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Contents Contents Contents Contents Contents Foreword iii 1. Resources and Development 1 2. Forest and Wildlife Resources 14 3. Water Resources 23 4. Agriculture 34 5. Minerals and Energy Resources 50 6. Manufacturing Industries 65 7. Life Lines of National Economy 81 Appendix–I 94 Appendix–II 95 Appendix–III 97 Glossary 98 Download From: http://iasexamportal.com

Geography 10th-ncert

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Page 2: Geography 10th-ncert

Everything available in our environmentwhich can be used to satisfy our needs,provided, it is technologically accessible,economically feasible and culturallyacceptable can be termed as ‘Resource’.

The process of transformation of thingsavailable in our environment involves aninter - dependent relationship betweennature, technology and institutions. Humanbeings interact with nature throughtechnology and create institutions toaccelerate their economic development.

Do you think that resources are free giftsof nature as is assumed by many? Theyare not. Resources are a function of humanactivities. Human beings themselves areessential components of resources. Theytransform material avai lable in ourenvironment into resources and use them.These resources can be classified in thefollowing ways–(a) On the basis of origin – biotic and abiotic

(b) On the basis of exhaustibility – renewableand non-renewable

(c) On the basis of ownership – individual,community, national and international

(d) On the basis of status of development –potential, developed stock and reserves.

Can you identify and name the various itemsused in making life comfortable in ourvillages and towns. List the items and namethe material used in their making.

Fig. 1.1: Interdependent relationship betweennature, technology and institutions

Fig. 1.2: Classification of resources

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Page 3: Geography 10th-ncert

2 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

TYPES OF RESOURCES

On the Basis of Origin

Biotic Resources: These are obtained frombiosphere and have life such as human beings,flora and fauna, fisheries, livestock etc.

Abiotic Resources: All those things which arecomposed of non-living things are called abioticresources. For example, rocks and metals.

On the Basis of Exhaustibility

Renewable Resources: The resourceswhich can be renewed or reproduced byphysical, chemical or mechanical processesare known as renewable or replenishableresources. For example, solar and windenergy, water, forests and wildlife, etc. Therenewable resource may further be dividedinto continuous or flow (Fig.1.2).

Non-Renewable Resources: These occur overa very long geological time. Minerals and fossilfuels are examples of such resources. Theseresources take millions of years in theirformation. Some of the resources like metalsare recyclable and some like fossil fuels cannotbe recycled and get exhausted with their use.

On the Basis of Ownership

Individual Resources: These are also ownedprivately by individuals. Many farmers ownland which is allotted to them by governmentagainst the payment of revenue. In villagesthere are people with land ownership but thereare many who are landless. Urban people ownplots, houses and other property. Plantation,pasture lands, ponds, water in wells etc. aresome of the examples of resources ownershipby individuals. Make a list of resources ownedby your household.

Community Owned Resources: There areresources which are accessible to all themembers of the community. Village commons(grazing grounds, burial grounds, villageponds, etc.) public parks, picnic spots,

playgrounds in urban areas are de factoaccessible to all the people living there.

National Resources: Technically, all theresources belong to the nation. The countryhas legal powers to acquire even privateproperty for public good. You might have seenroads, canals, railways being constructed onfields owned by some individuals. UrbanDevelopment Authorities get empowered by thegovernment to acquire land. All the minerals,water resources, forests, wildlife, land withinthe political boundaries and oceanic area upto12 nautical miles (19.2 km) from the coasttermed as territorial water and resourcestherein belong to the nation.

International Resources: There areinternational institutions which regulate someresources. The oceanic resources beyond 200km of the Exclusive Economic Zone belong toopen ocean and no individual country canutilise these without the concurrence ofinternational institutions.

Do you know that India has got the right tomine manganese nodules from the bed ofthe Indian Ocean from that area which liesbeyond the exclusive economic zone. Identifysome other resources which are internationalin nature.

On the Basis of the Status of Development

Potential Resources: Resources which arefound in a region, but have not been utilised.For example, the western parts of Indiaparticularly Rajasthan and Gujarat haveenormous potential for the development of windand solar energy, but so far these have not beendeveloped properly.

Developed Resources: Resources which aresurveyed and their quality and quantity havebeen determined for utilisation. Thedevelopment of resources depends ontechnology and level of their feasibility.

Stock: Materials in the environment whichhave the potential to satisfy human needs buthuman beings do not have the appropriatetechnology to access these, are included among

Identify at least two resources from eachcategory.

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Page 4: Geography 10th-ncert

3RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

stock. For example, water is a compound oftwo inflammable gases; hydrogen and oxygen,which can be used as a rich source of energy.But we do not have the required technical‘know-how’ to use them for this purpose.Hence, it can be considered as stock.

Reserves are the subset of the stock, whichcan be put into use with the help of existingtechnical ‘know-how’ but their use has notbeen started. These can be used for meetingfuture requirements. River water can be usedfor generating hydroelectric power butpresently, it is being utilised only to a limitedextent. Thus, the water in the dams, forests etc.is a reserve which can be used in the future.

An equitable distribution of resources hasbecome essential for a sustained quality of lifeand global peace. If the present trend of resourcedepletion by a few individuals and countriescontinues, the future of our planet is in danger.

Therefore, resource planning is essential forsustainable existence of all forms of life.Sustainable existence is a component ofsustainable development.

Prepare a list of stock and reserve, resourcesthat you are familiar with from your local area.

DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES

Resources are vital for human survival as wellas for maintaining the quality of life. It wasbelieved that resources are free gifts of nature.As a result, human beings used themindiscriminately and this has led to thefollowing major problems.

• Depletion of resources for satisfying thegreed of few individuals.

• Accumulation of resources in few hands, which,in turn, divided the society into two segmentsi.e. haves and have nots or rich and poor.

• Indiscriminate exploitation of resources hasled to global ecological crises such as, globalwarming, ozone layer depletion, environmentalpollution and land degradation.

1. Imagine, if the oil supply gets exhaustedone day, how would this affect our life style?

2. Plan a survey in your colony/village toinvestigate people’s attitude towardsrecycling of the domestic/agriculturalwastes. Ask questions about :(a) What do they think about resources

they use?(b) What is their opinion about the

wastes, and its utilisation?(c) Collage your results.

Sustainable developmentSustainable economic development means‘development should take place withoutdamaging the environment, and developmentin the present should not compromise with theneeds of the future generations.’

Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992In June 1992, more than 100 heads of statesmet in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the firstInternational Earth Summit. The Summit wasconvened for addressing urgent problems ofenvironmental protection and socio-economic development at the global level.The assembled leaders signed theDeclaration on Global Climatic Change andBiological Diversity. The Rio Conventionendorsed the global Forest Principles andadopted Agenda 21 for achievingSustainable Development in the 21st century.

Agenda 21It is the declaration signed by world leadersin 1992 at the United Nations Conferenceon Environment and Development (UNCED),which took place at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Itaims at achieving global sustainabledevelopment. It is an agenda to combatenvironmental damage, poverty, diseasethrough global co-operation on commoninterests, mutual needs and sharedresponsibilities. One major objective of theAgenda 21 is that every local governmentshould draw its own local Agenda 21.

RESOURCE PLANNING

Planning is the widely accepted strategy forjudicious use of resources. It has importance

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4 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

in a country like India, which has enormousdiversity in the availability of resources. Thereare regions which are rich in certain types ofresources but are deficient in some otherresources. There are some regions which canbe considered self sufficient in terms of theavailability of resources and there are someregions which have acute shortage of some vitalresources. For example, the states ofJharkhand, Chhattisgarh and MadhyaPradesh are rich in minerals and coal deposits.Arunachal Pradesh has abundance of waterresources but lacks in infrastructuraldevelopment. The state of Rajasthan is very wellendowed with solar and wind energy but lacksin water resources. The cold desert of Ladakhis relatively isolated from the rest of thecountry. It has very rich cultural heritage butit is deficient in water, infrastructure and somevital minerals. This calls for balanced resourceplanning at the national, state, regional andlocal levels.

The availability of resources is a necessarycondition for the development of any region, butmere availability of resources in the absence ofcorresponding changes in technology andinstitutions may hinder development. There aremany regions in our country that are rich inresources but these are included in economicallybackward regions. On the contrary there aresome regions which have a poor resource basebut they are economically developed.

Can you name some resource rich buteconomically backward regions and someresource poor but economically developedregions? Give reasons for such a situation.

The history of colonisation reveals that richresources in colonies were the main attractionsfor the foreign invaders. It was primarily thehigher level of technological development of thecolonising countries that helped them toexploit resources of other regions and establishtheir supremacy over the colonies. Therefore,resources can contribute to development onlywhen they are accompanied by appropriatetechnological development and institutionalchanges. India has experienced all this indifferent phases of colonisation. Therefore, inIndia, development, in general, and resourcedevelopment in particular does not only involvethe availability of resources, but also thetechnology, quality of human resources andthe historical experiences of the people.

Conservation of Resources: Resources arevital for any developmental activity. Butirrational consumption and over-utilisationof resources may lead to socio-economic andenvironmental problems. To overcome theseproblems, resource conservation at variouslevels is important. This had been the mainconcern of the leaders and thinkers in thepast. For example, Gandhiji was very apt invoicing his concern about resourceconservation in these words: “There is enoughfor everybody’s need and not for any body’sgreed.” He placed the greedy and selfishindividuals and exploitative nature of moderntechnology as the root cause for resourcedepletion at the global level. He was againstmass production and wanted to replace it withthe production by the masses.

Prepare a list of resources found in your stateand also identify the resources that areimportant but deficit in your state.

What resources are being developed in yoursurroundings by the community/villagepanchayats/ward level communities with thehelp of community participation?

Resource Planning in India

Resource planning is a complex process whichinvolves : (i) identification and inventory ofresources across the regions of the country.This involves surveying, mapping andqualitative and quantitative estimation andmeasurement of the resources. (ii) Evolving aplanning structure endowed with appropriatetechnology, skill and institutional set up forimplementing resource development plans. (iii)Matching the resource development plans withoverall national development plans.

India has made concerted efforts for achievingthe goals of resource planning right from the FirstFive Year Plan launched after Independence.

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Page 6: Geography 10th-ncert

5RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

LAND UTILISATION

Land resources are used for the followingpurposes:

1. Forests

2. Land not available for cultivation(a) Barren and waste land(b) Land put to non-agricultural uses, e.g.

buildings, roads, factories, etc.

3. Other uncultivated land (excludingfallow land)(a) Permanent pastures and grazing land,(b) Land under miscellaneous tree crops

groves (not included in net sown area),(c) Cultruable waste land (left uncultivated

for more than 5 agricultural years).

4. Fallow lands(a) Current fallow-(left without cultivation for

one or less than one agricultural year),(b) Other than current fallow-(left

uncultivated for the past 1 to 5agricultural years).

5. Net sown areaArea sown more than once in anagricultural year plus net sown area isknown as gross cropped area.

LAND USE PATTERN IN INDIA

The use of land is determined both by physicalfactors such as topography, climate, soil typesas well as human factors such as populationdensity, technological capability and cultureand traditions etc.

Total geographical area of India is 3.28million sq km Land use data, however, isavailable only for 93 per cent of the total areabecause the land use reporting for most of thenorth-east states except Assam has not beendone fully. Moreover, some areas of Jammuand Kashmir occupied by Pakistan and Chinahave also not been surveyed.

At the international level, the Club of Romeadvocated resource conservation for the firsttime in a more systematic way in 1968.Subsequently, in 1974, Gandhian philosophywas once again presented by Schumacherin his book Small is Beautiful. The seminalcontribution with respect to resourceconservation at the global level was madeby the Brundtland Commission Report, 1987.This report introduced the concept of‘Sustainable Development’ and advocatedit as a means for resource conservation,which was subsequently published in a bookentitled Our Common Future. Anothersignificant contribution was made at the EarthSummit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.

LAND RESOURCES

We live on land, we perform our economicactivities on land and we use it in different ways.Thus, land is a natural resource of utmostimportance. It supports natural vegetation, wildlife, human life, economic activities, transportand communication systems. However, land isan asset of a finite magnitude, therefore, it isimportant to use the available land for variouspurposes with careful planning.

India has land under a variety of relieffeatures, namely; mountains, plateaus, plainsand islands. About 43 per cent of the land areais plain, which provides facilities for agricultureand industry. Mountains account for 30 percent of the total surface area of the country andensure perennial flow of some rivers, providefacilities for tourism and ecological aspects.About 27 per cent of the area of the country isthe plateau region. It possesses rich reservesof minerals, fossil fuels and forests.

Fig 1.3: India : Land under important Relief Features

Try to do a comparison between the two piecharts (Fig. 1.4 ) given for land use and findout why the net sown area and the landunder forests have changed from 1960-61to 2002-03 very marginally.

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Page 7: Geography 10th-ncert

6 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Find out reasons for the low proportion ofnet sown area in these states.

The land under permanent pasture hasalso decreased. How are we able to feed ourhuge cattle population on this pasture landand what are the consequences of it? Most ofthe other than the current fallow lands are eitherof poor quality or the cost of cultivation of suchland is very high. Hence, these lands arecultivated once or twice in about two to threeyears and if these are included in the net sownarea then the percentage of NSA in India comesto about 54 per cent of the total reporting area.

The pattern of net sown area varies greatlyfrom one state to another. It is over 80 per centof the total area in Punjab and Haryana and lessthan 10 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram,Manipur and Andaman Nicobar Islands.

Policy (1952). It was considered essential formaintenance of the ecological balance. Thelivelihood of millions of people who live onthe fringes of these forests depends upon it.A part of the land is termed as waste landand land put to other non-agricultural uses.Waste land includes rocky, arid and desertareas and land put to other non-agriculturaluses includes settlements, roads, railways,industry etc. Continuous use of land over along period of time without takingappropriate measures to conserve andmanage it, has resulted in land degradation.This, in turn, has serious repercussions onsociety and the environment.

LAND DEGRADATION AND CONSERVATION

MEASURES

We have shared our land with the pastgenerations and will have to do so with thefuture generations too. Ninety-five per cent ofour basic needs for food, shelter and clothing

Fig. 1.4

Forest area in the country is far lower thanthe desired 33 per cent of geographical area,as it was outlined in the National Forest

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Page 8: Geography 10th-ncert

7RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

are obtained from land. Human activities havenot only brought about degradation of landbut have also aggravated the pace of naturalforces to cause damage to land.

At present, there are about 130 millionhectares of degraded land in India.Approximately, 28 per cent of it belongs to thecategory of forest degraded area, 56 per centof it is water eroded area and the rest is affectedby saline and alkaline deposits. Some humanactivities such as deforestation, over grazing,mining and quarrying too have contributedsignificantly in land degradation.

alkalinity in the soil. The mineral processing likegrinding of limestone for cement industry andcalcite and soapstone for ceramic industrygenerate huge quantity of dust in theatmosphere. It retards the process of infiltrationof water into the soil after it settles down on theland. In recent years, industrial effluents aswaste have become a major source of land andwater pollution in many parts of the country.

There are many ways to solve the problemsof land degradation. Afforestation and propermanagement of grazing can help to some extent.Planting of shelter belts of plants, control onover grazing, stabilisation of sand dunes bygrowing thorny bushes are some of themethods to check land degradation. Propermanagement of waste lands, control of miningactivities, proper discharge and disposal ofindustrial effluents and wastes after treatmentcan reduce land and water degradation inindustrial and suburban areas.

SOIL AS A RESOURCE

Soil is the most important renewable naturalresource. It is the medium of plant growth andsupports different types of living organisms on

Fig. 1.5

Mining sites are abandoned after excavationwork is complete leaving deep scars and tracesof over-burdening. In states like Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissadeforestation due to mining have caused severeland degradation. In states like Gujarat,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtraovergrazing is one of the main reasons for landdegradation. In the states of Punjab, Haryana,western Uttar Pradesh, over irrigation isresponsible for land degradation due to waterlogging leading to increase in salinity and Fig. 1.6: Soil Profile

Subsoil weatheredrocks sand and

silt clay

Substratumweathered parent

rock material

Unweatheredparent bed rock

Top soilthe upper soil layer

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8 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

the earth. The soil is a living system. It takesmillions of years to form soil upto a few cm indepth. Relief, parent rock or bed rock, climate,vegetation and other forms of life and time areimportant factors in the formation of soil.Various forces of nature such as change intemperature, actions of running water, wind andglaciers, activities of decomposers etc. contributeto the formation of soil. Chemical and organicchanges which take place in the soil are equallyimportant. Soil also consists of organic (humus)and inorganic materials (Fig. 1.6).

On the basis of the factors responsible forsoil formation, colour, thickness, texture, age,chemical and physical properties, the soils ofIndia can be classified in different types.

Classification of Soils

India has varied relief features, landforms,climatic realms and vegetation types. Thesehave contributed in the development of varioustypes of soils.

Alluvial Soils

This is the most widely spread and importantsoil. In fact, the entire northern plains are madeof alluvial soil. These have been deposited bythree important Himalayan river systems– theIndus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. Thesesoils also extend in Rajasthan and Gujaratthrough a narrow corridor. Alluvial soil is alsofound in the eastern coastal plains particularlyin the deltas of the Mahanadi, the Godavari,the Krishna and the Kaveri rivers.

reaches of the river valley i.e. near the place ofthe break of slope, the soils are coarse. Suchsoils are more common in piedmont plainssuch as Duars, Chos and Terai.

Apart from the size of their grains orcomponents, soils are also described on thebasis of their age. According to their age alluvialsoils can be classified as old alluvial (Bangar)and new alluvial (Khadar). The bangar soil hashigher concentration of kanker nodules thanthe Khadar. It has more fine particles and ismore fertile than the bangar.

Alluvial soils as a whole are very fertile.Mostly these soils contain adequate proportionof potash, phosphoric acid and lime which areideal for the growth of sugarcane, paddy, wheatand other cereal and pulse crops. Due to its highfertility, regions of alluvial soils are intensivelycultivated and densely populated. Soils in thedrier areas are more alkaline and can beproductive after proper treatment and irrigation.

Black Soil

These soils are black in colour and are alsoknown as regur soils. Black soil is ideal forgrowing cotton and is also known as blackcotton soil. It is believed that climatic conditionalong with the parent rock material are theimportant factors for the formation of black soil.This type of soil is typical of the Deccan trap(Basalt) region spread over northwest Deccanplateau and is made up of lava flows. Theycover the plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra,

The alluvial soil consists of variousproportions of sand, silt and clay. As we moveinlands towards the river valleys, soil particlesappear some what bigger in size. In the upper

Fig. 1.7: Alluvial Soil

Fig. 1.8: Black Soil

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Page 10: Geography 10th-ncert

9RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

India: Major Soil Types

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10 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh andextend in the south east direction along theGodavari and the Krishna valleys.

The black soils are made up of extremelyfine i.e. clayey material. They are well-knownfor their capacity to hold moisture. In addition,they are rich in soil nutrients, such as calciumcarbonate, magnesium, potash and lime. Thesesoils are generally poor in phosphoric contents.They develop deep cracks during hot weather,which helps in the proper aeration of the soil.These soils are sticky when wet and difficult towork on unless tilled immediately after the firstshower or during the pre-monsoon period.

