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Activities

I) Date of creation of the Department:
Soil & Land Use Survey of India (SLUSI), earlier All India Soil & Land Use Survey (AISLUS) established in 1958, is a subordinate office of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The foundation of the national level soil surveys in India was laid in 1953 when the Government of India invited Dr. F. F. Rickens, Soil Specialist from USA to advice on organizing soil survey programmes in the country. Subsequently in 1955, the All India Soil Survey Scheme was initiated under the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi to carry out reconnaissance soil surveys in the country. Four Regional Centres designated as Alluvial Soil Region, Black Soil Region, Red & Lateritic Soil Region- I and Red & Lateritic Soil Region- II were established at Delhi, Nagpur, Calcutta and Bangalore, respectively. In the year 1958, the Scheme was enlarged by integrating land use survey scheme of the Central Soil Conservation Board of the Department of Agriculture for conducting detailed soil surveys in RVP catchment areas to provide detailed information on soil and land characteristics for planning and execution of effective soil conservation measures. Thus, the original Scheme was renamed as All India Soil & Land Use Survey (AISLUS) in 1958 and its responsibilities were enlarged to cover detailed soil surveys for soil conservation activities.

It is an apex organization in the country which deals with Soil Survey and Land Resource Mapping. SLUSI is primarily engaged in conducting soil survey of different intensities in order to provide scientific database for development programmes, encompassing soil & water conservation planning, watershed development & scientific land use planning.

II) Functions allocated to it at the time of its creation with its organizational structure:
“The main function of the organization at the time of its creation was to conduct Standard Detailed Soil and Land Use Surveys of medium intensity on village basis to provide basic information on soils for micro level development through soil conservation”.


III) Subsequent changes made in the organizational structure from time to time with dates:
The subsequent changes that were made in the organizational structure from time to time are as follows:

