<p>Land is a crucial resource under extreme pressure getting degraded due to overexploitation by increased urbanisation and high population growth. Thus, the risk from land degradation is significantly posing a serious threat to human lives by rendering land unproductive challenging food security and sustainability. In this backdrop, this paper attempted to assess the land degradation in semi-arid environment in Badagaon block of Jhansi district. The study is accomplished by finding the change in land use cover, loss of vegetation and soil erosion. Field survey is also conducted to identify the types of land degradation. The findings revealed that cropland increased by 90 per cent from 1996 to 2024 followed by built up area at the expense of natural vegetation and barren rocky lands got reduced by 24 per cent claimed by mining activities. Normalised difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis showed that there is a drastic change in health of vegetation as evident from 0.96 (highest) indice value in 1996 to 0.45 in 2024. The soil erosion computed using RUSLE equation revealed higher erosion in agricultural area with moderate slopes as well as near-by river banks. Mainly sheet erosion, mining induced degradation, surface ponding and industrial waste identified using field survey have caused irreparable ecological damage. This intensified land degradation needs intervention such as soil conservation, effective water management strategies and continuous geo-monitoring of land degradation. This study would be beneficial for policy makers and stakeholders for implementing effective land use management strategies to tackle this environmental issue.</p> Graphic abstract <p></p>