Red and Yellow Soils

Red soil develops on crystalline igneous rocksin areas of low rainfall in the eastern andsouthern parts of the Deccan plateau. Yelllowand red soils are also found in parts of Orissa,Chhattisgarh, southern parts of the middleGanga plain and along the piedmont zone ofthe Western Ghats. These soils develop areddish colour due to diffusion of iron incrystalline and metamorphic rocks. It looksyellow when it occurs in a hydrated form.

Laterite Soil

Laterite has been derived from the Latin word‘later’ which means brick. The laterite soildevelops in areas with high temperature andheavy rainfall. This is the result of intenseleaching due to heavy rain. Humus content of

the soil is low because most of the microorganisms, particularly the decomposers, likebacteria, get destroyed due to hightemperature. Laterite soils are suitable forcultivation with adequate doses of manuresand fertilizers. These soils are mainly found inKarnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, MadhyaPradesh, and the hilly areas of Orissa andAssam. After adopting appropriate soilconservation techniques particularly in the hillyareas of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu,this soil is very useful for growing tea andcoffee. Red laterite soils in Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh and Kerala are more suitable for cropslike cashew nut.

Arid Soils

Arid soils range from red to brown in colour. Theyare generally sandy in texture and saline innature. In some areas the salt content is veryhigh and common salt is obtained by evaporatingthe water. Due to the dry climate, hightemperature, evaporation is faster and the soillacks humus and moisture. The lower horizonsof the soil are occupied by Kankar because ofthe increasing calcium content downwards. TheKankar layer formations in the bottom horizonsrestrict the infiltration of water. After properirrigation these soils become cultivable as hasbeen in the case of western Rajasthan.

Fig. 1.9: Laterite Soil

Fig. 1.10: Arid Soil

Forest Soils

These soils are found in the hilly andmountainous areas where sufficient rainforests are available. The soils texture varies

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11RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

according to the mountain environment wherethey are formed. They are loamy and silty invalley sides and coarse grained in the upperslopes. In the snow covered areas ofHimalayas, these soils experience denudationand are acidic with low humus content. Thesoils found in the lower parts of the valleysparticularly on the river terraces and alluvialfans are fertile.

Soil Erosion and Soil Conservation

The denudation of the soil cover andsubsequent washing down is described as soilerosion. The processes of soil formation anderosion, go on simultaneously and generallythere is a balance between the two. Sometimes,this balance is disturbed due to humanactivities like deforestation, over-grazing,construction and mining etc., while naturalforces like wind, glacier and water lead to soilerosion. The running water cuts through theclayey soils and makes deep channels asgullies. The land becomes unfit for cultivationand is known as bad land. In the Chambalbasin such lands are called ravines. Sometimes

Fig. 1.11: Soil Erosion

Fig. 1.12: Gully Erosion

water flows as a sheet over large areas down aslope. In such cases the top soil is washed away.This is known as sheet erosion. Wind blowsloose soil off flat or sloping land known as winderosion. Soil erosion is also caused due todefective methods of farming. Ploughing in awrong way i.e. up and down the slope formchannels for the quick flow of water leading tosoil erosion.

Ploughing along the contour lines candecelerate the flow of water down the slopes.This is called contour ploughing. Steps can becut out on the slopes making terraces. Terracecultivation restricts erosion. Western andcentral Himalayas have well developed terracefarming. Large fields can be divided into strips.Strips of grass are left to grow between thecrops. This breaks up the force of the wind.This method is known as strip cropping.Planting lines of trees to create shelter alsoworks in a similar way. Rows of such trees arecalled shelter belts. These shelter belts havecontributed significantly to the stabilisation ofsand dunes and in stabilising the desert inwestern India.

State of India’s Environment• The village of Sukhomajri and the district of Jhabua have shown that it is possible

to reverse land degradation. Tree density in Sukhomajri increased from 13 perhectare in 1976 to 1,272 per hectare in 1992;

• Regeneration of the environment leads to economic well-being, as a resultof greater resource availability, improved agriculture and animal care, and

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12 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

consequently, increased incomes. Average annual household income inSukhomajri ranged from Rs 10,000-15,000 between 1979 and 1984;

• People’s management is essential for ecological restoration. With peoplebeing made the decision-makers by the Madhya Pradesh government, 2.9million hectares or about 1 per cent of India’s land area, are being greenedacross the state through watershed management.

Source: The citizens’ Fifth Report,1999 Centre of Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi

EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES

1. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Which one of the following type of resource is iron ore?

(a) Renewable (c) Flow

(b) Biotic (d) Non-renewable

(ii) Under which of the following type of resource can tidal energy be put?

(a) Replenishable (c) Abiotic

(b) Human-made (d) Non-recyclable

(iii) Which one of the following is the main cause of land degradation in Punjab?

(a) Intensive cultivation (c) Over irrigation

(b) Deforestation (d) Overgrazing

(iv) In which one of the following states is terrace cultivation practised?

(a) Punjab (c) Haryana

(b) Plains of Uttar Pradesh (d) Uttaranchal

(v) In which of the following states is black soil found?

(a) Jammu and Kashmir (c) Rajasthan

(b) Gujarat (d) Jharkhand

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13RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

(i) Name three states having black soil and the crop which is mainly grown in it.

(ii) What type of soil is found in the river deltas of the eastern coast? Give threemain features of this type of soil.

(iii) What steps can be taken to control soil erosion in the hilly areas?

(iv) What are the biotic and abiotic resources? Give some examples.

3. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.

(i) Explain land use pattern in India and why has the land under forest notincreased much since 1960-61?

(ii) How have technical and economic development led to more consumption ofresources?

PROJECT/ACTIVITY

1. Make a project showing consumption and conservation of resources in your locality.

2. Have a discussion in the class– how to conserve various resources used inyour school.

3. Imagine if oil supplies get exhausted, how will this affect our life style?

4. Solve the puzzle by following your search horizontally and vertically to find thehidden answers.

S F G S F O B R O M S U A P J

Q G A F F O R E S T A T I O N

P N R E C P R S L D M I L N F

S N A T Q X U O V A I O L A L

O D E I D R J U J L D B N B D

T G H M I N E R A L S A X M W

B V J K M E D C R U P F M H R

L A T E R I T E M V A Z T V L

A B Z O E N M F T I S D L R C

C G N N S Z I O P A X T Y J H

K J G K D T D C S L S E G E W

(i) Natural endowments in the form of land, water, vegetation and minerals.

(ii) A type of non-renewable resource.

(iii) Soil with high water retaining capacity.

(iv) Intensively leached soils of the monsoon climate.

(v) Plantation of trees on a large scale to check soil erosion.

(vi) The Great Plains of India are made up of these soils.

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Page 15: Geography 10th-ncert

We share this planet with millions of otherliving beings, starting from micro-organismsand bacteria, lichens to banyan trees,elephants and blue whales. This entirehabitat that we live in has immensebiodiversity. We humans along with all livingorganisms form a complex web of ecologicalsystem in which we are only a part and verymuch dependent on this system for our ownexistence. For example, the plants, animalsand micro-organisms re-create the quality ofthe air we breathe, the water we drink andthe soil that produces our food without whichwe cannot survive. Forests play a key role inthe ecological system as these are also theprimary producers on which all other livingbeings depend.

Flora and Fauna in India

If you look around, you will be able to findthat there are some animals and plants whichare unique in your area. In fact, India is oneof the world’s richest countries in terms ofits vast array of biological diversity, and hasnearly 8 per cent of the total number ofspecies in the world (estimated to be 1.6million). This is possibly twice or thrice thenumber yet to be discovered. You havealready studied in detail about the extentand variety of forest and wildlife resourcesin India. You may have realised theimportance of these resources in our dailylife. These diverse flora and fauna are sowell integrated in our daily life that we takethese for granted. But, lately, they are undergreat stress mainy due to insensitivity toour environment.

Narak! My Lord, you are the creator of musicin the world of Lepchas

Oh Narak! My Lord, let me dedicatemyself to you

Let me gather your music from thesprings, the rivers, the mountains, the forests,the insects and the animals

Let me gather your music from the sweetbreeze and offer it to you

Source: Lepcha folk song from northern part ofWest Bengal

Biodiversity or Biological Diversity isimmensely rich in wildlife and cultivatedspecies, diverse in form and function butclosely integrated in a system throughmultiple network of interdependencies.

Over 81,000 species of fauna and 47,000species of flora are found in this countryso far? Of the estimated 47,000 plantspecies, about 15,000 flowering speciesare endemic (indigenous) to India.

Find out stories prevalent in your regionwhich are about the harmonious relationshipbetween human beings and nature.

Some estimates suggest that at least 10per cent of India’s recorded wild flora and20 per cent of its mammals are on thethreatened list. Many of these would now becategorised as ‘critical’, that is on the vergeof extinction like the cheetah, pink-headedduck, mountain quail, forest spotted owlet,and plants like madhuca insignis (a wild

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Page 16: Geography 10th-ncert

variety of mahua) and hubbardiaheptaneuron,(a species of grass). In fact, noone can say how many species may havealready been lost. Today, we only talk of thelarger and more visible animals and plantsthat have become extinct but what aboutsmaller animals like insects and plants?

Let us now understand the differentcategories of existing plants and animalspecies. Based on the International Union forConservation of Nature and NaturalResources (IUCN), we can classify as follows–

Normal Species: Species whose populationlevels are considered to be normal fortheir survival, such as cattle, sal, pine,rodents, etc.

Endangered Species: These are specieswhich are in danger of extinction. Thesurvival of such species is difficult if thenegative factors that have led to a decline intheir population continue to operate. Theexamples of such species are black buck,crocodile, Indian wild ass, Indian rhino, liontailed macaque, sangai (brow anter deer inManipur), etc.

Vulnerable Species: These are specieswhose population has declined to levels fromwhere it is likely to move into the endangeredcategory in the near future if the negativefactors continue to operate. The examples ofsuch species are blue sheep, Asiatic elephant,Gangetic dolphin, etc.

Rare Species: Species with small populationmay move into the endangered or vulnerablecategory if the negative factors affecting themcontinue to operate. The examples of suchspecies are the Himalayan brown bear, wildAsiatic buffalo, desert fox and hornbill, etc.

Endemic Species: These are species whichare only found in some particular areasusually isolated by natural or geographicalbarriers. Examples of such species are theAndaman teal, Nicobar pigeon, Andamanwild pig, mithun in Arunchal Pradesh.

Extinct Species: These are species whichare not found after searches of known orlikely areas where they may occur. A speciesmay be extinct from a local area, region,country, continent or the entire earth.Examples of such species are the Asiaticcheetah, pink head duck.

Do you know that among the largeranimals in India, 79 species of mammals,44 of birds, 15 of reptiles, and 3 ofamphibians are threatened? Nearly 1,500plant species are considered endangered.Flowering plants and vertebrate animalshave recently become extinct at a rateestimated to be 50 to 100 times theaverage expected natural rate.

Vanishing ForestsThe dimensions of deforestation in India arestaggering. The forest cover in the country isestimated at 637,293 sq km, which is 19.39per cent of the total geographical area.(dense forest 11.48 per cent; open forest 7.76per cent; and mangrove 0.15 per cent).According to the State of Forest Report(1999), the dense forest cover has increased

by 10,098 sq km since 1997. However, thisapparent increase in the forest cover is dueto plantation by different agencies. The Stateof Forest Report does not differentiatebetween natural forests and plantations.Therefore, these reports fail to deliver

accurate information about actual loss ofnatural forests.

15FOREST AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES

Fig. 2.1

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16 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

depleted our forests and wildlife. The greatestdamage inflicted on Indian forests was duringthe colonial period due to the expansion of therailways, agriculture, commercial and scientificforestry and mining activities. Even afterIndependence, agricultural expansioncontinues to be one of the major causes ofdepletion of forest resources. Between 1951 and1980, according to the Forest Survey of India,over 26,200 sq. km. of forest area was convertedinto agricultural land all over India. Substantialparts of the tribal belts, especially in the north-eastern and central India, have been deforestedor degraded by shifting cultivation (jhum), a typeof ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.

Fig. 2.2: A few extinct, rare and endangered species

Asiatic Cheetah: where did they go?The world’s fastest land mammal, thecheetah (Acinonyx jubantus), is a unique andspecialised member of the cat family andcan move at the speed of 112 km./hr. Thecheetah is often mistaken for a leopard. Itsdistinguishing marks are the long teardrop-shaped lines on each side of the nose fromthe corner of its eyes to its mouth. Prior tothe 20th century, cheetahs were widelydistributed throughout Africa and Asia.Today, the Asian cheetah is nearly extinctdue to a decline of available habitat andprey. The species was declared extinct inIndia long back in 1952.

What are the negative factors that cause suchfearful depletion of the flora and fauna?

If you look around, you will be able to findout how we have transformed nature into aresource obtaining directly and indirectly fromthe forests and wildlife – wood, barks, leaves,rubber, medicines, dyes, food, fuel, fodder,manure, etc. So it is we ourselves who have

Are colonial forest policiesto be blamed?

Some of our environmental activists say thatthe promotion of a few favoured species, inmany parts of India, has been carriedthrough the ironically-termed “enrichmentplantation”, in which a single commerciallyvaluable species was extensively plantedand other species eliminated. For instance,

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17FOREST AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES

Large-scale development projects have alsocontributed significantly to the loss of forests.Since 1951, over 5,000 sq km of forest wascleared for river valley projects. Clearing offorests is still continuing with projects like theNarmada Sagar Project in Madhya Pradesh,which would inundate 40,000 hectares offorest. Mining is another important factorbehind deforestation. The Buxa Tiger Reservein West Bengal is seriously threatened by theongoing dolomite mining. It has disturbed thenatural habitat of many species and blockedthe migration route of several others, includingthe great Indian elephant.

Many foresters and environmentalists holdthe view that the greatest degrading factorsbehind the depletion of forest resources aregrazing and fuel-wood collection. Though, theremay be some substance in their argument, yet,

the fact remains that a substantial part of thefuel-fodder demand is met by lopping ratherthan by felling entire trees. The forestecosystems are repositories of some of thecountry’s most valuable forest products,minerals and other resources that meet thedemands of the rapidly expanding industrial-urban economy. These protected areas, thusmean different things to different people, andtherein lies the fertile ground for conflicts.

teak monoculture has damaged the naturalforest in South India and Chir Pine (Pinusroxburghii) plantations in the Himalayashave replaced the Himalayan oak (Querciusspp.) and Rhododendron forests.

Fig. 2.3

The Himalayan Yew in troubleThe Himalayan Yew (Taxus wallachiana) is amedicinal plant found in various parts ofHimachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.A chemical compound called ‘taxol’ isextracted from the bark, needles, twigs androots of this tree, and it has been successfullyused to treat some cancers – the drug is nowthe biggest selling anti-cancer drug in theworld. The species is under great threat dueto over-exploitation. In the last one decade,thousands of yew trees have dried up invarious parts of Himachal Pradesh andArunachal Pradesh.

Tribal girls using bamboo saplings in anursery at Mukhali near Slient Valley

Tribal women selling minor forest produce Leaf litter collection by women folk

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18 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Habitat destruction, hunting, poaching,over-exploitation, environmental pollution,poisoning and forest fires are factors, whichhave led to the decline in India’s biodiversity.Other important causes of environmentaldestruction are unequal access, inequitableconsumption of resources and differentialsharing of responsibility for environmentalwell-being. Over-population in third worldcountries is often cited as the cause ofenvironmental degradation. However, anaverage American consumes 40 times moreresources than an average Somalian. Similarly,the richest five per cent of Indian societyprobably cause more ecological damagebecause of the amount they consume than thepoorest 25 per cent. The former sharesminimum responsibilities for environmentalwell-being. The question is: who is consumingwhat, from where and how much?

men. In many societies, women bear the majorresponsibility of collection of fuel, fodder, waterand other basic subsistence needs. As theseresources are depleted, the drudgery of womenincreases and sometimes they have to walk formore than 10 km to collect these resources.This causes serious health problems for womenand negligence of home and children becauseof the increased hours of work, which often hasserious social implications. The indirect impactof degradation such as severe drought ordeforestation-induced floods, etc. also hits thepoor the hardest. Poverty in these cases is adirect outcome of environmental destruction.Therefore, forest and wildlife, are vital to thequality of life and environment in thesubcontinent. It is imperative to adapt to soundforest and wildlife conservation strategies.

Conservation of Forest and Wildlife in India

Conservation in the background of rapiddecline in wildlife population and forestry hasbecome essential. But why do we need toconserve our forests and wildlife? Conservationpreserves the ecological diversity and our lifesupport systems – water, air and soil. It alsopreserves the genetic diversity of plants andanimals for better growth of species andbreeding. For example, in agriculture, we arestill dependent on traditional crop varieties.Fisheries too are heavily dependent on themaintenance of aquatic biodiversity.

In the 1960s and 1970s, conservationistsdemanded a national wildlife protectionprogramme. The Indian Wildlife (Protection)Act was implemented in 1972, with variousprovisions for protecting habitats. An all-Indialist of protected species was also published.The thrust of the programme was towardsprotecting the remaining population of certainendangered species by banning hunting,giving legal protection to their habitats, andrestricting trade in wildlife. Subsequently,central and many state governmentsestablished national parks and wildlifesanctuaries about which you have alreadystudied. The central government alsoannounced several projects for protectingspecific animals, which were gravelythreatened, including the tiger, the one-

Do you know that over half of India’snatural forests are gone, one-third of itswetlands drained out, 70 per cent of itssurface water bodies polluted, 40 per centof its mangroves wiped out, and withcontinued hunting and trade of wildanimals and commercially valuableplants, thousands of plant and animalspecies are heading towards extinction?

The destruction of forests and wildlife is notjust a biological issue. The biological loss isstrongly correlated with the loss of culturaldiversity. Such losses have increasinglymarginalised and impoverished manyindigenous and other forest-dependentcommunities, who directly depend on variouscomponents of the forest and wildlife for food,drink, medicine, culture, spirituality, etc.Within the poor, women are affected more than

Have you noticed any activity which leadsto the loss of biodiversity around you? Writea note on it and suggest some measures toprevent it.

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19FOREST AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES

horned rhinoceros, the Kashmir stag orhangul, three types of crocodiles – fresh watercrocodile, saltwater crocodile and the Gharial,the Asiatic lion, and others. Most recently, theIndian elephant, black buck (chinkara), thegreat Indian bustard (godawan) and the snowleopard, etc. have been given full or partiallegal protection against hunting and tradethroughout India.

Fig. 2.4: Rhino and deer in Kaziranga National Park

Project TigerTiger is one of the key wildlife species inthe faunal web. In 1973, the authoritiesrealised that the tiger population haddwindled to 1,827 from an estimated55,000 at the turn of the century. The majorthreats to tiger population are numerous,such as poaching for trade, shrinkinghabitat, depletion of prey base species,growing human population, etc. The tradeof tiger skins and the use of their bones intraditional medicines, especially in theAsian countries left the tiger population onthe verge of extinction. Since India andNepal provide habitat to about two-thirdsof the surviving tiger population in theworld, these two nations became primetargets for poaching and illegal trading.