YEAR Activity
1956 Launching of the All India Soil Survey scheme for special soil surveys of high intensity for rehabilitation of displaced persons and area of special interest.
1958 Establishment of All India Soil and Land Use Survey (AISLUS) organization to conduct Standard Detailed Soil and Land Use Surveys of medium intensity on village basis to provide basic information on soils for micro level development through soil conservation. The organization had four regional centres i.e. Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore & Nagpur.
1961 Conduct Reconnaissance Soil Survey for assessment of soil resources for rehabilitation purposes.
1969 The organization was bifurcated in 1969 between the Department of Agriculture and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. In the year 1969, a decision was taken to separate research and developmental activities of soil survey programme with the effect that a part of the organization concerned with developmental programme, such as, detailed soil surveys in RVP catchment areas, soil surveys for rehabilitation programme, soil surveys of problematic areas including saline-alkaline, water logged lands and ravine areas was retained with the Department of Agriculture, whereas the part dealing with research activities concerned with reconnaissance soil surveys of the country was transferred to Indian council of Agriculture Research. Thus, the organization (AISLUS) under Department of Agriculture was restructured in 1969 with a mandate to carry out soil surveys of varied intensities and promote modern techniques of survey operations including aerial photo-interpretation (and also remote sensing) to meet the data needs of the developmental programmes.Sample soil surveys on district basis for assessing soil and land resources as well as preparing problem inventory for formulating developmental programme at Taluka (Tehsil)
1970 Published Soil Survey Manual.
1972 Launching of Rapid Reconnaissance Surveys in the catchments of River Valley Projects (RVP) and Flood Prone Rivers (FPR) for identification and demarcation of Priority sub-watersheds in the catchments based on adjudged sediment yield/runoff potential.
Published Technical Bulletin on Hydrologic Grouping of 200 soil series.
1973 Launching of Detailed soil survey in the selected priority subwatersheds of RVP/FPR catchments to provide a sound data base on soils for planning and execution of soil and water conservation programme that are consistent with soil characteristics and terrain features of the area.
1975 Survey of Ravines and Salt affected lands for recommending suitable ameliorative measures. High intensity Detailed Soil Survey in abandoned coalmines area for restoring their wasted potential.
1976 Expansion of the organization has been taken place with the opening of Three Sub-Centres at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Ranchi. 
1981 Published Technical Bulletin on Infiltration Studies of 75 Soil Series.
1982 Remote Sensing Centre has been set-up at HQ for application of Remote Sensing Techniques in Agriculture Development under FAO / UNDP Programme.
1984 Collaboration with Indian Space Research Organization in IRS Utilization Programme.
  High intensity Detailed Soil Survey in abandoned coalmines area for restoring their wasted potential.
1987 Collaboration with National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad for Mapping of Salt Affected Soils using LANDSAT data.
1988 Mapping of Wastelands in selected districts using Remote Sensing Techniques in collaboration with NRSA, Hyderabad.
1990 Shifting of Nagpur Regional Centre to its own building at Katol Road, Nagpur
  Published Watershed Atlas of India on 1:1 m scale.
1991 Soil Mapping in selected drought prone districts using Remote Sensing Techniques under IMSD project of Department of Space.
  Published Manual for Rapid Reconnaissance Survey for Priority Delineation.
1992 Remote Sensing Centre has been up-graded with advanced Image Analysis System, Geographic Information System and Relational Data Base Management System in collaboration with FAO/ UNDP.
1993 Rapid Reconnaissance Survey for identification and demarcation of priority watersheds in the Non-RVP and FPR catchment areas to generate data base on vulnerable watersheds.
Children Awareness Programme on Soil Survey and Soil & Water Conservation to celebrate the National Land Conservation Week.
Consultancy services on identification and demarcation of vulnerable watersheds for irrigation project of Govt. of Uttar Pradesh.
1994 Launching of Land Degradation Mapping on district basis using Remote Sensing Techniques
Development of model for Watershed Prioritization using Geographic Information System and Image analysis system under FAO / UNDP programme.
Consultancy Project for generation data base on priority watersheds of Tilari Catchment from Irrigation Department, Maharashtra.
Consultancy Project for generation data base on priority watersheds of Eastern Ganga Canal Catchment from Sharda Sahayak Command Area Development Project, Uttar Pradesh.
1995 Development of Digital model for District based Land Degradation Mapping using Image Analysis System.
Consultancy Project for generation data base on priority watersheds of Lower Wunna Catchment from Irrigation Department, Maharashtra.
1996 Development of Digital Watershed Atlas of India using GIS.
Digital Mapping of Waterlogged areas on State basis using RS data.
Designing of Data Base Structure for development of Soil Information System.
1997 Launching of regular Short Course Training on soil and Land Resources for Integrated Watershed Development for State User Departments.
Consultancy project on Development of spatial data base for priority watersheds of Tultuli catchment from Irrigation Department, Maharashtra.
1998 Consultancy project on Development of spatial data base for priority watersheds of Lalnala catchment from Irrigation Department, Maharashtra.
1999 Organised One day conference in Soil Resource Mapping for integrated watershed management on 28th September 1999 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Consultancy project on monitoring and evaluation of the impact of watershed management under NWDRPA programme using Remote Sensing and GIS.
Consultancy project on Development of spatial data base for priority watersheds of Jigaon catchment from Irrigation Department, Maharashtra.
Consultancy project for generation data base on priority watersheds of Koel-Karo catchment from National Hydro Electric Power Corporation, Faridabad, Haryana.
Published Technical Bulletin on Status of Soil Survey in India.
2000 Inauguration of office building of Ahmedabad Sub-Centre on 28th January, 2000.
Inauguration of office building of Kolkata Regional Centre on 31st May, 2000.
Published Technical Bulletin on Working Manual for Soil Analysis.
2001 Inauguration of office building of Delhi Regional Centre (North) Noida on 28th May, 2001.
Inauguration of office building of Bangalore Regional Centre on 10th July, 2001.
Released Technical Bulletin on Soil and Land Information for Watershed Development.
Consultancy project on Development of Decision Support System using Remote Sensing and GIS.
Printing & Publication cell has been upgraded with A-3 size Digital Printer Model 43S.
2002 Small scale Desertification Mapping of Cold Desert area using RS and GIS in collaboration with Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad.
Organised one week training programme at Remote Sensing Centre, Noida on Soil Information System.
