In India, population growth and rapid industrialization concurrent with an ever increasing quest for better quality of life
have resulted in a growing demand for energy and infrastructure, leading to significant impact on the country’s environment and ecology. Resources such as natural forests are particularly exploited through agricultural expansion, timber extraction, monoculture plantations, rail and road networks, hydroelectric projects, mineral exploration and mining. Apart from these, the Indian forests form the livelihood base for nearly 173,000 villages1. The consequences of overexploitation of forest resources include depletion of natural resources, soil erosion and land degradation, lower productivity, groundwater depletion, reduction in species diversity and an overall increase in the extent of wasteland. At present, it is estimated that approximately 68.35 million hectares (m ha) of the total geographic area of our country is considered as wasteland, of which nearly 50% of the land is degraded non-forest land2.