“Project Tiger”, one of the well-publicised wildlife campaigns in the world,was launched in 1973. Initially, it showedsuccess as the tiger population went up to4,002 in 1985 and 4,334 in 1989. But in1993, the population of the tiger had

dropped to 3,600. There are 27 tigerreserves in India covering an area of37,761 sq km Tiger conservation has beenviewed not only as an effort to save anendangered species, but with equalimportance as a means of preservingbiotypes of sizeable magnitude. CorbettNational Park in Uttaranchal, SunderbansNational Park in West Bengal, BandhavgarhNational Park in Madhya Pradesh, SariskaWildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan, ManasTiger Reserve in Assam and Periyar TigerReserve in Kerala are some of the tigerreserves of India.

The conservation projects are now focusingon biodiversity rather than on a few of itscomponents. There is now a more intensivesearch for different conservation measures.Increasingly, even insects are beginning to finda place in conservation planning. In thenotification under Wildlife Act of 1980 and1986, several hundred butterflies, moths,beetles, and one dragonfly have been added tothe list of protected species. In 1991, for thefirst time plants were also added to the list,starting with six species.

Collect more information on the wildlifesanctuaries and national parks of India andcite their locations on the map of India.

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20 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Types and Distribution of Forest andWildlife Resources

Even if we want to conserve our vast forest andwildlife resources, it is rather difficult tomanage, control and regulate them. In India,much of its forest and wildlife resources areeither owned or managed by the governmentthrough the Forest Department or othergovernment departments. These are classifiedunder the following categories.

(i) Reserved Forests: More than half of thetotal forest land has been declaredreserved forests. Reserved forests areregarded as the most valuable as far as theconservation of forest and wildlife resourcesare concerned.

(ii) Protected Forests: Almost one-third of thetotal forest area is protected forest, as declaredby the Forest Department. This forest land areprotected from any further depletion.

(iii) Unclassed Forests: These are otherforests and wastelands belonging toboth government and private individualsand communities.

Reserved and protected forests are alsoreferred to as permanent forest estatesmaintained for the purpose of producingtimber and other forest produce, and forprotective reasons. Madhya Pradesh has thelargest area under permanent forests,constituting 75 per cent of its total forest area.Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh,Uttaranchal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal,and Maharashtra have large percentages ofreserved forests of its total forest area whereasBihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh,Orissa and Rajasthan have a bulk of it underprotected forests. All North-eastern states andparts of Gujarat have a very high percentageof their forests as un-classed forests managedby local communities.

Can you find out the reasons for the above mentioned problems?

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21FOREST AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES

Community and Conservation

Conservation strategies are not new in ourcountry. We often ignore that in India, forestsare also home to some of the traditionalcommunities. In some areas of India, localcommunities are struggling to conserve thesehabitats along with government officials,recognising that only this will secure their ownlong-term livelihood. In Sariska Tiger Reserve,Rajasthan, villagers have fought againstmining by citing the Wildlife Protection Act. Inmany areas, villagers themselves are protectinghabitats and explicitly rejecting governmentinvolvement. The inhabitants of five villages inthe Alwar district of Rajasthan have declared1,200 hectares of forest as the BhairodevDakav ‘Sonchuri’, declaring their own set ofrules and regulations which do not allowhunting, and are protecting the wildlife againstany outside encroachments.

Sacred groves - a wealth of diverseand rare species

Nature worship is an age old tribal beliefbased on the premise that all creations ofnature have to be protected. Such beliefshave preserved several virgin forests inpristine form called Sacred Groves (theforests of God and Goddesses). Thesepatches of forest or parts of large forests havebeen left untouched by the local people andany interference with them is banned.

Certain societies revere a particular treewhich they have preserved from timeimmemorial. The Mundas and the Santhal ofChhota Nagpur region worship mahua (Bassialatifolia) and kadamba (Anthocaphaluscadamba) trees, and the tribals of Orissa andBihar worship the tamarind (Tamarindusindica) and mango (Mangifera indica) treesduring weddings. To many of us, peepal andbanyan trees are considered sacred.

Indian society comprises severalcultures, each with its own set of traditionalmethods of conserving nature and itscreations. Sacred qualities are oftenascribed to springs, mountain peaks, plantsand animals which are closely protected. Youwill find troops of macaques and langursaround many temples. They are fed daily

and treated as a part of temple devotees. Inand around Bishnoi villages in Rajasthan,herds of blackbuck, (chinkara), nilgai andpeacocks can be seen as an integral part ofthe community and nobody harms them.

The famous Chipko movement in theHimalayas has not only successfully resisteddeforestation in several areas but has also shownthat community afforestation with indigenousspecies can be enormously successful.Attempts to revive the traditional conservationmethods or developing new methods ofecological farming are now widespread. Farmersand citizen’s groups like the Beej BachaoAndolan in Tehri and Navdanya have shownthat adequate levels of diversified cropproduction without the use of syntheticchemicals are possible and economically viable.

In India joint forest management (JFM)programme furnishes a good example forinvolving local communities in themanagement and restoration of degradedforests. The programme has been in formalexistence since 1988 when the state of Orissapassed the first resolution for joint forestmanagement. JFM depends on the formationof local (village) institutions that undertakeprotection activities mostly on degraded forestland managed by the forest department. Inreturn, the members of these communities areentitled to intermediary benefits like non-timberforest produces and share in the timberharvested by ‘successful protection’.

The clear lesson from the dynamics of bothenvironmental destruction and reconstructionin India is that local communities everywherehave to be involved in some kind of naturalresource management. But there is still a longway to go before local communities are at thecentre-stage in decision-making. Accept onlythose economic or developmental activities,that are people centric, environment-friendlyand economically rewarding.

Write a short essay on any practices whichyou may have observed and practised inyour everyday lives that conserve and protectthe environment around you.

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22 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

“The tree is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence andmakes no demand for its sustenance, and extends generously the products of itslife activity. It affords protection to all beings, offering shade even to the axemenwho destroy it”.

Gautama Buddha (487 B.C.)

EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES

1. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Which of these statements is not a valid reason for the depletion of floraand fauna?(a) Agricultural expansion.(b) Large scale developmental projects.(c) Grazing and fuel wood collection.(d) Rapid industrialisation and urbanisation.

(ii) Which of the following conservation strategies do not directly involvecommunity participation?(a) Joint forest management (c) Chipko Movement(b) Beej Bachao Andolan (d) Demarcation of Wildlife sanctuaries

2. Match the following animals with their category of existence.

Animals/Plants Category of existence

Black buck Extinct

Asiatic elephant Rare

Andaman wild pig Endangered

Himalayan brown bear Vulnerable

Pink head duck Endemic

3. Match the following.

Reserved forests other forests and wastelands belonging to bothgovernment and private individuals andcommunities

Protected forests forests are regarded as most valuable as far as theconservation of forest and wildlife resources

Unclassed forests forest lands are protected from any further depletion

4. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

(i) What is biodiversity? Why is biodiversity important for human lives?

(ii) How have human activities affected the depletion of flora and fauna? Explain.

5. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.

(i) Describe how communities have conserved and protected forests and wildlifein India?

(ii) Write a note on good practices towards conserving forest and wildlife.

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Page 24: Geography 10th-ncert

You already know that three-fourth of theearth’s surface is covered with water, but onlya small proportion of it accounts for freshwaterthat can be put to use. This freshwater is mainlyobtained from surface run off and ground waterthat is continually being renewed andrecharged through the hydrological cycle. Allwater moves within the hydrological cycleensuring that water is a renewable resource.

You might wonder that if three-fourth ofthe world is covered with water and water is arenewable resource, then how is it thatcountries and regions around the globe sufferfrom water scarcity? Why is it predicted thatby 2025, nearly two billion people will live inabsolute water scarcity?

Water: Some facts and figures• 96.5 per cent of the total volume of world’s

water is estimated to exist as oceans andonly 2.5 per cent as freshwater. Nearly70 per cent of this freshwater occurs asice sheets and glaciers in Antarctica,Greenland and the mountainous regionsof the world, while a little less than 30per cent is stored as groundwater in theworld’s aquifers.

• India receives nearly 4 per cent of theglobal precipitation and ranks 133 in theworld in terms of water availability perperson per annum.

• The total renewable water resources of Indiaare estimated at 1,897 sq km per annum.

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24 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

associate it with regions having low rainfallor those that are drought prone. Weinstantaneously visualise the deserts ofRajasthan and women balancing many‘matkas’ (earthen pots) used for collecting andstoring water and travelling long distances toget water. True, the availability of waterresources varies over space and time, mainlydue to the variations in seasonal and annualprecipitation, but water scarcity in most casesis caused by over- exploitation, excessive useand unequal access to water among differentsocial groups.

Fig. 3.1: Water Scarcity

• By 2025, it is predicted that large parts ofIndia will join countries or regions havingabsolute water scarcity.

Source: The UN World Water DevelopmentReport, 2003

WATER SCARCITY AND THE NEED FOR WATER

CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

Given the abundance and renewability ofwater, it is difficult to imagine that we maysuffer from water scarcity. The moment wespeak of water shortages, we immediately

Water, Water Everywhere, not a drop to drink:After a heavy downpour, a boy collects drinkingwater in Kolkata. Life in the city and its adjacentdistricts was paralysed as incessant overnight rain,meaning a record 180 mm, flooded vast area anddisruted traffic.

A Kashmiri earthquake survivor carries water inthe snow in a devastated village.

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25WATER RESOURCES

requirements but have further aggravated theproblem. If you look into the housingsocieties or colonies in the cities, you wouldfind that most of these have their owngroundwater pumping devices to meet theirwater needs. Not surprisingly, we find thatfragile water resources are being over-exploited and have caused their depletion inseveral of these cities.

So far we have focused on the quantitativeaspects of water scarcity. Now, let us consideranother situation where water is sufficientlyavailable to meet the needs of the people,but, the area still suffers from water scarcity.This scarcity may be due to bad quality ofwater. Lately, there has been a growingconcern that even if there is ample water tomeet the needs of the people, much of it maybe polluted by domestic and industrialwastes, chemicals, pesticides and fertilisersused in agriculture, thus, making ithazardous for human use.

Where is then water scarcity likely tooccur? As you have read in the hydrologicalcycle, freshwater can be obtained directlyfrom precipitation, surface run off andgroundwater.

Is it possible that an area or region mayhave ample water resources but is still facingwater scarcity? Many of our cities are suchexamples. Thus, water scarcity may be anoutcome of large and growing population andconsequent greater demands for water, andunequal access to it. A large population meansmore water not only for domestic use but alsoto produce more food. Hence, to facilitatehigher food-grain production, water resourcesare being over-exploited to expand irrigatedareas and dry-season agriculture. You mayhave seen in many television advertisementsthat most farmers have their own wells andtube-wells in their farms for irrigation toincrease their produce. But have you everwondered what this could result in? That itmay lead to falling groundwater levels,adversely affecting water availability and foodsecurity of the people.

Post-independent India witnessedintensive industrialisation and urbanisation,creating vast opportunities for us. Today,large industrial houses are as commonplaceas the industrial units of many MNCs(Multinational Corporations). The ever-increasing number of industries has madematters worse by exerting pressure onexisting freshwater resources. Industries,apart from being heavy users of water, alsorequire power to run them. Much of thisenergy comes from hydroelectric power.Today, in India hydroeclectric powercontributes approximately 22 per cent of thetotal electricity produced. Moreover,multiplying urban centres with large anddense populations and urban lifestyles havenot only added to water and energy

According to Falken Mark, a Swedish expert,water stress occurs when water availabilityis less than 1,000 cubic metre per personper day.

India’s rivers, especially the smaller ones,have all turned into toxic streams. And eventhe big ones like the Ganga and Yamunaare far from being pure. The assault onIndia’s rivers – from population growth,agricultural modernisation, urbanisation andindustrialisation – is enormous and growingby the day….. This entire life standsthreatened.Source: The Citizens’ Fifth Report, CSE, 1999.

You may have already realised that theneed of the hour is to conserve and manageour water resources, to safeguard ourselvesfrom health hazards, to ensure food security,continuation of our l ivelihoods andproductive activities and also to preventdegradation of our natural ecosystems. Overexploitation and mismanagement of waterresources will impoverish this resource andcause ecological crisis that may haveprofound impact on our lives.

From your everyday experiences, write a shortproposal on how you can conserve water.

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26 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

MULTI-PURPOSE RIVER PROJECTS AND

INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

But, how do we conserve and manage water?Archaeological and historical records show thatfrom ancient times we have been constructingsophisticated hydraulic structures like damsbuilt of stone rubble, reservoirs or lakes,embankments and canals for irrigation. Notsurprisingly, we have continued this traditionin modern India by building dams in most ofour river basins.

What are dams and how do they help usin conserving and managing water? Damswere traditionally built to impound rivers andrainwater that could be used later to irrigateagricultural fields. Today, dams are built notjust for irrigation but for electricity generation,water supply for domestic and industrialuses, flood control, recreation, inlandnavigation and fish breeding. Hence, dams arenow referred to as multi-purpose projectswhere the many uses of the impounded waterare integrated with one another. For example,in the Sutluj-Beas river basin, the Bhakra –Nangal project water is being used both forhydel power production and irrigation.Similarly, the Hirakud project in theMahanadi basin integrates conservation ofwater with flood control.

Hydraulic Structures in Ancient India• In the first century B.C., Sringaverapura

near Allahabad had sophisticated waterharvesting system channelling the floodwater of the river Ganga.

• During the time of Chandragupta Maurya,dams, lakes and irrigation systems wereextensively built.

• Evidences of sophisticated irrigation workshave also been found in Kalinga, (Orissa),Nagarjunakonda (Andhra Pradesh),Bennur (Karnataka), Kolhapur(Maharashtra), etc.

• In the 11th Century, Bhopal Lake, one of thelargest artificial lakes of its time was built.

• In the 14th Century, the tank in Hauz Khas,Delhi was constructed by Iltutmish forsupplying water to Siri Fort area.

Source: Dying Wisdom, CSE, 1997.

Fig. 3.2: Hirakud Dam

A dam is a barrier across flowing water thatobstructs, directs or retards the flow, oftencreating a reservoir, lake or impoundment.“Dam” refers to the reservoir rather than thestructure. Most dams have a section called aspillway or weir over which or through whichit is intended that water will flow eitherintermittently or continuously. Dams areclassified according to structure, intendedpurpose or height. Based on structure andthe materials used, dams are classified astimber dams, embankment dams or masonrydams, with several subtypes. According tothe height, dams can be categorised as largedams and major dams or alternatively as lowdams, medium height dams and high dams.

Multi-purpose projects, launched afterIndependence with their integrated waterresources management approach, werethought of as the vehicle that would lead thenation to development and progress,overcoming the handicap of its colonial past.Jawaharlal Nehru proudly proclaimed thedams as the ‘temples of modern India’; thereason being that it would integratedevelopment of agriculture and the villageeconomy with rapid industrialisation andgrowth of the urban economy.

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27WATER RESOURCES

In recent years, multi-purpose projects andlarge dams have come under great scrutinyand opposition for a variety of reasons.Regulating and damming of rivers affect theirnatural flow causing poor sediment flow andexcessive sedimentation at the bottom of thereservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds andpoorer habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life. Damsalso fragment rivers making it difficult foraquatic fauna to migrate, especially forspawning. The reservoirs that are created onthe floodplains also submerge the existingvegetation and soil leading to its decompositionover a period of time.

Multi-purpose projects and large damshave also been the cause of many new socialmovements like the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’and the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’ etc. Resistanceto these projects has primarily been due to thelarge-scale displacement of local communities.Local people often had to give up their land,livelihood and their meagre access and controlover resources for the greater good of thenation. So, if the local people are not benefitingfrom such projects then who is benefited?Perhaps, the landowners and large farmers,industrialists and few urban centres. Take thecase of the landless in a village – does he reallygain from such a project?

Irrigation has also changed the croppingpattern of many regions with farmers shiftingto water intensive and commercial crops. Thishas great ecological consequences likesalinisation of the soil. At the same time, it hastransformed the social landscape i.e.increasing the social gap between the richerlandowners and the landless poor. As we cansee, the dams did create conflicts betweenpeople wanting different uses and benefits fromthe same water resources. In Gujarat, theSabarmati-basin farmers were agitated andalmost caused a riot over the higher prioritygiven to water supply in urban areas,particularly during droughts. Inter-state waterdisputes are also becoming common withregard to sharing the costs and benefits of themulti-purpose project.

Find out more about any one traditionalmethod of building dams and irrigation works.

We have sown the crops in AsarWe will bring Bhadu in BhadraFloods have swollen the DamodarThe sailing boats cannot sailOh! Damodar, we fall at your feetReduce the floods a littleBhadu will come a year laterLet the boats sail on your surface(This popular Bhadu song in the Damodar valleyregion narrates the troubles faced by peopleowing to the flooding of Damodar river knownas the river of sorrow.)

Narmada Bachao Andolan or SaveNarmada Movement is a NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO) thatmobil ised tr ibal people, farmers,environmentalists and human rightsactivists against the Sardar Sarovar Dambeing built across the Narmada river inGujarat. It originally focused on theenvironmental issues related to trees thatwould be submerged under the damwater. Recently it has re-focused theaim to enable poor citizens, especiallythe oustees (displaced people) to getfull rehabil i tation faci l i t ies fromthe government.

People felt that their suffering would notbe in vain… accepted the trauma ofdisplacement believing in the promise ofirrigated fields and plentiful harvests. So,often the survivors of Rihand told us that theyaccepted their sufferings as sacrifice for thesake of their nation. But now, after thirty bitteryears of being adrift, their livelihood havingeven being more precarious, they keepasking: “Are we the only ones chosen tomake sacrifices for the nation?”

Source: S. Sharma, quoted in In the Belly of theRiver. Tribal conflicts over development in Narmadavalley, A. Baviskar, 1995.

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India: Major Rivers and Dams

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29WATER RESOURCES

Most of the objections to the projects arosedue to their failure to achieve the purposes forwhich they were built. Ironically, the dams thatwere constructed to control floods have

Make a list of inter-state water disputes.

Do you know that the Krishna-Godavaridispute is due to the objections raised byKarnataka and Andhra Pradeshgovernments? It is regarding the diversionof more water at Koyna by the Maharashtragovernment for a multipurpose project. Thiswould reduce downstream flow in theirstates with adverse consequences foragriculture and industry.

triggered floods due to sedimentation in thereservoir. Moreover, the big dams have mostlybeen unsuccessful in controlling floods at thetime of excessive rainfall. You may have seenor read how the release of water from damsduring heavy rains aggravated the floodsituation in Maharashtra and Gujarat in 2006.The floods have not only devastated life andproperty but also caused extensive soil erosion.Sedimentation also meant that the flood plainswere deprived of silt, a natural fertiliser, furtheradding on to the problem of land degradation.It was also observed that the multi-purposeprojects induced earthquakes, caused water-borne diseases and pests and pollutionresulting from excessive use of water.