Computerization of all the Centre and training to the staff in phases has been implemented under DACNET project of Ministry of Information Technology, Govt. of India.
Published “info-aislus”.
2003 Consultancy project on Soil Mapping and Development of Digital Soil Data from U.P. Remote Sensing Application Centre.
Consultancy project on Soil Resource Mapping and development of digital soil data base as per NRIS Standards of all the districts of M.P. State from MAPCOST, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. 
Organised one day workshop on development of Digital Soil Data Base at Remote Sensing Centre, Noida.
Consultancy project on Reconciliation of Watershed Boundary delineated by Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Development, MP and AISLUS from Narmada Valley Development Authority, Bhopal.
2005 Consultancy project from Panchayat & Rural Development Department, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh for preparation of Perspective Plan for watershed development in Madhya Pradesh.
Agreement between DAC (SLUSI) and NIC for development of Digital Spatial Data Base for GIS based application under G2G domain for planning purposes and Hoisting of GIS based web services.  
Published Manual – The Right to Information Act, 2005. 
2006 Consultancy project on Soil fertility mapping from Govt. of NCT Delhi.
Consultancy project for Detailed soil survey of Markapur Mandal, Prakasham District from Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh.
Undertake consultancy project on Soil Resource Mapping from Himachal Pradesh Council of Science and Technology, Shimla.
Construction of Office Building and Laboratory has been initiated at Hyderabad and Ranchi. 
Released Revised Edition of Working Manual for Soil Analysis.
2007 The organization has been renamed as Soil and Land Use Survey of India (SLUSI) vide Part I; Section-2 of the Gazette of India dated 14-20 July, 2007.
2008 Infrastructural upgradation of Kolkata, Nagpur and Bangalore Regional Centre for Application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Soil Survey and Mapping.
2009 Published Microwatershed Atlas of Uttarakhand State.
2010 Infrastructural upgradation of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Ranchi Centre for Application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Soil Survey and Mapping.
Published Compendium on Soil & Land Resource Mapping for Integrated Watershed Management.
Published Manual – The Right to Information Act, 2005 (Revised Edition) dated 8th March, 2011.
SLUSI website (http://slusi.dacnet.nic.in) is hosted by NIC and redesigned in the year 2010 with the latest information to make it more interactive to the stakeholders and users.
Project for Impact Evaluation of Watershed Development Programme in Shifting Cultivation areas of North Eastern States using Remote Sensing & GIS Techniques was undertaken by SLUSI.
2011 Consultancy project on Soil Resource Mapping of Palakkad & Eranamkulam districts, Kerala from Kerala State Land Use Board.
2012 Restructuring the mandate of SLUSI in the context of the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) envisaged by DAC, Ministry of Agriculture for the 12th Plan period.
During XII Plan period (2012-17), Detailed Soil Survey (DSS) will be the core activity of SLUSI. DSS should be carried out using large scale Satellite data on 1:12,500 scale.
Housing for Technical Support Group and hiring of professionals/consultants for providing support to NMSA.
Utilization of Remote Sensing and GIS facilities for real time satellite based monitoring and evaluation of development projects under NMSA and other national programmes.
Establishment of Nodal Soil Analytical Laboratory at Noida centre.
Consultancy project on Soil Resource Mapping of Wayanad, Kannur & Kottayam districts, Kerala from Kerala State Land Use Board.
Inauguration of office building of Hyderabad Centre on 5th January, 2012.
2013 Consultancy project on Soil Resource Mapping of Thrissur district, Kerala from Kerala State Land Use Board.
Consultancy project on Desertification Status Mapping of India using RS & GIS in collaboration with Space Application Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad.
Inauguration of office building of Ranchi Centre on 11th February, 2013.
Uploaded Platform free Microwatershed Atlases of 9 States (Haryana, Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Tripura & Goa) in department website.
2014 Consultancy project on Soil Resource Mapping of Thiruvananthapuram & Idukki districts, Kerala from Kerala State Land Use Board.
Uploaded Platform free Microwatershed Atlases of 4 States (Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Mizoram, Kerala) and Puducherry U/T in department website.
2015 Detailed Soil Survey has been carried out using high intensity Satellite data on 1:10,000 scale.
The organization has brought a paradigm shift in soil survey methodology by opting Onscreen Satellite Data Interpretation Technique” through Geographical Information System (GIS).
Consultancy project on Soil Resource Mapping of Kollam & Kozhikode districts, Kerala from Kerala State Land Use Board.
Started in-house training i.e. "Geo-informatics for Natural Resources Management" for field officials and "Digitization, Maps scanning etc" for cartography staff.
2016 As per Central Government Digital India Initiative, SLUSI has shifted all its Manual Cartography work into Digital Cartography using ArcGIS / QGIS software. All the old maps, which were in hard copy, are now being converted into soft copy.
Published two new training manuals i.e.User manual on Development of Digital database” and “User Manual- Satellite Data interpretation”.
Consultancy project on Soil Resource Mapping of Kasaragod, Alappuzha & Pathanamthitta districts, Kerala from Kerala State Land Use Board.
Uploaded Platform free Microwatershed Atlases of Himachal Pradesh & Jharkhand States and 3 U/T i.e. Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Delhi in department website.
2017 Uploaded Platform free Microwatershed Atlases of Bihar State in department website.
SLUSI has generated database for priority categorization in 239.37 million hectare (72.79%) areas in the country. The database of Rapid Reconnaissance Survey & priority categorization aids in developing district level perspective plan for employment generation in various conservation activities to ensure livelihood security & sustainable ecological development of natural resources.
Organization is now engaged in conducting Detailed Soil Survey (DSS) on 1:10,000 scale in rainfed districts of the country through its seven centres situated in different states. It has already generated database on   Detailed Soil Survey (DSS) in identified priority microwatersheds in the rainfed districts on 1: 4,000 to 15,000 scale (Presently on 1: 10,000 scale) using cadastral maps/ Satellite Data / aerial photographs for generating village level soil and water conservation plan. SLUSI has surveyed and generated database an area of 15.69 million ha areas in DSS under priority sub/micro watersheds of   Rainfed districts of various states. 
SLUSI has also carried out Soil Resource Mapping (SRM) on 1: 50,000 scale in area of 130.27 million ha areas in 266 districts of the country. This data is very useful for planners and administrators for district level planning. This project was in consultancy mode and funded by Department of Space, Government of India & others State/Central user departments. 

