all the districts, except Almora, which is the best example of converting a significant amount of area not available for cultivation to cultivable land in the region. The Uttarkashi district situated in the high mountainous region shows that the land not available for cultivation is increasing very fast.
 

Figure 4. Changing pattern of other uncultivated area		Figure 5. Changing pattern in fallow area

Table 4. Changes in the other uncultivated land* excluding fellow land

Code-District	Five-year average				% change	Exponential trend
	1974-79	1979-84	1984-89	1989-94	1974-94
27 Uttarkashi	42951	47113	34052	30263	-26.60	0.9750
30 Chamoli	126827	88770	137376	90082	-33.61	0.9885
34 Nainital	48406	47422	41484	46933	-7.12	0.9931
28 Dehradun	17250	16284	16036	16377	-9.82	0.9963
29 Tehri	73233	80023	80803	75016	4.00	1.0019
32 Almora	153406	159531	168675	165947	10.20	1.0058
33 Pithoragarh	147123	165957	186570	179571	30.70	1.0144
31 Pauri	82213	113319	129805	149149	100.17	1.0391
Uttaranchal	691409	718419	794802	753340	10.80	1.0070

*Includes permanent pastures & other grazing lands, land under miscellaneous tree, crops & groves not included in net sown area and culturable wasteland

        The utilization pattern of other uncultivated land shows the major dispersion among the districts. The districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Nainital and Dehradun show a decreasing trend whereas Pauri, Pithoragarh, Almora and Tehri show an increasing trend of using other uncultivated land including pastures and culturable wasteland. Pauri Garhwal district shows a steady increase of uncultivated land.

Table 5. Changes in fallow land*

Code-District	Five-year average				% change	Exponential trend
	1974-79	1979-84	1984-89	1989-94	1974-94
30 Chamoli	2614	1742	1726	1696	-39.83	0.9753
32 Almora	10207	7484	6606	8333	-24.99	0.9858
34 Nainital	8851	8980	9464	10496	0.28	1.0107
33 Pithoragarh	10520	10276	10331	13704	34.25	1.0153
28 Dehradun	5306	6230	6480	7147	44.03	1.0181
29 Tehri	4655	5636	5986	8373	88.28	1.0358
27 Uttarkashi	1901	2472	2769	3865	123.44	1.0446
31 Pauri	8817	10218	13103	17973	112.05	1.0468
Uttaranchal	52872	53038	56465	71586	32.27	1.0184

*Includes current fallow and fallow lands other than current fallow

        Except Chamoli and Almora the fallow land of all the districts of Uttaranchal has been increasing steadily, though it has a very little impact on overall landuse pattern of the region as the fallow lands occupies a very small portion (<2%) of total reporting area. The fallow land of Chamoli district has decreased steadily, whereas in Pauri Garhwal it increased significantly.

Table 6. Changes in net sown area

Code-District	Five-year average				% change	Exponential trend
	1974-79	1979-84	1984-89	1989-94	1974-94
31 Pauri	102914	101079	98511	89568	-14.44	0.9913
27 Uttarkashi	33512	30495	33081	30519	-23.98	0.9952
29 Tehri	74568	73182	70898	70925	-5.57	0.9967
28 Dehradun	56067	57006	55718	53461	-2.01	0.9972
33 Pithoragarh	72251	72700	72882	72494	-7.09	0.9979
32 Almora	111598	117367	105605	111184	2.05	0.9982
34 Nainital	201417	205979	203091	204383	4.44	1.0005
30 Chamoli	43195	46264	43463	46463	-3.51	1.0021
Uttaranchal	695523	704072	683249	678997	-3.67	0.9978

        The very small portion of net sown area of this hilly state is reducing further, as most of the districts show a declining trend of the area. The increasing trend of all other major landuse categories of the state are mainly contributing towards the decline of net sown area as a whole. Pauri Garhwal is the worst affected district, as the area is decreasing steadily. On the other hand the largest district Chamoli is showing a marginal change in net sown area over past two decades.

POPULATION PRESSURE ON LAND RESOURCES
The population of Uttaranchal has increased 22.55% in 1991 over 1981 census, whereas cultivators has increased 12.22% during the decade. As a result the percentage contribution of cultivars to the total population in the region has decreased significantly. The dis-proporsonate increase in cultivars has a negative impact on agricultural density. The percentage changes in population, physiological and agricultural density in 1991 over 1981 census are shown in figures 7-9 respectively.
 

Figure 6. Changing pattern of net sown area		Figure 7. Change in population density

Table 7. Changing population density, physiological density and agricultural density of Uttaranchal

Code-District	Population	% cultivators		Population density		Physiological density			Agricultural density
	1991	1981	1991	1981	1991		1981	1991		1981	1991
34 Nainital	1540174 (25.99)	14.16	13.31 [-5.97]	167	227 [35.93]		515	693 [34.56]		73	93 [27.40]
28 Dehradun	1025679 (17.31)	9.10	7.27 [-20.06]	247	332 [34.41]		1253	1884 [50.36]		114	123 [7.89]
32 Almora	836617 (14.12)	23.08	30.76 [33.28]	141	155 [9.93]		494	546 [10.53]		114	168 [47.37]
31 Pauri	682535 (11.52)	26.25	19.92 [-24.14]	116	125 [7.76]		421	448 [6.41]		111	91 [-18.02]
29 Tehri	580153 (9.79)	38.03	30.85 [-18.88]	113	131 [15.93]		653	804 [23.12]		248	235 [-5.24]
33Pithoragarh	566408 (9.56)	29.94	30.15 [0.69]	55	64 [16.36]		469	500 [6.61]		140	164 [17.14]
30 Chamoli	454871 (7.68)	35.31	30.92 [-12.43]	41	50 [21.95]		422	557 [31.99]		149	159 [6.71]
27 Uttarkashi	239709 (4.04)	41.03	37.20 [-9.32]	24	30 [25]		521	652 [25.14]		214	244 [14.02]
Uttaranchal	5926146 (100)	23.08	21.14 [-8.43]	95	116 [22.11]		543	669 [23.20]		125	141 [12.80]

Figures within () indicate the percentage contribution of population by individual district to the total population of Uttaranchal; and figures within [ ] indicate the percentage change of respective parameters in 1991 over 1981 census.
 

Figure 8. Change in physiological density		Figure 9. Change in agricultural density

CONCLUSION
As the increase in population density has aggravated the physiological density, which is the more meaningful population measure as more than 80% of the workforce in the region is dependent on primary sector (with few exception, like Dehradun). As physiological density measure the people supported by unit area of agricultural land, so difference in this density also represent the differences of population pressure on crops production in unit area. The higher physiological density (>600) of Dehradun, Tehri, Nainital, and Uttarkashi indicates the higher population pressure on the limited resources. Nainital is the only district where the physiological as well as agricultural density has increased significantly indicate the higher pressure on agricultural land together with dependency on other sectors. Almora and Pithoragarh of Kumaun and Pauri Garhwal represent a moderate physiological density (400-600) and low (<200) agricultural density. The highest physiological density of Dehradun and a very low agricultural density indicates most of the people are dependent on other than agricultural sector. The higher difference between physiological density and agricultural density indicates most of the land area is unsuitable for extensive agriculture, besides differences in agricultural density account for economic disparities in the region.