RAINWATER HARVESTING

Many thought that given the disadvantagesand rising resistance against the multi-

Collect information about flood prone areas of the country

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30 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

• Roof top rain water is collected using a PVC pipe• Filtered using sand and bricks• Underground pipe takes water to sump for

immediate usage• Excess water from the sump is taken to the well• Water from the well recharges the underground• Take water from the well (later)

(b) Recharge through Abandoned Dugwell

Fig 3.4: Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting

purpose projects, water harvesting systemwas a viable alternative, both socio-economically and environmentally. In ancientIndia, along with the sophisticated hydraulicstructures, there existed an extraordinarytradition of water-harvesting system. Peoplehad in-depth knowledge of rainfall regimesand soil types and developed wide rangingtechniques to harvest rainwater, groundwater,river water and flood water in keeping withthe local ecological conditions and their waterneeds. In hill and mountainous regions,people built diversion channels like the ‘guls’or ‘kuls’ of the Western Himalayas foragriculture. ‘Rooftop rain water harvesting’was commonly practised to store drinkingwater, particularly in Rajasthan. In the floodplains of Bengal, people developed inundationchannels to irrigate their fields. In arid andsemi-arid regions, agricultural fields wereconverted into rain fed storage structures thatallowed the water to stand and moisten thesoil like the ‘khadins’ in Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’in other parts of Rajasthan.

Fig. 3.3

(a) Recharge through Hand Pump

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31WATER RESOURCES

Fig 3.5: Traditional method of rain water harvesting

A kul leads to a circular village tank, as the abovein the Kaza village, from which water is released asand when required.

In the semi-arid and arid regions ofRajasthan, particularly in Bikaner, Phalodi andBarmer, almost all the houses traditionally hadunderground tanks or tankas for storingdrinking water. The tanks could be as large asa big room; one household in Phalodi had a tankthat was 6.1 metres deep, 4.27 metres long and2.44 metres wide. The tankas were part of thewell-developed rooftop rainwater harvestingsystem and were built inside the main house orthe courtyard. They were connected to thesloping roofs of the houses through a pipe. Rainfalling on the rooftops would travel down thepipe and was stored in these underground‘tankas’. The first spell of rain was usually notcollected as this would clean the roofs and thepipes. The rainwater from the subsequentshowers was then collected.

The rainwater can be stored in the tankastill the next rainfall making it an extremelyreliable source of drinking water when all othersources are dried up, particularly in thesummers. Rainwater, or palar pani, ascommonly referred to in these parts, isconsidered the purest form of natural water.Many houses constructed underground roomsadjoining the ‘tanka’ to beat the summer heatas it would keep the room cool.

Roof top rain water harvesting is the mostcommon practice in Shillong, Meghalaya.It is interesting because Cherapunjee andMawsynram situated at a distance of 55km. from Shillong receive the highest

rainfall in the world, yet the state capitalShillong faces acute shortage of water.Nearly every household in the city has aroof top rain water harvesting structure.Nearly 15-25 per cent of the total waterrequirement of the household comes fromroof top water harvesting.

Today, in western Rajasthan, sadly thepractice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is on thedecline as plenty of water is available due to theperennial Rajasthan Canal, though some housesstill maintain the tankas since they do not likethe taste of tap water. Fortunately, in many partsof rural and urban India, rooftop rainwaterharvesting is being successfully adapted to storeand conserve water. In Gendathur, a remotebackward village in Mysore, Karnataka, villagershave installed, in their household’s rooftop,rainwater harvesting system to meet their waterneeds. Nearly 200 households have installed thissystem and the village has earned the raredistinction of being rich in rainwater. See Fig. 3.6for a better understanding of the rooftop

Find out other rainwater harvesting systemsexisting in and around your locality.

Fig. 3.6

Rooftop harvesting was common across the townsand villages of the Thar. Rainwater that falls onthe sloping roofs of houses is taken through a pipeinto an underground tanka (circular holes in theground). built in the main house or in the courtyard.The picture above shows water being form aneighbour’s roof through a long pipe. Here theneighbour’s rooftop has been used for collection ofrainwater. The picture shows a hole through whichrainwater flows down into an underground tanka.

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32 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Fig 3.7

BAMBOO DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM

In Meghalaya, a 200-year-old system of tapping streamand spring wate by using bamboo pipes, is prevalent. About18-20 litres of water enters the bamboo pipe system, getstransported over hundreds of metres, and finally reducesto 20-80 drops per minute ate the site of the plant.

Picture 2 and 3: The channel sections, made of bamboo, divert waterto the plant site where it is distributed into branches, again made andlaid out with different forms of bamboo pipes. The flow of water intothe pipes is controlled by manipulating the pipe positions.

Picture 1: Bamboo pipes are used to divert perennial springs onthe hilltops to the lower reaches by gravity.

Picture 5 and 6Reduced channel sectionsand diversion units areused at the last stage ofwater application. The lastchannel section enableswater to be dropped nearthe roots of the plant.

Picture 4: If the pipes pass a road,they are taken high above the land.

Tamil Nadu is the first and the only statein India which has made roof top rainwaterharvesting structure compulsory to all thehouses across the state. There are legalprovisions to punish the defaulters.

rainwater harvesting system which is adaptedhere. Gendathur receives an annual precipitationof 1,000 mm, and with 80 per cent of collectionefficiency and of about 10 fillings, every housecan collect and use about 50,000 litres of waterannually. From the 20 houses, the net amountof rainwater harvested annually amounts to1,00,000 litres.

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EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES

1. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Based on the information given below classify each of the situations as‘suffering from water scarcity’ or ‘not suffering from water scarcity’.

(a) Region with high annual rainfall.

(b) Region having high annual rainfall and large population.

(c) Region having high annual rainfall but water is highly polluted.

(d) Region having low rainfall and low population.

(ii) Which one of the following statements is not an argument in favour of multi-purpose river projects?

(a) Multi-purpose projects bring water to those areas which suffer fromwater scarcity.

(b) Multi-purpose projects by regulating water flow helps to control floods.

(c) Multi-purpose projects lead to large scale displacements and loss oflivelihood.

(d) Multi-purpose projects generate electricity for our industries and ourhomes.

(iii) Here are some false statements. Identify the mistakes and rewrite themcorrectly.

(a) Multiplying urban centres with large and dense populations and urbanlifestyles have helped in proper utilisation of water resources.

(b) Regulating and damming of rivers does not affect the river’s naturalflow and its sediment flow.

(c) In Gujarat, the Sabarmati basin farmers were not agitated when higherpriority was given to water supply in urban areas, particularly duringdroughts.

(d) Today in Rajasthan, the practice of rooftop rainwater water harvestinghas gained popularity despite high water availability due to theRajasthan Canal.

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

(i) Explain how water becomes a renewable resource.

(ii) What is water scarcity and what are its main causes?

(iii) Compare the advantages and disadvantages of multi-purpose river projects.

3. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.

(i) Discuss how rainwater harvesting in semi-arid regions of Rajasthan iscarried out.

(ii) Describe how modern adaptations of traditional rainwater harvestingmethods are being carried out to conserve and store water.

1. Collect information on how industries are polluting our water resources.2. Enact with your classmates a scene of water dispute in your locality.

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India is an agriculturally important country.Two-thirds of its population is engaged inagricultural activities. Agriculture is a primaryactivity, which produces most of the food thatwe consume. Besides food grains, it alsoproduces raw material for various industries.

Can you name some industries based onagricultural raw material?

Moreover, some agricultural products liketea, coffee, spices, etc. are also exported.

TYPES OF FARMING

Agriculture is an age-old economic activity inour country. Over these years, cultivationmethods have changed significantly dependingupon the characteristics of physicalenvironment, technological know-how andsocio-cultural practices. Farming varies fromsubsistence to commercial type. At present, indifferent parts of India, the following farmingsystems are practised.

Primitive Subsistence Farming

This type of farming is still practised in fewpockets of India. Primitive subsistenceagriculture is practised on small patches ofland with the help of primitive tools like hoe,dao and digging sticks, and family/communitylabour. This type of farming depends uponmonsoon, natural fertility of the soil andsuitability of other environmental conditionsto the crops grown.

It is a ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.Farmers clear a patch of land and producecereals and other food crops to sustain theirfamily. When the soil fertility decreases, thefarmers shift and clear a fresh patch of landfor cultivation. This type of shifting allowsNature to replenish the fertility of the soil

through natural processes; land productivityin this type of agriculture is low as the farmerdoes not use fertilisers or other moderninputs. It is known by different names indifferent parts of the country.

Can you name some such types of farmings?

It is jhumming in north-eastern states likeAssam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland;Pamlou in Manipur, Dipa in Bastar district ofChattishgarh, and in Andaman and NicobarIslands.

Jhumming: The ‘slash and burn’ agricultureis known as ‘Milpa’ in Mexico and CentralAmerica, ‘Conuco’ in Venzuela, ‘Roca’ inBrazil, ‘Masole’ in Central Africa, ‘Ladang’in Indonesia, ‘Ray’ in Vietnam.

In India, this primitive form of cultivationis called ‘Bewar’ or ‘Dahiya’ in MadhyaPradesh, ‘Podu’ or ‘Penda’ in Andhra Pradesh,‘Pama Dabi’ or ‘Koman’ or Bringa’ in Orissa,‘Kumari’ in Western Ghats, ‘Valre’ or ‘Waltre’in South-eastern Rajasthan, ‘Khil’ in theHimalayan belt, ‘Kuruwa’ in Jharkhand, and‘Jhumming’ in the North-eastern region.

Fig. 4.1

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Fig. 4.2: Banana plantation in Southernpart of India

Fig. 4.3: Bamboo plantation in North-east

Can you name the type of farming Rinjha’sfamily is engaged in?

Can you enlist some crops which are grownin such farming?

Intensive Subsistence Farming

This type of farming is practised in areas ofhigh population pressure on land. It is labour-intensive farming, where high doses ofbiochemical inputs and irrigation are used forobtaining higher production.

Can you name some of the states of Indiawhere such farming is practised?

Though the ‘right of inheritance’ leading tothe division of land among successivegenerations has rendered land-holding sizeuneconomical, the farmers continue to takemaximum output from the limited land in theabsence of alternative source of livelihood.Thus, there is enormous pressure onagricultural land.

Commercial Farming

The main characteristic of this type of farmingis the use of higher doses of modern inputs,e.g. high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemicalfertilisers, insecticides and pesticides in orderto obtain higher productivity. The degree ofcommercialisation of agriculture varies fromone region to another. For example, rice is acommercial crop in Haryana and Punjab, butin Orissa, it is a subsistence crop.

Can you give some more examples of cropswhich may be commercial in one region andmay provide subsistence in another region?

Plantation is also a type of commercialfarming. In this type of farming, a single cropis grown on a large area. The plantation hasan interface of agriculture and industry.Plantations cover large tracts of land, usingcapital intensive inputs, with the help ofmigrant labourers. All the produce is used asraw material in respective industries.

In India, tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane,banana, etc.. are important plantation crops.Tea in Assam and North Bengal coffee in

Rinjha lived with her family in a small villageat the outskirts of Diphu in Assam. She enjoyswatching her family members clearing,slashing and burning a patch of land forcultivation. She often helps them in irrigatingthe fields with water running through abamboo canal from the nearby spring. Sheloves the surroundings and wants to stayhere as long as she can, but this little girlhas no idea about the declining fertility ofthe soil and her family’s search for fresh apatch of land in the next season.

Karnataka are some of the important plantationcrops grown in these states. Since theproduction is mainly for market, a well-developed network of transport andcommunication connecting the plantationareas, processing industries and markets playsan important role in the development ofplantations.

35AGRICULTURE

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36 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

CROPPING PATTERN

You have studied the physical diversities andplurality of cultures in India. These are alsoreflected in agricultural practices andcropping patterns in the country. Varioustypes of food and fibre crops, vegetables andfruits, spices and condiments, etc.. constitutesome of the important crops grown in thecountry. India has three cropping seasons —rabi, kharif and zaid.

Rabi crops are sown in winter from Octoberto December and harvested in summer fromApril to June. Some of the important rabi cropsare wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.Though, these crops are grown in large partsof India, states from the north and north-western parts such as Punjab, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh are importantfor the production of wheat and other rabicrops. Availability of precipitation duringwinter months due to the western temperatecyclones helps in the success of these crops.However, the success of the green revolutionin Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradeshand parts of Rajasthan has also been animportant factor in the growth of the above-mentioned rabi crops.

Kharif crops are grown with the onset ofmonsoon in different parts of the country andthese are harvested in September-October.Important crops grown during this season arepaddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong,urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean.Some of the most important rice-growingregions are Assam, West Bengal, coastal regionsof Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Keralaand Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkancoast) along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.Recently, paddy has also become an importantcrop of Punjab and Haryana. In states likeAssam, West Bengal and Orissa, three crops ofpaddy are grown in a year. These are Aus,Aman and Boro.

In between the rabi and the kharif seasons,there is a short season during the summermonths known as the Zaid season. Some ofthe crops produced during ‘zaid’ arewatermelon, muskmelon, cucumber,

vegetables and fodder crops. Sugarcane takesalmost a year to grow.

Major Crops

A variety of food and non food crops are grownin different parts of the country dependingupon the variations in soil, climate andcultivation practices. Major crops grown inIndia are rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea, coffee,sugarcane, oil seeds, cotton and jute, etc.

Rice: It is the staple food crop of a majority ofthe people in India. Our country is the secondlargest producer of rice in the world after China.It is a kharif crop which requires hightemperature, (above 25°C) and high humiditywith annual rainfall above 100 cm. In the areasof less rainfall, it grows with the help of irrigation.

Rice is grown in the plains of north andnorth-eastern India, coastal areas and thedeltaic regions. Development of dense network

Fig. 4.4 (b): Rice is ready to be harvested in the field

Fig. 4.4 (a): Rice Cultivation

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India: Distribution of Rice

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38 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

of canal irrigation and tubewells have made itpossible to grow rice in areas of less rainfallsuch as Punjab, Haryana and western UttarPradesh and parts of Rajasthan.

Wheat: This is the second most importantcereal crop. It is the main food crop, in northand north-western part of the country. Thisrabi crop requires a cool growing season anda bright sunshine at the time of ripening. Itrequires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenly-distributed over the growing season. There aretwo important wheat-growing zones in thecountry – the Ganga-Satluj plains in the north-west and black soil region of the Deccan. Themajor wheat-producing states are Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan andparts of Madhya Pradesh.

Fig. 4.5: Wheat Cultivation

Millets: Jowar, bajra and ragi are theimportant millets grown in India. Though,these are known as coarse grains, they havevery high nutritional value. For example, ragiis very rich in iron, calcium, other micronutrients and roughage. Jowar is the thirdmost important food crop with respect to areaand production. It is a rain-fed crop mostlygrown in the moist areas which hardly needsirrigation. Maharashtra is the largest producerof jowar followed by Karnataka, AndhraPradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Bajra grows well on sandy soils and shallowblack soil. Rajasthan is the largest producer ofbajra followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra,Gujarat and Haryana. Ragi is a crop of dry

Fig. 4.6: Bajra Cultivation

regions and grows well on red, black, sandy,loamy and shallow black soils. Karnataka isthe largest producer of ragi followed by TamilNadu. Apart from these states, HimachalPradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Jharkhand andArunachal Pradesh are also important for theproduction of ragi.

Maize: It is a crop which is used both as foodand fodder. It is a kharif crop which requires

Fig. 4.7: Maize Cultivation

temperature between 21°C to 27°C and growswell in old alluvial soil. In some states like Biharmaize is grown in rabi season also. Use ofmodern inputs such as HYV seeds, fertilisersand irrigation have contributed to the increasingproduction of maize. Major maize-producingstates are Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Pulses: India is the largest producer as wellas the consumer of pulses in the world. Theseare the major source of protein in a vegetarian

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39AGRICULTURE

India: Distribution of Wheat

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40 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

source of sugar, gur (jaggary), khandsari andmolasses. The major sugarcane-producingstates are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra,Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.

Oil Seeds: India is the largest producer of oil-seeds in the world. Different oil seeds are growncovering approximately 12 per cent of the totalcropped area of the country. Main oil-seedsproduced in India are groundnut, mustard,coconut, sesamum (til), soyabean, castor seeds,cotton seeds, linseed and sunflower. Most ofthese are edible and used as cooking mediums.However, some of these are also used as rawmaterial in the production of soap, cosmeticsand ointments.

Groundnut is a kharif crop and accountsfor about half of the major oilseeds producedin the country. Andhra Pradesh is the largestproducer of groundnut followed by TamilNadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra –linseed and mustard are rabi crops. Sesamumis a kharif crop in north and rabi crop in southIndia. Castor seed is grown both as rabi andkharif crop.

Tea: Tea cultivation is an example ofplantation agriculture. It is also an importantbeverage crop introduced in India initially bythe British. Today, most of the tea plantationsare owned by Indians. The tea plant grows wellin tropical and sub-tropical climates endowedwith deep and fertile well-drained soil, rich inhumus and organic matter. Tea bushesrequire warm and moist frost-free climate allthrough the year. Frequent showers evenlydistributed over the year ensure continuousgrowth of tender leaves. Tea is a labour-intensive industry. It requires abundant,

Fig. 4.8: Sugarcane Cultivation

Fig. 4.9: Groundnut, sunflower and mustard are ready to be harvested in the field

diet. Major pulses that are grown in India aretur (arhar), urad, moong, masur, peas andgram. Can you distinguish which of thesepulses are grown in the kharif season andwhich are grown in the rabi season? Pulsesneed less moisture and survive even in dryconditions. Being leguminous crops, all thesecrops except arhar help in restoring soil fertilityby fixing nitrogen from the air. Therefore, theseare mostly grown in rotation with other crops.Major pulse producing states in India areMadhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Food Crops other than Grains

Sugarcane: It is a tropical as well as asubtropical crop. It grows well in hot andhumid climate with a temperature of 21°C to27°C and an annual rainfall between 75cm.

and 100cm. Irrigation is required in the regionsof low rainfall. It can be grown on a variety ofsoils and needs manual labour from sowing toharvesting. India is the second largest producerof sugarcane only after Brazil. It is the main

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41AGRICULTURE

cheap and skilled labour.Tea is processed withinthe tea garden to restoreits freshness. Major tea-producing states areAssam, hills of Darjeelingand Jalpaiguri districts,West Bengal, Tamil Naduand Kerala. Apart fromthese, Himachal Pradesh,Uttaranchal, Meghalaya,Andhra Pradesh andTripura are also tea-producing states in thecountry. India is the leading producer as wellas exporter of tea in the world.

Coffee: India produces about four per cent ofthe world’s coffee production. Indian coffee isknown in the world for its good quality. TheArabica variety initially brought from Yemen isproduced in the country. This variety is in greatdemand all over the world. Intially its cultivationwas introduced on the Baba Budan Hills and

India is a producer of tropical as well astemperate fruits. Mangoes of Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and WestBengal, oranges of Nagpur and Cherrapunjee(Meghalaya), bananas of Kerala, Mizoram,Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, lichi and guavaof Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, pineapples ofMeghalaya, grapes of Andhra Pradesh andMaharashtra, apples, pears, apricots andwalnuts of Jammu and Kashmir and HimachalPradesh are in great demand the world over.

Fig. 4.12: Apricots, apple and pomegranate

Fig. 4.13: Cultivation of vegetables – peas, cauliflower, tomato and bringal

even today its cultivation is confined to the Nilgiriin Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Horticulture Crops: India is the largestproducer of fruits and vegetables in the world.

Fig. 4.10: Tea Cultivation

India produces about 13 per cent of theworld’s vegetables. It is an importantproducer of pea, cauliflower, onion, cabbage,tomato, brinjal and potato.

Fig. 4.11: Tea-leaves Harvesting

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42 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Fig. 4.14: Consumption of natural rubber

Non-Food Crops

Rubber: It is an equatorial crop, but underspecial conditions, it is also grown in tropicaland sub-tropical areas. It requires moist andhumid climate with rainfall of more than 200cm. and temperature above 25°C.

