Major functions and objectives as per the Allocation of Business Rules
- Land reforms, land tenures, land records, consolidation of holding and other related matters.
- Administration of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894) and matters relating to acquisition of land for purposes of the Union.
- Recovery of claims in a State in respect of taxes and other public demands, including arrears of land revenue and sums recoverable as such arrears, arising outside that State.
- Land, that is to say, collection of rents, transfer and alienation of land, land improvement and agricultural loans excluding acquisition of non-agricultural land or buildings, town planning improvements.
- Land revenue, including the assessment and collection of revenue, survey of revenue purposes, alienation of revenues.
- Duties in respect of succession to agricultural land.
- National Wastelands Development Board.
- National Land Use and Wasteland Development Council.
- Promotion of rural employment through Wastelands Development.
- Promotion of production of fuel wood, fodder and timber on non-forest lands, including private wastelands.
- Research and development of appropriate low cost technologies for increasing productivity of wastelands in sustainable ways.
- Inter-departmental and inter-disciplinary coordination in programme planning and implementation of the Wastelands Development Programme including training.
- Promotion of people’s participating and public cooperation and coordination of efforts of Panchayats and voluntary and non-Government agencies for Wastelands Development.
- Drought Prone Area Programmes.
- Desert Development Programmes.
- The Registration Act, 1908 (16 of 1908).
- (i) National Mission of Bio-fuels;
(ii) Bio-fuel plant production, propagation and commercial plantation of bio-fuel plants under various schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Panchayati Raj; and
(iii) Identification of non-forest land wastelands in consultation with; the State Governments, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Panchayati Raj for bio-fuel plant production.