The planning commission of India has identified 150 most dis-advantaged (backward) districts of the country on the basis ofprevalence of poverty indicated by scheduled caste and scheduledtribes (SC/ST) population, agricultural productivity per worker andagricultural wage rate. An overlay of the map of these districts overthe soil and land degradation map of India brings out that most ofselected districts are geographically concentrated in the regionswith either inhospitable terrain and/or degraded land. Many ofthese are regions where forest has been denuded for cultivationpurpose and is inhabited mostly by tribal.