Rubber is an important industrial rawmaterial. It is mainly grown in Kerala, TamilNadu, Karnataka and Andaman and Nicabarislands and Garo hills of Meghalaya. India ranksfifth among the world’s natural rubber producers.

irrigation, 210 frost-free days and bright sun-shine for its growth. It is a kharif crop andrequires 6 to 8 months to mature. Majorcotton-producing states are – Maharashtra,Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab,Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Jute: It is known as the golden fibre. Jutegrows well on well-drained fertile soils in theflood plains where soils are renewed everyyear. High temperature is required during thetime of growth. West Bengal, Bihar, Assam,Orissa and Meghalaya are the major juteproducing states. It is used in making gunnybags, mats, ropes, yarn, carpets and otherartefacts. Due to its high cost, it is losingmarket to synthetic fibres and packingmaterials, particularly the nylon.

Technological and Institutional Reforms

It was mentioned in the previous pages thatagriculture has been practised in India forthousands of years. Sustained uses of landwithout compatible techno-institutionalchanges have hindered the pace ofagricultural development. Inspite ofdevelopment of sources of irrigation most ofthe farmers in large parts of the country stilldepend upon monsoon and natural fertilityin order to carry on their agriculture. For agrowing population, this poses a seriouschallenge. Agriculture which provideslivelihood for more than 60 per cent of itspopulation, needs some serious technical andinstitutional reforms. Thus, collectivisation,

List the items which are made of rubber andare used by us.

Fig. 4.15: Cotton Cultivation

Fibre Crops: Cotton, jute, hemp and naturalsilk are the four major fibre crops grown in India.The first three are derived from the crops grownin the soil, the latter is obtained from cocoons ofthe silkworms fed on green leaves speciallymulberry. Rearing of silk worms for theproduction of silk fibre is known as sericulture.

Cotton: India is believed to be the originalhome of the cotton plant. Cotton is one of themain raw materials for cotton textile industry.India is the third-largest producer of cottonin the world. Cotton grows well in drier partsof the black cotton soil of the Deccan plateau.It requires high temperature, light rainfall or

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43AGRICULTURE

Fig. 4.16: Modern technological equipments used in agriculture

Bhoodan – GramdanMahatma Gandhi declared Vinoba Bhave ashis spiritual heir. He also participated inSatyagraha as one of the foremostsatyagrahis. He was one of the votaries ofGandhi’s concept of gram swarajya. AfterGandhiji’s martyrdom, Vinobha Bhaveundertook padyatra to spread Gandhiji’smessage covered almost the entire country.Once, when he was delivering a lecture atPochampalli in Andhra Pradesh, some poorlandless villagers demanded some land fortheir economic well-being. Vinoba Bhavecould not promise it to them immediatelybut assured them to talk to the Governmentof India regarding provision of land for themif they undertook cooperative farming.Suddenly, Shri Ram Chandra Reddy stoodup and offered 80 acres of land to bedistributed among 80 land-less villagers.This act was known as ‘Bhoodan’. Later hetravelled and introduced his ideas widely allover India. Some zamindars, owners ofmany villages offered to distribute somevillages among the landless. It was knownas Gramdan. However, many land-ownerschose to provide some part of their land to

consolidation of holdings, cooperation andabolition of zamindari, etc. were given priorityto bring about institutional reforms in thecountry after Independence. ‘Land reform’ wasthe main focus of our First Five Year Plan. Theright of inheritance had already lead tofragmentation of land holdings necessitatingconsolidation of holdings.

The laws of land reforms were enacted butthe laws of implementation was lacking orlukewarm. The Government of Indiaembarked upon introducing agriculturalreforms to improve Indian agriculture in the1960s and 1970s. The Green Revolutionbased on the use of package technology andthe White Revolution (Operation Flood) weresome of the strategies initiated to improve thelot of Indian agriculture. But, this too led tothe concentration of development in fewselected areas. Therefore, in the 1980s and1990s, a comprehensive land developmentprogramme was initiated, which included bothinstitutional and technical reforms. Provisionfor crop insurance against drought, flood,cyclone, fire and disease, establishment ofGrameen banks, cooperative societies andbanks for providing loan facilities to thefarmers at lower rates of interest were someimportant steps in this direction.

Kissan Credit Card (KCC), PersonalAccident Insurance Scheme (PAIS) are someother schemes introduced by the Governmentof India for the benefit of the farmers. Moreover,special weather bulletins and agricultural

programmes for farmers were introduced onthe radio and television. The government alsoannounces minimum support price,remunerative and procurement prices forimportant crops to check the exploitation offarmers by speculators and middlemen.

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44 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

From the above table, it is clear that thoughthe GDP growth rate is increasing over theyears, it is not generating sufficientemployment opportunities in the country. Thegrowth rate in agriculture is deceleratingwhich is an alarming situation. Today, Indianfarmers are facing a big challenge frominternational competition and our governmentis going ahead with reduction in the publicinvestment in agriculture sector particularlyin irrigation, power, rural roads, market andmechanisation. Subsidy on fertilisers isdecreased leading to increase in the cost ofproduction. Moreover, reduction in importduties on agricultural products have proveddetrimental to agriculture in the country.Farmers are withdrawing their investmentfrom agriculture causing a downfall in theemployment in agriculture.

Why are farmers committing suicides inseveral states of the country?

Contribution of agriculture to the nationaleconomy, employment and output

Agriculture has been the backbone of theIndian economy though its share in the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) has registered adeclining trend from 1951 onwards; yet itsshare in providing employment and livelihoodto the population continues to be as high as63 per cent in 2001.

The declining share of agriculture in theGDP is a matter of serious concern becauseany decline and stagnation in agriculture willlead to a decline in other spheres of theeconomy having wider implications for society.

Considering the importance of agriculturein India, the Government of India madeconcerted efforts to modernise agriculture.Establishment of Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch (ICAR), agricultural universities,veterinary services and animal breedingcentres, horticulture development, researchand development in the field of meteorology andweather forecast, etc. were given priority forimproving Indian agriculture. Apart from this,improving the rural infrastructure was alsoconsidered essential for the same.

Find out why an Indian farmer does not wanthis son to become a farmer.

Table 4.1: India: Growth of GDP andmajor sectors (in %)

Sector 1980- 1992- 2002-0791 2001 (Tenth plan

projected)

Agriculture 3.6 3.3 4.0

Industries 7.1 6.5 9.5

Services 6.7 8.2 9.1

GDP 5.6 6.4 8.0

Source: Tenth Five Year Plan, 2002-07

When farmers have been facing so manyproblems and land under agriculture isdecreasing, can we think of alternativeemployment opportunities in the agriculturesector?

FOOD SECURITY

You know that food is a basic need and everycitizen of the country should have access tofood which provides minimum nutritionallevel. If any segment of our population doesnot have this access, that segment suffers fromlack of food security. The number of peoplewho do not have food security isdisproportionately large in some regions ofour country, particularly in economically lessdeveloped states with higher incidence ofpoverty. The remote areas of the country aremore prone to natural disasters and uncertainfood supply. In order to ensure availability offood to all sections of society our governmentcarefully designed a national food securitysystem. It consists of two components (a)buffer stock and (b) public distributionsystem (PDS).

the poor farmers due to the fear of landceiling act. This Bhoodan-Gramdanmovement initiated by Vinobha Bhave is alsoknown as the Blood-less Revolution.

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As you know, PDS is a programme whichprovides food grains and other essentialcommodities at subsidised prices in rural andurban areas.

India’s food security policy has a primaryobjective to ensure availability of foodgrainsto the common people at an affordable price.It has enabled the poor to have access to food.The focus of the policy is on growth inagriculture production and on fixing thesupport price for procurement of wheat andrice, to maintain their stocks. FoodCorporation of India (FCI) is responsible forprocuring and stocking foodgrains, whereasdistribution is ensured by public distributionsystem (PDS).

The FCI procures foodgrains from thefarmers at the government announcedminimum support price (MSP). Thegovernment used to provide subsidies onagriculture inputs such as fertilizers, powerand water. These subsidies have now reachedunsustainable levels and have also led to largescale inefficiencies in the use of these scarceinputs. Excessive and imprudent use offertilizers and water has led to waterlogging,salinity and depletion of essentialmicronutrients in the soil. The high MSP,subsidies in input and committed FCIpurchases have distorted the cropping pattern.Wheat and paddy crops are being grown morefor the MSP they get. Punjab and Haryana areforemost examples. This has also created aserious imbalance in inter-crop parities.

You already know that the consumers aredivided into two categories : below poverty line(BPL) and above poverty line (APL), with theissue price being different for each category.However, this categorisation is not perfect anda number of deserving poor have beenexcluded from the BPL category. Moreover,some of the so called APL slip back to BPL,because of the failure of even one crop and itis administratively difficult to accommodatesuch shifts.

Each district and block can be made selfsufficient in foodgrain production if governmentprovides proper agricultural infrastructure,credit linkages and also encourages the use oflatest techniques. Instead of concentrating only

on rice or wheat, the food crop with a bettergrowth potential in that particular area mustbe encouraged. Creation of necessaryinfrastructure like irrigation facilities,availability of electricity etc. may also attractprivate investments in agriculture.

The focus on increasing foodgrainproduction which should be on a sustainablebasis and also free trade in grains will createmassive employment and reduce poverty inrural areas.

There has been a gradual shift fromcultivation of food crops to cultivation of fruits,vegetables, oil-seeds and industrial crops. Thishas led to the reduction in net sown area undercereals and pulses. With the growingpopulation of India, the declining foodproduction puts a big question mark over thecountry’s future food security. The competitionfor land between non-agricultural uses suchas housing etc. and agriculture has resultedin reduction in the net sown area. Theproductivity of land has started showing adeclining trend. Fertilisers, pesticides andinsecticides, which once showed dramaticresults, are now being held responsible fordegrading the soils. Periodic scarcity of waterhas led to reduction in area under irrigation.Inefficient water management has led to waterlogging and salinity.

Do you know why foodgrains productionshas remained stagnant or fallen for sixconsecutive years?

One important reason is land degradation.Free power to a section of farmers hasencouraged them to pump groundwater to

Table 4.2: India: Foodgrains production

(million tons)

Cereals 1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- 2003- 2004-2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Rice 89.7 85.0 93.3 71.8 88.3 85.3

Wheat 76.4 69.7 72.8 65.8 72.1 72.0

Coarse 30.3 31.1 33.4 26.1 38.1 33.9

Pulses 13.4 11.1 13.4 11.1 14.9 13.4

Total 209.8 196.8 212.9 174.8 213.5 204.6

Source: Economic Survey, 2005-06

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46 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

grow water-intensive crops in low-rainfallareas (rice in Punjab, sugarcane inMaharashtra). This unsustainable pumpinghas reduced water storage in aquifers.Consequently, many wells and tubewells haverun dry. This has pushed the marginal andsmall farmers out of cultivation.

The big farmers with deeper tubewells stillhave water, but many others face a water crisis.Inadequate storage and marketing facilities alsoact as a disincentive to the farmer. Thus, thefarmers are badly affected by the uncertaintiesof production and market. They suffer from adouble disadvantage as they pay high pricesfor inputs such as HYV seeds, fertilisers etc. butlack the bargaining power to fix prices in theirfavour. All the production reaches the marketsimultaneously. The higher the supply thelower is the demand. This causes distress sale

also. Therefore, there can be no food securitywithout the security of the small farmers.

Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture

Globalisation is not a new phenomenon. It wasthere at the time of colonisation. In thenineteenth century when European traderscame to India, at that time too, Indian spiceswere exported to different countries of the worldand farmers of south India were encouragedto grow these crops. Till today it is one of theimportant items of export from India.

During the British period cotton belts ofIndia attracted the British and ultimatelycotton was exported to Britain as a raw materialfor their textile industries. Cotton textileindustry in Manchester and Liverpoolflourished due to the availability of goodquality cotton from India. You have read about

Organise a debate on food security of India, its need and efforts

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47AGRICULTURE

the Champaran movement which started in1917 in Bihar. This was started becausefarmers of that region were forced to growindigo on their land because it was necessaryfor the textile industries which were located inBritain. They were unable to grow foodgrainsto sustain their families.

Under globalisation, particularly after1990, the farmers in India have been exposedto new challenges. Despite being an importantproducer of rice, cotton, rubber, tea, coffee, juteand spices our agricultural products are notable to compete with the developed countriesbecause of the highly subsidised agriculturein those countries.

Fig. 4.17: Tissue culture of teak clones

Genetic engineering is recognised as apowerful supplement in inventing newhybrid varieties of seeds.

Fig. 4.18: Problems associated with heavy pesticideuse are widely recognised in developed and

developing countries

Change in cropping pattern for example from cereals to high-value crops willmean that India will have to import food. During 1960’s this would have beenseen as a disaster. But if India imports cereals while exporting high-valuecommodities, it will be following successful economies like Italy, Israel and Chile.These countries exports farm products (fruits, olives, speciality seeds and wine)and import cereals. Are we ready to take this risk? Debate the issue.

Today, Indian agriculture finds itself at thecrossroads. To make agriculture successful andprofitable, proper thrust should be given to theimprovement of the condition of marginal andsmall farmers. The green revolution promisedmuch. But today it’s under controversies. It isbeing alleged that it has caused landdegradation due to overuse of chemicals, dryingaquifers and vanishing biodiversity. Thekeyword today is “gene revolution”. Whichincludes genetic engineering.

Can you name any gene modified seed usedvastly in India?

Infact organic farming is much in voguetoday because it is practised without factorymade chemicals such as fertilisers andpesticides. Hence, it does not affect environmentin a negative manner.

A few economists think that Indian farmershave a bleak future if they continue growingfoodgrains on the holdings that grow smallerand smaller as the population rises. India’srural population is about 600 million whichdepends upon 250 million (approximate)hectares of agricultural land, an average of lessthan half a hectare per person.

Indian farmers should diversify theircropping pattern from cereals to high-valuecrops. This will increase incomes and reduceenvironmental degradation simultaneously.Because fruits, medicinal herbs, flowers,vegetables, bio-diesel crops like jatrophaand jojoba need much less irrigation thanrice or sugarcane. India’s diverse climatecan be harnessed to grow a wide range ofhigh-value crops.

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48 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES

1. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Which one of the following describes a system of agriculture where a singlecrop is grown on a large area?

(a) Shifting Agriculture

(b) Plantation Agriculture

(c) Horticulture

(d) Intensive Agriculture

(ii) Which one of the following is a rabi crop?

(a) Rice (c) Millets

(b) Gram (d) Cotton

(iii) Which one of the following is a leguminous crop?

(a) Pulses (c) Millets

(b) Jawar (d) Sesamum

(iv) Which one of the following is announced by the government in support ofa crop?

(a) Maximum support price

(b) Minimum support price

(c) Moderate support price

(d) Influential support price

2. Answer the following questions in 30 words.

(i) Name one important beverage crop and specify the geographical conditionsrequired for its growth.

(ii) Name one staple crop of India and the regions where it is produced.

(iii) Enlist the various institutional reform programmes introduced by thegovernment in the interest of farmers.

(iv) The land under cultivation has got reduced day by day. Can you imagineits consequences?

3. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.

(i) Suggest the initiative taken by the government to ensure the increase inagricultural production.

(ii) How did the partition of the country in 1947 affect the jute industry?

(iii) Describe the impact of globalisation on Indian agriculture.

(iv) Describe the geographical conditions required for the growth of rice.

PROJECT WORK

1. Group discussion on the necessity of literacy among farmers.

2. On an outline map of India show wheat producing areas.

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49AGRICULTURE

ACTIVITY

Solve the puzzle by following your search horizontally and vertically to find thehidden answers.

1. The two staple food crops of India.

2. This is the summer cropping season of India.

3. Pulses like arhar, moong, gram, urad contain…

4. It is a coarse grain.

5. The two important beverages in India are…

6. One of the four major fibers grown on black soils.

A Z M X N C B V N X A H D Q

S D E W S R J D Q J Z V R E

D K H A R I F G W F M R F W

F N L R G C H H R S B S V T

G B C W H E A T Y A C H B R

H R T K A S S E P H X A N W

J I E S J O W A R J Z H D T

K C L A E G A C O F F E E Y

L T E F Y M T A T S S R G I

P D E J O U Y V E J G F A U

O U M H Q S U D I T S W S P

U O A C O T T O N E A H F O

Y O L F L U S R Q Q D T W I

T M U A H R G Y K T R A B F

E A K D G D Q H S U O I W H

W Q Z C X V B N M K J A S L

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We use different things in our daily life madefrom metal. Can you list a number of itemsused in your house made of metals. Where dothese metals come from?

You have studied that the earth’s crust ismade up of different minerals embedded in therocks. Various metals are extracted from theseminerals after proper refinement.

Minerals are an indispensable part of ourlives. Almost everything we use, from a tiny pinto a towering building or a big ship, all aremade from minerals. The railway lines and thetarmac (paving) of the roads, our implementsand machinery too are made from minerals.Cars, buses, trains, aeroplanes aremanufactured from minerals and run onpower resources derived from the earth. Eventhe food that we eat contains minerals. In allstages of development, human beings haveused minerals for their livelihood, decoration,festivities, religious and ceremonial rites.

Haban comes to Guwahati with his fatherfrom a remote village.

He sees people getting into strangehouse like objects which move along theroad. He also sees a “kitchen” dragging anumber of house along with it. He is amazedand asked his father “Why don’t our housesmove like the one we saw in Guwahati, Ba?”

Ba replies, “These are not houses, theyare buses and trains. Unlike our houses theseare not made of bricks and stones, metal likeiron and alluminium are used in makingthese. They do not move on their own. Theyare driven by an engine which needs energyto work.”

A bright smile from toothpasteand minerals

Toothpaste cleans your teeth. Abrasiveminerals like silica, limestone, aluminiumoxide and various phosphate minerals do thecleaning. Fluoride which is used to reducecavities, comes from a mineral fluorite. Mosttoothpaste are made white with titaniumoxide, which comes from minerals calledrutile, ilmenite and anatase. The sparkle insome toothpastes comes from mica. Thetoothbrush and tube containing the paste aremade of plastics from petroleum. Find outwhere these minerals are found?

Dig a little deeper and find out how manyminerals are used to make a light bulb?

All living things need mineralsLife processes cannot occur without minerals.Although our mineral intake represents onlyabout 0.3 per cent of our total intake ofnutrients, they are so potent and so importantthat without them we would not be able toutilise the other 99.7 per cent of foodstuffs.

Dig a little deeper and collect “NutritionalFacts” printed on food labels.

What is a mineral?

Geologists define mineral as a “homogenous,naturally occurring substance with a definableinternal structure.” Minerals are found invaried forms in nature, ranging from thehardest diamond to the softest talc. Why arethey so varied?

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You have already learnt about rocks. Rocksare combinations of homogenous substancescalled minerals. Some rocks, for instancelimestone, consist of a single mineral only, butmajority of the rock consist of several mineralsin varying proportions. Although, over 2000minerals have been identified, only a few areabundantly found in most of the rocks.

A particular mineral that will be formedfrom a certain combination of elementsdepends upon the physical and chemicalconditions under which the material forms.This, in turn, results in a wide range of colours,hardness, crystal forms, lustre and density thata particular mineral possesses. Geologists usethese properties to classify the minerals.

