Land Use Land Cover change in Bikaner District of Indira Gandhi Canal Area using Remote Sensed Data: A Tehsil Level Analysis

Indira Gandhi Canal in the state of Rajasthan has proved a lifeline, in terms of providing drinking water and irrigation. Covering almost seven districts of Rajasthan, the canal has drastically caused a change in land use land cover in northern section more. This study focuses on Bikaner district, where Canal itself covers almost five percent of total geographical area. Secondary data from government sources have been substantiated with computed data from remote sensing. Unsupervised classification has been done for the satellite images in GIS environment. District level analysis shows a remarkable increase in Agricultural land area and a simultaneous decrease in barren land. To depict the detailed pattern study further studies the tehsil level land use land cover change for two time periods, which signify pre and post the canal construction. District level change might not be effective in assessing the land use land cover change by the canal, but tehsil level analysis clearly depicts a pattern, where tehsils in proximity to the canal experienced greater change in land us land cover in favour of an increase in Agricultural land.