 

IV) Allocation and re-allocation of functions with reasons for such changes:

The main function of the organization at the time of its creation i.e. 1958 was to conduct Standard Detailed Soil and Land Use Surveys of medium intensity on village basis to provide basic information on soils for micro level development through soil conservation.In the year 1969, a decision was taken to separate research and developmental activities of soil survey programme with the effect that a part of the organization concerned with developmental programme, such as, detailed soil surveys in RVP catchment areas, soil surveys for rehabilitation programme, soil surveys of problematic areas including saline-alkaline, water logged lands and ravine areas was retained with the Department of Agriculture, whereas the part dealing with research activities concerned with reconnaissance soil surveys of the country was transferred to Indian council of Agriculture Research.


The major functions of the organization, since 1959 are as follows:-

1 Rapid Reconnaissance Surveys (1:50K scale) in the catchments of 28 River Valley Projects (RVPs) and 8 Flood Prone Rivers (FPRs) for prioritizing subwatersheds of the catchments for soil conservation programmes based on adjudged sediment yield/runoff potential.
2 Detailed soil surveys (1:4K/1:8K scale) in the selected priority watersheds to provide a sound data base for planning and execution of actual preventive and ameliorative soil and water conservation measures consistent with soil characteristics and terrain features of the area.
3 Detailed soil surveys of degraded and problem soils of salt affected lands, ravines, waterlogged areas affected by shifting cultivation etc. for restoration of waste potential for productive purposes.
4 Sample soil surveys on district basis for soil and land resources as well as problems inventory for formulating developmental programmes at Taluka/Tehsil level.
5 Coordination of soil survey activities with States and other Central Soil Survey organizations and participation in national level correlation of soils.
6 District wise land degradation mapping on 1:50,000 scale using remote sensing technique.
7 Collaboration with National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Space Application Centre (SAC) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in Joint Experiment Programmes (JEP); since 1982 on National Natural Resources Management System(NNRMS) based upon Remote Sensing Satellites Utilization Programme (IRS-UP) and National Mission Projects.
8 Development and promotion of space borne remote sensing techniques for application in mapping and monitoring of soils, land use, land degradation etc. and in identifying priority subwatersheds as well.
9 Development of map library for RVP/FPR catchments using GIS and RDBMS.
10 Digitization of priority subwatersheds of RVP/FPR catchments and generation of Digital Watershed atlas of India.
11 Development of Soil Information System for data banking using RDBMS.
12 Documentation and updating of soil survey status of the country for providing preview of the nation-wide availability of data to draw realistic balance sheets for soil survey programs.
13 Consultancy projects related to watersheds prioritization, monitoring and evaluation of the impact of watershed development, soil resource mapping and development of digital soil data base using Remote Sensing and GIS.
14 Transfer of technology through orientation training programs and conducting awareness programs for school children on soil and land resources through videos programs and practical demonstration of soil survey and soil testing techniques.
15 Biannual Short Course Training for Officers of State User Departments.
16 Delineation and codification of watersheds up to microwatershed level on 1:50000 scale giving a unique national code to each microwatershed.
17 Development of platform free geospatial database for dissemination of state wise microwatershed information to the local user and to upload the same in SLUSI website.

 

 

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