Study of Minerals by Geographersand Geologists

Geographers study minerals as part of theearth’s crust for a better understanding oflandforms. The distribution of mineralresources and associated economic activitiesare of interest to geographers. A geologist,however, is interested in the formation ofminerals, their age and physical andchemical composition.

However, for general and commercialpurposes minerals can be classified as under.

MODE OF OCCURRENCE OF MINERALS

Where are these minerals found?

Minerals are usually found in “ores”. Theterm ore is used to describe an accumulationof any mineral mixed with other elements. Themineral content of the ore must be in sufficientconcentration to make its extraction

commercially viable. The type of formation orstructure in which they are found determinesthe relative ease with which mineral ores maybe mined. This also determines the cost ofextraction. It is, therefore, important for us tounderstand the main types of formations inwhich minerals occur.

Minerals generally occur in these forms:

(i) In igneous and metamorphic rocksminerals may occur in the cracks,crevices, faults or joints. The smalleroccurrences are called veins and thelarger are called lodes. In most cases,they are formed when minerals in liquid/molten and gaseous forms are forcedupward through cavities towards theearth’s surface. They cool and solidify asthey rise. Major metallic minerals like tin,copper, zinc and lead etc. are obtainedfrom veins and lodes.

(ii) In sedimentary rocks a number of mineralsoccur in beds or layers. They have beenformed as a result of deposition,accumulation and concentration inhorizontal strata. Coal and some forms ofiron ore have been concentrated as a resultof long periods under great heat andpressure. Another group of sedimentaryminerals include gypsum, potash salt and

sodium salt. These are formed as a resultof evaporation especially in arid regions.

(iii) Another mode of formation involves thedecomposition of surface rocks, and theremoval of soluble constituents, leaving aresidual mass of weathered materialcontaining ores. Bauxite is formed this way.

51MINERALS AND ENERGY RESOURCES

Fig. 5.1

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(iv) Certain minerals may occur as alluvialdeposits in sands of valley floors and thebase of hills. These deposits are called‘placer deposits’ and generally containminerals, which are not corroded by water.Gold, silver, tin and platinum are mostimportant among such minerals.

(v) The ocean waters contain vast quantitiesof minerals, but most of these are too widelydiffused to be of economic significance.However, common salt, magnesium andbromine are largely derived from oceanwaters. The ocean beds, too, are rich inmanganese nodules.

Let us now study the distribution of a fewmajor minerals in India. Always remember thatthe concentration of mineral in the ore, the easeof extraction and closeness to the market playan important role in affecting the economicviability of a reserve. Thus, to meet the demand,a choice has to be made between a number ofpossible options. When this is done a mineral‘deposit’ or ‘reserve’ turns into a mine.

Ferrous MineralsFerrous minerals account for about three-fourths of the total value of the production ofmetallic minerals. They provide a strong basefor the development of metallurgicalindustries. India exports substantialquantities of ferrous minerals after meetingher internal demands.

Iron OreIron ore is the basic mineral and the backboneof industrial development. India is endowedwith fairly abundant resources of iron ore. Indiais rich in good quality iron ores. Magnetite isthe finest iron ore with a very high content ofiron up to 70 per cent. It has excellent magneticqualities, especially valuable in the electricalindustry. Hematite ore is the most importantindustrial iron ore in terms of the quantityused, but has a slightly lower iron content thanmagnetite. (50-60 per cent).

Rat-Hole Mining. Do you know that mostof the minerals in India are nationalisedand their extraction is possible only afterobtaining due permission from thegovernment? But in most of the tribal areasof the north-east India, minerals areowned by individuals or communities. InMeghalaya, there are large deposits of coal,iron ore, limestone and dolomite etc. Coalmining in Jowai and Cherapunjee is doneby family member in the form of a longnarrow tunnel, known as ‘Rat hole’ mining.

Dig a little deeper: What is the differencebetween an open pit mine, a quarry and an

underground mine with shafts?

India is fortunate to have fairly rich and variedmineral resources. However, these are unevenlydistributed. Broadly speaking, peninsular rockscontain most of the reserves of coal, metallicminerals, mica and many other non-metallicminerals. Sedimentary rocks on the western andeastern flanks of the peninsula, in Gujarat andAssam have most of the petroleum deposits.Rajasthan with the rock systems of the peninsula,has reserves of many non-ferrous minerals. Thevast alluvial plains of north India are almostdevoid of economic minerals. These variationsexist largely because of the differences in thegeological structure, processes and time involvedin the formation of minerals.

Fig. 5.2: Production of iron ore showingstatewise share in per cent, 2003-04

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53MINERALS AND ENERGY RESOURCES

The major iron ore belts in India are:

• Orissa-Jharkhand belt: In Orissa highgrade hematite ore is found in Badampaharmines in the Mayurbhanj and Kendujhardistricts. In the adjoining Singbhumdistrict of Jharkhand haematite iron ore ismined in Gua and Noamundi.

• Durg-Bastar-Chandrapur belt lies inChhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Very highgrade hematites are found in the famousBailadila range of hills in the Bastar districtof Chattisgarh. The range of hills compriseof 14 deposits of super high grade hematiteiron ore. It has the best physical propertiesneeded for steel making. Iron ore from thesemines is exported to Japan and SouthKorea via Vishakapatnam port.

• Bellary-Chitradurga-Chikmaglur-Tumkurbelt in Karnataka has large reserves of ironore. The Kudermukh mines located in theWestern Ghats of Karnataka are a 100 percent export unit. Kudremukh deposits areknown to be one of the largest in the world.The ore is transported as slurry through apipeline to a port near Mangalore.

• Maharashtra-Goa belt includes the stateof Goa and Ratnagiri district ofMaharashtra. Though, the ores are not ofvery high quality, yet they are efficientlyexploited. Iron ore is exported throughMarmagao port.

ManganeseManganese is mainly used in themanufacturing of steel and ferro-manganesealloy. Nearly 10 kg of manganese is requiredto manufacture one tonne of steel. It is alsoused in manufacturing bleaching powder,insecticides and paints.

Fig. 5.3: Iron ore mine

Fig. 5.4: Production of Manganese showingstatewise share in per cent, 2003-2004

Orissa is the largest producer of manganeseores in India. It accounted for one-third of thecountry’s total production in 2000-01.

Dig a little deeper: Superimpose the mapsshowing distribution of iron ore, manganese,coal and iron and steel industry. Do you see

any correlation. Why?

Non-Ferrous Minerals

India’s reserves and production of non- ferrousminerals is not very satisfactory. However, theseminerals, which include copper, bauxite, lead,zinc and gold play a vital role in a number ofmetallurgical, engineering and electricalindustries. Let us study the distribution ofcopper and bauxite.

Kudre in Kannada means horse. Thehighest peak in the western ghats ofKarnataka resembles the face of a horse.The Bailadila hills look like the hump ofan ox, and hence its name.

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54 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

India: Distribution of Iron Ore, Manganese, Bauxite and Mica

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55MINERALS AND ENERGY RESOURCES

CopperIndia is critically deficient in the reserve andproduction of copper. Being malleable, ductileand a good conductor, copper is mainly usedin electrical cables, electronics and chemical

Fig. 5.5: Copper mines at Malanjkhand

Fig. 5.6: Production of Copper showing state-wiseshare in per cent, 2003-04

BauxiteThough, several ores contain aluminium, it isfrom bauxite, a clay-like substance thatalumina and later aluminium is obtained.Bauxite deposits are formed by thedecomposition of a wide variety of rocks richin aluminium silicates.

Fig. 5.7: Production of Bauxite showing state-wiseshare in per cent, 2003-04

Fig.5.8: Bauxite Mine

industries. The Balaghat mines in MadhyaPradesh produce 52 per cent of India’s copper.The Singbhum district of Jharkhand is also aleading producer of copper. The Khetri minesin Rajasthan are also famous.

Aluminium is an important metal becauseit combines the strength of metals such as iron,with extreme lightness and also with goodconductivity and great malleability.

India’s bauxite deposits are mainly foundin the Amarkantak plateau, Maikal hills andthe plateau region of Bilaspur- Katni.

Orissa is the largest bauxite producingstate in India with 45 per cent of the country’stotal production in 2000-01. Panchpatmalideposits in Koraput district are the mostimportant bauxite deposits in the state.

Dig a little deeper: Locate the mines ofBauxite on the physical map of India.

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56 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Non-Metallic Minerals

Mica is a mineral made up of a series of platesor leaves. It splits easily into thin sheets. Thesesheets can be so thin that a thousand can belayered into a mica sheet of a few centimetershigh. Mica can be clear, black, green, red yellowor brown. Due to its excellent di-electricstrength, low power loss factor, insulatingproperties and resistance to high voltage, micais one of the most indispensable minerals usedin electric and electronic industries.

Mica deposits are found in the northernedge of the Chota Nagpur plateau. KodermaGaya – Hazaribagh belt of Jharkhand is theleading producer.

In Rajasthan, the major mica producingarea is around Ajmer. Nellore mica belt ofAndhra Pradesh is also an important producerin the country.

After the discovery of aluminium EmperorNapoleon III wore buttons and hooks onhis clothes made of aluminium and servedfood to his more illustrious guests inaluminium utensils and the lesshonourable ones were served in gold andsilver utensils. Thirty years after thisincident aluminium bowls were mostcommon with the beggars in Paris.

Fig. 5.9: Production of Limestone showing state-wise share in per cent, 2003-04

Rock Minerals

Limestone is found in association with rockscomposed of calcium carbonates or calciumand magnesium carbonates. It is found insedimentary rocks of most geologicalformations. Limestone is the basic raw materialfor the cement industry and essential forsmelting iron ore in the blast furnace.

Dig a little deeper: Study the maps to explainwhy Chota Nagpur is a storehouse of minerals.

Hazards of MiningHave you ever wondered about the efforts the miners make in making life comfortablefor you? What are the impacts of mining onthe health of the miners and the environment?

The dust and noxious fumes inhaled byminers make them vulnerable to pulmonarydiseases. The risk of collapsing mine roofs,inundation and fires in coalmines are aconstant threat to miners.

The water sources in the region getcontaminated due to mining. Dumping of wasteand slurry leads to degradation of land, soil,and increase in stream and river pollution.

Fig. 5.10: Air pollution due togeneration of dust in mining areas

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57MINERALS AND ENERGY RESOURCES

Stricter safety regulations andimplementation of environmental laws areessential to prevent mining from becoming a“killer industry”.

CONSERVATION OF MINERALS

We all appreciate the strong dependence ofindustry and agriculture upon mineraldeposits and the substances manufacturedfrom them. The total volume of workablemineral deposits is an insignificant fractioni.e. one per cent of the earth’s crust. We arerapidly consuming mineral resources that

required millions of years to be created andconcentrated. The geological processes ofmineral formation are so slow that the ratesof replenishment are infinitely small incomparison to the present rates ofconsumption. Mineral resources are,therefore, finite and non-renewable. Richmineral deposits are our country’s extremelyvaluable but short-lived possessions.Continued extraction of ores leads toincreasing costs as mineral extraction comesfrom greater depths along with decreasein quality.

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A concerted effort has to be made in orderto use our mineral resources in a planned andsustainable manner. Improved technologiesneed to be constantly evolved to allow use oflow grade ores at low costs. Recycling of metals,using scrap metals and other substitutes aresteps in conserving our mineral resources forthe future.

Dig a little deeper: Make a list of items wheresubstitutes are being used instead of minerals.

Where are these substitutes obtained from?

Energy Resources

Energy is required for all activities. It is neededto cook, to provide light and heat, to propelvehicles and to drive machinery in industries.

Energy can be generated from fuel mineralslike coal, petroleum, natural gas, uranium andfrom electricity. Energy resources can beclassified as conventional and non-conventional sources. Conventional sourcesinclude: firewood, cattle dung cake, coal,petroleum, natural gas and electricity (bothhydel and thermal). Non-conventional sourcesinclude solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, biogasand atomic energy. Firewood and cattle dungcake are most common in rural India.According to one estimate more than 70 percent energy requirement in rural householdsis met by these two ; continuation of these isincreasingly becoming difficult due todecreasing forest area. Moreover, using dungcake too is being discouraged because itconsumes most valuable manure which couldbe used in agriculture.

Conventional Sources of Energy

Coal: In India, coal is the most abundantlyavailable fossil fuel. It provides a substantialpart of the nation’s energy needs. It is used forpower generation, to supply energy to industryas well as for domestic needs. India is highlydependent on coal for meeting its commercialenergy requirements.

As you are already aware that coal isformed due the compression of plantmaterial over millions of years. Coal,therefore, is found in a variety of formsdepending on the degrees of compression

Fig. 5.11 (a): A view from inside of a coal mine

Fig. 5.11 (b): A view from outside of a coal mine

and the depth and time of burial. Decayingplants in swamps produce peat. Which hasa low carbon and high moisture contentsand low heating capacity. Lignite is a lowgrade brown coal, which is soft with highmoisture content. The principal lignitereserves are in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu andare used for generation of electricity. Coalthat has been buried deep and subjected toincreased temperatures is bituminous coal.It is the most popular coal in commercialuse. Metallurgical coal is high gradebituminous coal which has a special valuefor smelt ing iron in blast furnaces.Anthracite is the highest quality hard coal.

In India coal occurs in rock series of twomain geological ages, namely Gondwana, a littleover 200 million years in age and in tertiarydeposits which are only about 55 million yearsold. The major resources of Gondwana coal,which are metallurgical coal, are located in

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India: Distribution of Coal, Oil and Natural Gas

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60 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Damodar valley (West Bengal-Jharkhand).Jharia, Raniganj, Bokaro are importantcoalfields. The Godavari, Mahanadi, Son andWardha valleys also contain coal deposits.

Tertiary coals occur in the north easternstates of Meghalaya, Assam, ArunachalPradesh and Nagaland.

Remember coal is a bulky material, whichloses weight on use as it is reduced to ash.Hence, heavy industries and thermal powerstation are located on or near the coalfields.

PetroleumPetroleum or mineral oil is the next majorenergy source in India after coal. It providesfuel for heat and lighting, lubricants formachinery and raw materials for a number ofmanufacturing industries. Petroleumrefineries act as a “nodal industry” forsynthetic textile, fertiliser and numerouschemical industries.

Most of the petroleum occurrences in Indiaare associated with anticlines and fault trapsin the rock formations of the tertiary age. Inregions of folding, anticlines or domes, it occurswhere oil is trapped in the crest of the upfold.The oil bearing layer is a porous limestone orsandstone through which oil may flow. The oilis prevented from rising or sinking byintervening non-porous layers.

Petroleum is also found in fault trapsbetween porous and non-porous rocks. Gas,being lighter usually occurs above the oil.

About 63 per cent of India’s petroleumproduction is from Mumbai High, 18 per centfrom Gujarat and 16 per cent from Assam.From the map locate the 3 major off shore fieldsof western India. Ankeleshwar is the mostimportant field of Gujarat. Assam is the oldestoil producing state of India. Digboi,Naharkatiya and Moran-Hugrijan are theimportant oil fields in the state.

Natural GasNatural gas is an important clean energyresource found in association with or withoutpetroleum. It is used as a source of energy aswell as an industrial raw material in thepetrochemical industry.

Natural gas is considered an environmentfriendly fuel because of low carbon dioxideemissions and is, therefore, the fuel for thepresent century.

Large reserves of natural gas have beendiscovered in the Krishna- Godavari basin.Along the west coast the reserves of the MumbaiHigh and allied fields are supplemented byfinds in the Gulf of Cambay. Andaman andNicobar islands are also important areashaving large reserves of natural gas.

The 1700 km long Hazira-Bijaipur -Jagdishpur cross country gas pipeline linksMumbai High and Bassien with the fertilizer,power and industrial complexes in western andnorthern India. This artery has provided animpetus to India’s gas production. The powerand fertilizer industries are the key users ofnatural gas. Use of Compressed Natural Gas(CNG ) for vehicles to replace liquid fuels isgaining wide popularity in the country.

ElectricityElectricity has such a wide range ofapplications in today’s world that, its per-capita consumption is considered as an indexof development. Elecctricity is generated mainlyin two ways: by running water which driveshydro turbines to generate hydro electricity;and by burning other fuels such as coal,petroleum and natural gas to drive turbinesto produce thermal power. Once generated theelectricity is exactly the same.

Name some river valley projects and writethe names of the dams built on these rivers.

Hydro electricity is generated by fastflowing water, which is a renewable resource.India has a number of multi-purpose projectslike the Bhakra Nangal, Damodar Valleycorporation, the Kopili Hydel Project etc.producing hydroelectric power.

Thermal electricity is generated by usingcoal, petroleum and natural gas. The thermalpower stations use non-renewable fossil fuelsfor generating electricity. There are over 310thermal power plants in India.

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61MINERALS AND ENERGY RESOURCES

India: Distribution of Nuclear and Thermal Power Plants

Rawat Bhata

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62 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

From the map identify a thermal powerstation in your state and also name the fuelthat is used there.

Nuclear or Atomic Energy is obtained byaltering the structure of atoms. When such analteration is made, much energy is released inthe form of heat and this is used to generateelectric power. Uranium and thorium, whichare available in Jharkhand and the Aravalliranges of Rajasthan are used for generatingatomic or nuclear power. The Monazite sandsof Kerala is also rich in thorium.

Locate the 6 nuclear power stations and findout the state in which they are located.

Non-Conventional Sources of EnergyThe growing consumption of energy hasresulted in the country becomingincreasingly dependent on fossil fuels suchas coal, oil and gas. Rising prices of oil andgas and their potential shortages have raiseduncertainties about the security of energysupply in future, which in turn has seriousrepercussions on the growth of the nationaleconomy. Moreover, increasing use of fossilfuels also causes serious environmentalproblems. Hence, there is a pressing need touse renewable energy sources like solarenergy, wind, tide, biomass and energy fromwaste material. These are called non-conventional energy sources.

India is blessed with an abundance ofsunlight, water, wind and biomass. It has thelargest programmes for the development ofthese renewable energy resources.

Solar EnergyIndia is a tropical country. It has enormouspossibilities of tapping solar energy.Photovoltaic technology converts sunlightdirectly into electricity. Solar energy is fastbecoming popular in rural and remote areas.The largest solar plant of India is located atMadhapur, near Bhuj, where solar energy isused to sterlise milk cans. It is expected thatuse of solar energy will be able to minimise thedependence of rural households on firewoodand dung cakes, which in turn will contributeto environmental conservation and adequatesupply of manure in agriculture.

Fig. 5.12: Solar operated electronic milktesting equipment

Fig. 5.13: Wind mills – Nagarcoil

Wind powerIndia now ranks as a “wind super power” inthe world. The largest wind farm cluster islocated in Tamil Nadu from Nagarcoil toMadurai. Apart from these, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra andLakshadweep have important wind farms.Nagarcoil and Jaisalmer are well known foreffective use of wind energy in the country.

BiogasShrubs, farm waste, animal and human wasteare used to produce biogas for domesticconsumption in rural areas. Decomposition oforganic matter yields gas, which has higherthermal efficiency in comparison to kerosene,dung cake and charcoal. Biogas plants are setup at municipal, cooperative and individuallevels. The plants using cattle dung are knowas ‘Gobar gas plants’ in rural India. Theseprovide twin benefits to the farmer in the formof energy and improved quality of manure.

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63MINERALS AND ENERGY RESOURCES

Biogas is by far the most efficient use of cattledung. It improves the quality of manure andalso prevents the loss of trees and manure dueto burning of fuel wood and cow dung cakes.

at shallow depths. Groundwater in such areasabsorbs heat from the rocks and becomes hot.It is so hot that when it rises to the earth’ssurface, it turns into steam. This steam is usedto drive turbines and generate electricity.

There are several hundred hot springs inIndia, which could be used to generateelectricity. Two experimental projects have beenset up in India to harness geothermal energy.One is located in the Parvati valley nearManikarn in Himachal Pradesh and the otheris located in the Puga Valley, Ladakh.

Conservation of Energy Resources

Energy is a basic requirement for economicdevelopment. Every sector of the nationaleconomy – agriculture, industry, transport,commercial and domestic – needs inputs ofenergy. The economic development plansimplemented since Independence necessarilyrequired increasing amounts of energy toremain operational. As a result, consumptionof energy in all forms has been steadily risingall over the country.

In this background, there is an urgent needto develop a sustainable path of energydevelopment. Promotion of energy conservationand increased use of renewable energy sourcesare the twin planks of sustainable energy.

India is presently one of the least energyefficient countries in the world. We have toadopt a cautious approach for the judicioususe of our limited energy resources. Forexample, as concerned citizens we can do ourbit by using public transport systems insteadof individual vehicles; switching off electricitywhen not in use, using power-saving devicesand using non-conventional sources of energy.After all, “energy saved is energy produced”.

Fig. 5.14: Biogas Plant

Tidal EnergyOceanic tides can be used to generateelectricity. Floodgate dams are built acrossinlets. During high tide water flows into theinlet and gets trapped when the gate is closed.After the tide falls outside the flood gate, thewater retained by the floodgate flows back tothe sea via a pipe that carries it through apower-generating turbine.

In India, the Gulf of Kuchchh, provides idealconditions for utilising tidal energy. A 900 mwtidal energy power plant is set up here by theNational Hydropower Corporation.

Geo Thermal EnergyGeothermal energy refers to the heat andelectricity produced by using the heat from theinterior of the Earth. Geothermal energy existsbecause, the Earth grows progressively hotterwith increasing depth. Where the geothermalgradient is high, high temperatures are found

EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES

1. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Which one of the following minerals is formed by decomposition of rocks,leaving a residual mass of weathered material?(a) coal (b) bauxite (c) gold (d) zinc

(ii) Koderma, in Jharkhand is the leading producer of which one of the followingminerals?(a) bauxite (b) mica (c) iron ore (d) copper

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64 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

(iii) Minerals are deposited and accumulated in the stratas of which of thefollowing rocks?

(a) sedimentary rocks (c) igneous rocks

(b) metamorphic rocks (d) none of the above

(iv) Which one of the following minerals is contained in the Monazite sand?(a) oil (b) uranium (c) thorium (d) coal

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.(i) Distinguish between the following in not more than 30 words.

(a) ferrous and non-ferrous minerals(b) conventional and non-conventional sources of energy

(ii) What is a mineral?(iii) How are minerals formed in igneous and metamorphic rocks?(iv) Why do we need to conserve mineral resources ?

3. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.(i) Describe the distribution of coal in India.(ii) Why do you think that solar energy has a bright future in India?

ACTIVITY

Fill the name of the correct mineral in the crossword below:

DOWN

1. Found in placer deposit (4)2. Iron ore mined in Bailadila (8)3. Indispensable for electrical industry (4)4. Geological Age of coal found in north east

India (8)5. Formed in veins and lodes (3)

ACROSS

1. A ferrous mineral (9)2. Raw material for cement industry (9)3. Finest iron ore with magnetic properties (9)4. Highest quality hard coal (10)5. Aluminium is obtained from this ore (7)6. Khetri mines are famous for this mineral (6)7. Formed due to evaporation (6)

2 1M

3M

4

M2

4T

6

1

o

7y

5 5T

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Production of goods in large quantities afterprocessing from raw materials to morevaluable products is called manufacturing. Doyou know that paper is manufactured fromwood, sugar from sugarcane, iron and steelfrom iron ore and aluminium from bauxite?Do you also know that some types of clothesare manufactured from yarn which itself is anindustrial product?

People employed in the secondary activitiesmanufacture the primary materials intofinished goods. The workers employed in steelfactories, car, breweries, textile industries,bakeries etc. fall into this category. Some peopleare employed in providing services. In thischapter, we are mainly concerned withmanufacturing industries which fall in thesecondary sector.

The economic strength of a country ismeasured by the development ofmanufacturing industries.

IMPORTANCE OF MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing sector is considered the backboneof development in general and economicdevelopment in particular mainly because–

• Manufacturing industries not only help inmodernising agriculture, which forms thebackbone of our economy, they also reducethe heavy dependence of people onagricultural income by providing them jobsin secondary and tertiary sectors.

• Industrial development is a precondition foreradication of unemployment and povertyfrom our country. This was the mainphilosophy behind public sector industriesand joint sector ventures in India. It was alsoaimed at bringing down regional disparitiesby establishing industries in tribal andbackward areas.

• Export of manufactured goods expandstrade and commerce, and brings in muchneeded foreign exchange.

• Countries that transform their rawmaterials into a wide variety of furnishedgoods of higher value are prosperous.India’s prosperity lies in increasing anddiversifying its manufacturing industries asquickly as possible.

Agriculture and industry are not exclusiveof each other. They move hand in hand. Forinstance, the agro-industries in India have givena major boost to agriculture by raising itsproductivity. They depend on the latter for rawmaterials and sell their products such asirrigation pumps, fertilisers, insecticides,pesticides, plastic and PVC pipes, machines andtools, etc. to the farmers. Thus, development andcompetitiveness of manufacturing industry hasnot only assisted agriculturists in increasing

On the occassion of Diwali, Harish went toa market with his parents. They purchasedshoes and clothes for him. His motherpurchased utensils, sugar, tea and diyas(earthen lamps). Harish observed that theshops in the market were flooded withitems for sale. He wondered how so manyitems could be made in such largequantities. His father explained that shoes,clothes, sugar etc. are manufactured bymachines in large industries, some utensilsare manufactured in small industries, whileitems like diyas are made by individualartisans in household industry.

Do you have some ideas about theseindustries?

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66 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

their production but also made the productionprocesses very efficient.

In the present day world of globalisation,our industry needs to be more efficient andcompetitive. Self-sufficiency alone is notenough. Our manufactured goods must be atpar in quality with those in the internationalmarket. Only then, will we be able to competein the international market.

Contribution of Industry to NationalEconomy

Over the last two decades, the share ofmanufacturing sector has stagnated at 17 percent of GDP – out of a total of 27 per cent forthe industry which includes 10 per cent formining, quarrying, electricity and gas.

This is much lower in comparison to someEast Asian economies, where it is 25 to 35 percent. The trend of growth rate in manufacturingover the last decade has been around 7 percent per annum. The desired growth rate overthe next decade is 12 per cent. Since 2003,manufacturing is once again growing at therate of 9 to 10 per cent per annum. Withappropriate policy interventions by thegovernment and renewed efforts by theindustry to improve productivity, economistspredict that manufacturing can achieve itstarget over the next decade. The NationalManufacturing Competitiveness Council(NMCC) has been set up with this objective.

Industrial Location

Industrial locations are complex in nature.These are influenced by availability of rawmaterial, labour, capital, power and market,etc. It is rarely possible to find all these factorsavailable at one place. Consequently,manufacturing activity tends to locate at themost appropriate place where all the factors ofindustrial location are either available or canbe arranged at lower cost. After an industrialactivity starts, urbanisation follows. Sometimes,industries are located in or near the cities.Thus, industrialisation and urbanisation gohand in hand. Cities provide markets and alsoprovide services such as banking, insurance,transport, labour, consultants and financialadvice, etc. to the industry. Many industries

tend to come together to make use of theadvantages offered by the urban centres knownas agglomeration economies. Gradually, alarge industrial agglomeration takes place.

In the pre-Independence period, mostmanufacturing units were located in placesfrom the point of view of overseas trade such asMumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, etc. Consequently,there emerged certain pockets of industriallydeveloped urban centres surrounded by a hugeagricultural rural hinterland.

Industry – Market Linkage

The key to decision of the factory locationis the least cost. Government policies andspecialised labour also influence the locationof industry.

Fig. 6.1

Fig. 6.2

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67MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

Classification of IndustriesList the various manufactured products youuse in your daily life such as – transistors,electric bulbs, vegetable oil, cement,glassware, petrol, matches, scooters,automobiles, medicines and so on. If weclassify the various industries based on aparticular criterion then we would be ableto understand their manufacturing better.Industries may be classified as follows:

On the basis of source of raw materialsused:• Agro based: cotton, woollen, jute, silk

textile, rubber and sugar, tea, coffee,edible oil.

• Mineral based: iron and steel, cement,aluminium, machine tools,petrochemicals.

According to their main role:• Basic or key industries which supply their

products or raw materials to manufactureother goods e.g. iron and steel and coppersmelting, aluminum smelting.

• Consumer industries that produce goodsfor direct use by consumers – sugar,toothpaste, paper, sewing machines,fans etc.

On the basis of capital investment:• A small scale industry is defined with

reference to the maximum investmentallowed on the assets of a unit. This limithas changed over a period of time. Atpresent the maximum investment allowedis rupees one crore. If investment is morethan one crore on any industry then it isknown as a large scale industry.

On the basis of ownership:• Public sector, owned and operated by

government agencies – BHEL, SAIL etc.• Private sector industries owned and

operated by individuals or a group ofindividuals –TISCO, Bajaj Auto Ltd.,Dabur Industries.

• Joint sector industries which are jointly run

by the state and individuals or a group ofindividuals. Oil India Ltd. (OIL) is jointlyowned by public and private sector.

• Cooperative sector industries are ownedand operated by the producers orsuppliers of raw materials, workers orboth. They pool in the resources and sharethe profits or losses proportionately suchas the sugar industry in Maharashtra, thecoir industry in Kerala.

Based on the bulk and weight of raw materialand finished goods:• Heavy industries such as iron and steel• Light industries that use light raw

materials and produce light goods suchas electrical industries.

Classify the following into two groups on thebasis of bulk and weight of raw material andfinished goods.

(i) Oil (vi) Sewing Machines(ii) Knitting needles (vii) Shipbuilding(iii) Brassware (viii) Electric Bulbs(iv) Fuse wires (ix) Paint brushes(v) Watches (x) Automobiles

Agro Based Industries

Cotton, jute, silk, woollen textiles, sugar andedible oil, etc. industry are based onagricultural raw materials.

Textile Industry: The textile industryoccupies unique position in the Indianeconomy, because it contributes significantlyto industrial production (14 per cent),employment generation (35 million personsdirectly – the second largest after agriculture)and foreign exchange earnings (about 24.6per cent). It contributes 4 per cent towardsGDP. It is the only industry in the country,which is self-reliant and complete in the valuechain i.e., from raw material to the highestvalue added products.

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68 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Cotton Textiles: In ancient India, cottontextiles were produced with hand spinningand handloom weaving techniques. After the18th century, power-looms came into use.Our traditional industries suffered a setbackduring the colonial period because theycould not compete with the mill-made clothfrom England.

While spinning continues to be centralisedin Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu,weaving is highly decentralised to providescope for incorporating traditional skills anddesigns of weaving in cotton, silk, zari,embroidery, etc. India has world classproduction in spinning, but weaving supplieslow quality of fabric as it cannot use much ofthe high quality yarn produced in the country.Weaving is done by handloom, powerloom andin mills.

The handspun khadi provides large scaleemployment to weavers in their homes as acottage industry.

Why did Mahatma Gandhi lay emphasis onspinning yarn and weaving khadi?

Fig. 6.3: Value addition in the textile industry

• The first successful textile mill wasestablished in Mumbai in 1854.

• The two world wars were fought in Europe,India was a British colony. There was ademand for cloth in U.K. hence, they gavea boost to the development of the cottontextile industry.

Today, there are nearly 1600 cotton andhuman made fibre textile mills in the country.About 80 per cent of these are in the privatesector and the rest in the public andcooperative sectors. Apart from these, thereare several thousand small factories with fourto ten looms.

In the early years, the cotton textileindustry was concentrated in the cottongrowing belt of Maharashtra and Gujarat.Availability of raw cotton, market, transportincluding accessible port facilities, labour,moist climate, etc. contributed towards itslocalisation. This industry has close linkswith agriculture and provides a living tofarmers, cotton boll pluckers and workersengaged in ginning, spinning, weaving,dyeing, designing, packaging, tailoring andsewing. The industry by creating demandssupports many other industries, such as,chemicals and dyes, mill stores, packagingmaterials and engineering works.

Table 5.1: Production of Fabric in Indiaby various sectors

Sector Share of LoomageProduction

Mills 6.00 per cent 1.33 lakh

Power loom 54.17 per cent 14 lakh

Hand loom 23.000 per cent NA

Note: 90 per cent of the weaving, cutting andprocessing is in decentralised sector.

Study the figures above and note the shareof mills in the production of fabric.

Why is it important for our country to keepthe mill sector loomage lower than powerloom and handloom?

India exports yarn to Japan. Otherimporters of cotton goods from India areU.S.A., U.K., Russia, France, East Europeancountries, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, andAfrican countries.

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69MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

India: Distribution of cotton, woollen and silk industries

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70 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

India has the second largest installedcapacity of spindles in the world, next to China,at around 34 million (2003-04). Since the mid-eighties, the spinning sector has received a lotof attention.

We have a large share in the world tradeof cotton yarn, accounting for one fourth ofthe total trade. However, our trade ingarments is only 4 per cent of the world’stotal. Our spinning mills are competitive atthe global level and capable of using all thefibres we produce. The weaving, knitting andprocessing units cannot use much of the highquality yarn that is produced in the country.There are some large and modern factoriesin these segments, but most of theproduction is in fragmented small units,which cater to the local market. Thismismatch is a major drawback for theindustry. As a result, many of our spinnersexport cotton yarn while apparel/garmentmanufactures have to import fabric.

Hugli river, in a narrow belt (98 km long and3 km wide).

Yarn is sold at Rs. 85 per kg. If it is sold as atrouser it fetches Rs 800 per kg. Value isadded at every stage from fibre to yarn tofabric and to garment.

Why is it important for us to improve ourweaving sector instead of exporting yarn inlarge quantities?

Although, we have made significantincrease in the production of good quality longstaple cotton (9232 lakh bales in 2004-05),the need to import is still felt. Power supply iserratic and machinery needs to be upgradedin the weaving and processing sectors inparticular. Other problems are the low outputof labour and stiff competition with thesynthetic fibre industry.

Jute Textiles

India is the largest producer of raw jute andjute goods and stands at second place as anexporter after Bangladesh. There are about 70jute mills in India. Most of these are located inWest Bengal, mainly along the banks of the

The first jute mill was set up near Kolkata in1859 at Rishra. After Partition in 1947, thejute mills remained in India but three-fourthof the jute producing area went toBangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan).

Factors responsible for their location inthe Hugli basin are: proximity of the juteproducing areas, inexpensive watertransport, supported by a good network ofrailways, roadways and waterways tofacilitate movement of raw material to themills, abundant water for processing rawjute, cheap labour from West Bengal andadjoining states of Bihar, Orissa and UttarPradesh. Kolkata as a large urban centreprovides banking, insurance and portfacilities for export of jute goods.

The jute industry supports 2.61 lakhworkers directly and another 40 lakhs smalland marginal farmers who are engaged incultivation of jute and mesta. Many morepeople are associated indirectly.

Challenges faced by the industry includestiff competition in the international market fromsynthetic substitutes and from othercompetitors like Bangladesh, Brazil,Philippines, Egypt and Thailand. However, theinternal demand has been on the increase dueto the Government policy of mandatory use ofjute packaging. To stimulate demand, theproducts need to be diversified. In 2005,National Jute Policy was formulated with theobjective of increasing productivity, improvingquality, ensuring good prices to the jute farmersand enhancing the yield per hectare. The mainmarkets are U.S.A., Canada, Russia, UnitedArab Republic, U.K. and Australia. The growingglobal concern for environment friendly,biodegradable materials, has once again openedthe opportunity for jute products.

Sugar Industry

India stands second as a world producer ofsugar but occupies the first place in theproduction of gur and khandsari. The raw

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71MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

material used in this industry is bulky, andin haulage its sucrose content reduces. Whereshould the mills be ideally located? There areover 460 sugar mills in the country spreadover Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra,Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh andGujarat along with Punjab, Haryana andMadhya Pradesh. Sixty per cent mills are inUttar Pradesh and Bihar. This industry isseasonal in nature so, it is ideally suited tothe cooperative sector. Can you explain whythis is so?

In recent years, there is a tendency for themills to shift and concentrate in the southernand western states, especially in Maharashtra,This is because the cane produced here has ahigher sucrose content. The cooler climatealso ensures a longer crushing season.Moreover, the cooperatives are moresuccessful in these states.

Major challenges include the seasonalnature of the industry, old and inefficientmethods of production, transport delay inreaching cane to factories and the need tomaximise the use of baggase.

Mineral based Industries

Industries that use minerals and metals as rawmaterials are called mineral based industries.Can you name some industries that would fallin this category?

Iron and Steel Industry

The iron and steel Industry is the basicindustry since all the other industries — heavy,medium and light, depend on it for theirmachinery. Steel is needed to manufacture avariety of engineering goods, constructionmaterial, defence, medical, telephonic, scientificequipment and a variety of consumer goods.

Make a list of all such goods made of steelthat you can think of.

Production and consumption of steel is oftenregarded as the index of a country’sdevelopment. Iron and steel is a heavy industrybecause all the raw materials as well as finishedgoods are heavy and bulky entailing heavytransportation costs. Iron ore, coking coal andlime stone are required in the ratio ofapproximately 4 : 2 : 1. Some quantities ofmanganese, are also required to harden the steel.Where should the steel plants be ideallylocated? Remember that the finished productsalso need an efficient transport network for theirdistribution to the markets and consumers.

Today with 32.8 million tons of steelproduction, India ranks ninth among the worldcrude steel producers. It is the largest producerof sponge iron. Inspite of large quantity ofproduction of steel, per capita consumption perannum is only 32 kg.

Fig. 6.4

Processes of Manufacture of Steel

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72 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

India: Iron and Steel Plants

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73MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

All public sector undertakings market theirsteel through, Steel Authority of India Ltd.(SAIL) while TISCO markets its producethrough Tata Steel.

In the 1950s China and India producedalmost the same quantity of steel. Today, Chinais the largest producer. China is also the world’slargest consumer of steel. In 2004, India wasthe largest exporter of steel which accountedfor 2.25 per cent of the global steel trade.Chotanagpur plateau region has the maximumconcentration of iron and steel industries. It islargely, because of the relative advantages thisregion has for the development of this industry.

These include, low cost of iron ore, high graderaw materials in proximity, cheap labour andvast growth potential in the home market.Though, India is an important iron and steelproducing country in the world yet, we are notable to perform to our full potential largely dueto: (a) High costs and limited availability of coking

Table 5.2: Total finished steel productionin India

Year Production(In million tons per annum)

1950-51 1.041960-61 2.391970-71 4.641980-81 6.821990-91 13.531997-98 23.402004-05 32.60

Represent the given data with a bar diagram.

Why is the per capita consumption of steelso low in India?

Presently, there are 10 primary integratedand many mini steel plants in India. See theAppendix and mark these on the map of India.

Mini steel plants are smaller, have electricfurnaces, use steel scrap and sponge iron.They have re-rollers that use steel ingots aswell. They produce mild and alloy steel ofgiven specifications.

An integrated steel plant is large, handleseverything in one complex – from puttingtogether raw material to steel making, rollingand shaping.

Fig. 6.5: Steel Production in India and China

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74 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

coal (b) Lower productivity of labour (c) Irregularsupply of energy and (d) Poor infrastructure.

We also import good quality steel from othercountries. However, the overall production ofsteel is sufficient to meet our domestic demand.

Liberalisation and Foreign DirectInvestment have given a boost to the industrywith the efforts of private entrepreneurs.There is a need to allocate resources forresearch and development to produce steelmore computatitively.

Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. In 2004, Indiaproduced over 600 million tons of aluminium.

Bauxite, the raw material used in thesmelters is a very bulky, dark reddish colouredrock. The flow chart given below shows theprocess of manufacturing aluminium. Regularsupply of electricity and an assured source ofraw material at minimum cost are the twoprime factors for location of the industry.

Have you read about the Kalinganagarcontroversy?

Aluminium Smelting

Aluminium smelting is the second mostimportant metallurgical industry in India. It islight, resistant to corrosion, a good conductorof heat, mallable and becomes strong when it ismixed with other metals. It is used tomanufacture aircraft, utensils and wires. It hasgained popularity as a substitute of steel,copper, zinc and lead in a number of industries.

There are 8 aluminium smelting plants inthe country located in Orissa (Nalco and Balco),West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh,

Fig. 6.6: Strip coasting mill at smelter of NALCO

Fig. 6.8

Fig. 6.7

A factory produces aluminium saucepans withplastic handles. It obtains aluminium from asmelter and a plastic component from

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75MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

entirely imported as the country does not haveany reserves of commercially usable potash orpotassium compounds in any form. India isthe third largest producer of nitrogenousfertilisers. There are 57 fertiliser unitsmanufacturing nitrogenous and complexnitrogenous fertilisers, 29 for urea and 9 forproducing ammonium sulphate as a by-product and 68 other small units producesingle superphosphate. At present, there are10 public sector undertakings and one incooperative sector at Hazira in Gujarat underthe Fertiliser Corporation of India.

After the Green Revolution the industryexpanded to several other parts of the country.Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjaband Kerala contribute towards half the fertiliserproduction. Other significant producers areAndhra Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Bihar,Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal, Goa, Delhi,Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

Cement Industry

Cement is essential for construction activitysuch as building houses, factories, bridges,roads, airports, dams and for other commercialestablishments. This industry requires bulkyand heavy raw materials like limestone, silica,alumina and gypsum. Coal and electric powerare needed apart from rail transportation.

Chemical Industries

The Chemical industry in India is fast growingand diversifying. It contributes approximately3 per cent of the GDP. It is the third largest inAsia and occupies the twelfth place in the worldin term of its size. It comprises both large andsmall scale manufacturing units. Rapid growthhas been recorded in both inorganic andorganic sectors. Inorganic chemicals includesulphuric acid (used to manufacture fertilisers,synthetic fibres, plastics, adhesives, paints,dyes stuffs), nitric acid, alkalies, soda ash (usedto make glass, soaps and detergents, paper)and caustic soda. These industries are widelyspread over the country.Why do you think it is so?

Organic chemicals include petrochemicals,which are used for manufacturing of syntheticfibers, synthetic rubber, plastics, dye-stuffs,drugs and pharmaceuticals. Organic chemicalplants are located near oil refineries orpetrochemical plants.

The chemical industry is its own largestconsumer. Basic chemicals undergo processingto further produce other chemicals that areused for industrial application, agriculture ordirectly for consumer markets. Make a list ofthe products you are aware of.

Fertiliser Industry

The fertiliser industry is centred around theproduction of nitrogenous fertilisers (mainlyurea), phosphatic fertilisers and ammoniumphosphate (DAP) and complex fertilisers whichhave a combination of nitrogen (N), phosphate(P), and potash (K). The third, i.e. potash is

Where would it be economically viable toset up the cement manufacturing units?

The industry has strategically locatedplants in Gujarat that have suitable access tothe market in the Gulf countries.

Find out where the plants are located in otherStates of India. Find their names.

another factory. All the manufacturedsaucepans are sent to a warehouse:1. (a) Which raw material is likely to be most

expensive to transport and why?(b) Which raw material is likely to be

the cheapest to transport and why?2. Do you think the cost of transporting the

finished products after packaging is likelyto be cheaper or more expensive than thecost of transporting aluminium andplastic? Why?

The first cement plant was set up inChennai in 1904. After Independence theindustry expanded. Decontrol of price anddistribution since 1989 and other policyreforms led the cement industry to make rapidstrides in capacity, process, technology andproduction. There are 128 large plants and

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76 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

332 mini cement plants in the country. Indiaproduces a variety of cement.

Improvement in the quality has found theproduce a readily available market in EastAsia, Middle East, Africa and South Asia apartfrom a large demand within the country. Thisindustry is doing well in terms of productionas well as export. Efforts are being made togenerate adequate domestic demand andsupply in order to sustain this industry.

Automobile Industry

Automobiles provide vehicle for quicktransport of good services and passengers.Trucks, buses, cars, motor cycles, scooters,three-wheelers and multi-utility vehicles aremanufactured in India at various centres.After the liberalisation, the coming in of newand contemporary models stimulated thedemand for vehicles in the market, which ledto the healthy growth of the industryincluding passenger cars, two and three-wheelers. This industry had experienced aquantum jump in less than 15 years. ForeignDirect Investment brought in new technologyand aligned the industry with globaldevelopments. At present, there are 15manufacturers of passenger cars and multi-utility vehicles, 9 of commercial vehicles, 14of the two and three-wheelers. The industryis located around Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai,Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore,Hyderabad, Jamshedpur and Bangalore.

Information Technology andElectronics Industry

The electronics industry covers a wide rangeof products from transistor sets to television,telephones, cellular telecom, pagers, telephoneexchange, radars, computers and manyother equipments required by thetelecommunication industry. Bangalore hasemerged as the electronic capital of India. Otherimportant centres for electronic goods areMumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai,Kolkata, Lucknow and Coimbatore. 18software technology parks provide singlewindow service and high data communicationfacility to software experts. A major impact ofthis industry has been on employment

generation. Upto 31 March 2005, the ITindustry employed over one million persons.This number is expected to increase eight-foldin the next 3 to 4 years. It is encouraging toknow that 30 per cent of the people employedin this sector are women. This industry hasbeen a major foreign exchange earner in thelast two or three years because of its fastgrowing Business Processes Outsourcing(BPO) sector. The continuing growth in thehardware and software is the key to the successof IT industry in India.

Fig. 6.9: Cable manufacturing facilities at HCL,Rupnarainpur (West Bengal)

Fig. 6.10: Gas turbine rotor an assembly bedat BHEL, Hyderabad

Industrial Pollution and EnvironmentalDegradation

Although industries contribute significantly toIndia’s economic growth and development, theincrease in pollution of land, water, air, noiseand resulting degradation of environment thatthey have caused, cannot be overlooked.Industries are responsible for four types of

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77MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

India: Software Technology Parks

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78 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

pollution: (a) Air (b) Water (c) Land (d) Noise.The polluting industries also include thermalpower plants.

Air pollution is caused by the presence of highproportion of undesirable gases, such assulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Air-borne particulate materials contain both solidand liquid particles like dust, sprays mist andsmoke. Smoke is emitted by chemical and paperfactories, brick kilns, refineries and smeltingplants, and burning of fossil fuels in big andsmall factories that ignore pollution norms.Toxic gas leaks can be very hazardous withlong-term effects. Are you aware of the BhopalGas tragedy that occurred? Air pollutionadversely affects human health, animals, plants,buildings and the atmosphere as a whole.

Water pollution is caused by organic andinorganic industrial wastes and affluentsdischarged into rivers. The main culprits in thisregard are paper, pulp, chemical, textile anddyeing, petroleum refineries, tanneries andelectroplating industries that let out dyes,detergents, acids, salts and heavy metals likelead and mercury pesticides, fertilisers,synthetic chemicals with carbon, plastics andrubber, etc. into the water bodies. Fly ash,phospo- gypsum and iron and steel slags arethe major solid wastes in India.

Thermal pollution of water occurs when hotwater from factories and thermal plants isdrained into rivers and ponds before cooling.What would be the effect on aquatic life?

Wastes from nuclear power plants, nuclearand weapon production facilities causecancers, birth defects and miscarriages. Soiland water pollution are closely related.Dumping of wastes specially glass, harmfulchemicals, industrial effluents, packaging, saltsand garbage renders the soil useless. Rainwater percolates to the soil carrying thepollutants to the ground and the ground wateralso gets contaminated.

Noise pollution not only results in irritationand anger, it can also cause hearingimpairment, increased heart rate and bloodpressure among other physiological effects.Unwanted sound is an irritant and a source ofstress. Industrial and construction activities,

machinery, factory equipment, generators,saws and pneumatic and electric drills alsomake a lot of noise.

Control of Environmental Degradation

Every litre of waste water discharged by ourindustry pollutes eight times the quantity offreshwater. How can the industrial pollution offresh water be reduced? Some suggestions are-

(i) minimising use water for processing byreusing and recycling it in two or moresuccessive stages

(ii) harvesting of rainwater to meet waterrequirements

(iii) treating hot water and effluents beforereleasing them in rivers and ponds.Treatment of industrial effluents can bedone in three phases

(a) Primary treatment by mechanical means.This involves screening, grinding,flocculation and sedimentation.

(b) Secondary treatment by biological process

(c) Tertiary treatment by biological,chemical and physical processes. Thisinvolves recycling of wastewater.

Overdrawing of ground water reserves byindustry where there is a threat to ground waterresources also needs to be regulated legally.Particulate matter in the air can be reduced byfitting smoke stacks to factories with electrostaticprecipitators, fabric filters, scrubbers andinertial separators. Smoke can be reduced byusing oil or gas instead of coal in factories.Machinery and equipment can be used andgenerators should be fitted with silencers.Almost all machinery can be redesigned toincrease energy efficiency and reduce noise.Noise absorbing material may be used apartfrom personal use of earplugs and earphones.

Fig. 6.11: Sewage Treatment plant under Yamunaaction paln at Faridabad

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79MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

NTPC shows the wayNTPC is a major power providing corporationin India. It has ISO certification for EMS(Environment Management System) 14001.The corporation has a pro-active approachfor preserving the natural environment andresources like water, oil and gas and fuelsin places where it is setting up power plants.This has been possible through-(a) Optimum utilisation of equipment

adopting latest techniques andupgrading existing equipment.

(b) Minimising waste generation bymaximising ash utilisation.

(c) Providing green belts for nurturing ecologicalbalance and addressing the question ofspecial purpose vehicles for afforestation.

(d) Reducing environmental pollution throughash pond management, ash water recyclingsystem and liquid waste management.

(e) Ecological monitoring, reviews and on-line database management for all itspower stations.

Fig. 6.12: Ramagundam plant

EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES

1. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Which one of the following industries uses limestone as a raw material.(a) Aluminium (b) Cement (c) Sugar (d) Jute

(ii) Which one of the following agencies markets steel for the public sector plants?(a) HAIL (b) SAIL (c) TATA Steel (d) MNCC

(iii) Which one of the following industries uses bauxite as a raw material?(a) Aluminium (b) Cement (c) Jute (d) Steel

(iv) Which one of the following industries manufactures telephones, computer, etc.(a) Steel (c) Aluminium(b) Electronic (d) Information Technology

2. Answer the following briefly in not more than 30 words.(i) What is manufacturing?(ii) Name any three physical factors for the location of the industry.

(iii) Name any three human factors for the location of an industry.(iv) What are basic industries? Give an example.(v) Name the important raw materials used in the manufacturing of cement?

3. Write the answers of the following questions in 120 words.

(i) How are integrated steel plants different from mini steel plants? Whatproblems does the industry face? What recent developments have led to arise in the production capacity?

(ii) How do industries pollute the environment?

(iii) Discuss the steps to be taken to minimise environmental degradationby industry?

The challenge of sustainable developmentrequires integration of economic developmentwith environmental concerns.

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80 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

ACTIVITY

Give one word for each of the following with regard to industry. The number ofletters in each word are hinted in brackets.

(i) Used to drive machinery (5) P...........................

(ii) People who work in a factory (6) W..........................

(iii) Where the product is sold (6) M..........................

(iv) A person who sells goods (8) R...........................

(v) Thing produced (7) P...........................

(vi) To make or produce (11) M..........................

(vii) Land, Water and Air degraded (9) P...........................

PROJECT WORK

Select one agro-based and one mineral based industry in your area.

(i) What are the raw materials they use?

(ii) What are the other inputs in the process of manufacturing that involvetransportation cost?

(iii) Are these factories following environmental norms?

ACTIVITY

Solve the puzzle by following your search horizontally and vertically to find the hiddenanswers.

1. Textiles, sugar, vegetable oil and plantation industries deriving raw materialsfrom agriculture are called…

2. The basic raw material for sugar industry.3. This fibre is also known as the ‘ Golden Fibre’.4. Iron-ore, coking coal, and limestone are the chief raw materials of this industry.5. A public sector steel plant located in Chhattisgarh.6. Railway diesel engines are manufactured in Uttar Pradesh at this place.

G G G P V A R A N A S I

U O J I P G X K M Q W V

K S U G A R C A N E E N

O T T O N O Z V O P T R

A U E L U B H I L A I U

T K O C R A Q N T R L N

E I R O N S T E E L S J

E N A N O E P I T L R Y

G A N U J D R A G D T A

N T A R P O A P U E P Y

A S N A E N J D I Y S K

S M H V L I A J H S K G

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Page 82: Geography 10th-ncert

We use different materials and services in ourdaily life. Some of these are available in ourimmediate surroundings, while otherrequirements are met by bringing things fromother places. Goods and services do not movefrom supply locales to demand locales on theirown. The movement of these goods and servicesfrom their supply locations to demand locationsnecessitates the need for transport. Some peopleare engaged in facilitating these movements.These are known to be traders who make theproducts come to the consumers bytransportation. Thus, the pace of developmentof a country depends upon the production ofgoods and services as well as their movementover space. Therefore, efficient means of transportare pre-requisites for fast development.

Movement of these goods and services can beover three important domains of our earth i.e. land,water and air. Based on these, transport can alsobe classified into land, water and air transport.

expanded far and wide. Today, the world hasbeen converted into a large village with the helpof efficient and fast moving transport.Transport has been able to achieve this withthe help of equally developed communicationsystem. Therefore, transport, communicationand trade are complementary to each other.

Today, India is well-linked with the rest ofthe world despite its vast size, diversity andlinguistic and socio-cultural plurality.Railways, airways, water ways, newspapers,radio, television, cinema and internet, etc. havebeen contributing to its socio-economicprogress in many ways. The trades from localto international levels have added to the vitalityof its economy. It has enriched our life andadded substantially to growing amenities andfacilities for the comforts of life.

In this chapter, you will see how modernmeans of transport and communication serveas life lines of our nation and its modern

Fig. 7.1

For a long time, trade and transport wererestricted to a limited space. With thedevelopment in science and technology, thearea of influence of trade and transport

economy. It is thus, evident that a dense andefficient network of transport andcommunication is a pre-requisite for local,national and global trade of today.

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82 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

TRANSPORT

Roadways

India has one of the largest road networks inthe world, aggregating to about 2.3 million kmat present. In India, roadways have precededrailways. They still have an edge over railwaysin view of the ease with which they can be builtand maintained. The growing importance ofroad transport vis-à-vis rail transport is rootedin the following reasons; (a) construction cost ofroads is much lower than that of railway lines,(b) roads can traverse comparatively moredissected and undulating topography, (c) roadscan negotiate higher gradients of slopes and assuch can traverse mountains such as theHimalayas, (d) road transport is economical intransportation of few persons and relativelysmaller amount of goods over short distances,(e) it also provides door-to-door service, thusthe cost of loading and unloading is much lower,(f) road transport is also used as a feeder to othermodes of transport such as they provide a linkbetween railway stations, air and sea ports.

In India, roads are classified in the followingsix classes according to their capacity. Look atthe map of the National Highways and find outabout the significant role played by these roads.

• Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways:The government has launched a major roaddevelopment project linking Delhi-Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai and Delhi by six-laneSuper Highways. The North-South corridorslinking Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) andKanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), and East-WestCorridor connecting Silcher (Assam) andPorbander (Gujarat) are part of this project.The major objective of these Super Highwaysis to reduce the time and distance betweenthe mega cities of India. These highwayprojects are being implemented by theNational Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

• National Highways: National Highwayslink extreme parts of the country. These arethe primary road systems and are laid andmaintained by the Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD). A number of majorNational Highways run in North-South andEast-West directions. The historical Sher-

• State Highways: Roads linking a statecapital with different district headquartersare known as State Highways. These roadsare constructed and maintained by the StatePublic Works Department (PWD) in Stateand Union Territories.

• District Roads: These roads connect thedistrict headquarters with other places of thedistrict. These roads are maintained by theZila Parishad.

• Other Roads: Rural roads, which link ruralareas and villages with towns, are classifiedunder this category. These roads receivedspecial impetus under the Pradhan MantriGrameen Sadak Yojana. Under this schemespecial provisions are made so that every villagein the country is linked to a major town in thecountry by an all season motorable road.

Fig.7.2: Ahmedabad- Vadodara Expressway

Find out places linked by the NationalHighway 2 and 3.

Do you know that National Highway-7is the longest and traverses 2, 369 kmbetween Varanasi and Kanyakumarivia Jabalpur, Nagpur, Hyderabad,Bangalore and Madurai. Delhi andMumbai are connected by NationalHighway-8, while National Highway-15covers most of Rajasthan.

Shah Suri Marg is called National HighwayNo.1, between Delhi and Amritsar.

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83LIFELINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

India: National Highways

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84 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

• Border Roads: Apart from these, BorderRoads Organisation a Government of Indiaundertaking constructs and maintainsroads in the bordering areas of the country.This organisation was established in 1960for the development of the roads of strategicimportance in the northern and north-eastern border areas. These roads haveimproved accessibility in areas of difficultterrain and have helped in the economicdevelopment of these area.

The Indian Railways is the largest publicsector undertaking in the country. The firsttrain steamed off from Mumbai to Thane in1853, covering a distance of 34 km.

concrete or even bitumen of coal, therefore,these are all weather roads. Unmetalled roadsgo out of use in the rainy season.

Road Density

The length of road per 100 sq. km of areais known as density of roads. Distributionof road is not uniform in the country.Density of all roads varies from only 10 kmin Jammu & Kashmir to 375 km in Keralawith the national average of 75 km(1996-97). Road transportation in Indiafaces a number of problems. Keeping in viewthe volume of traffic and passengers, theroad network is inadequate. About half ofthe roads are unmettaled and this limitstheir usage during the rainy season. TheNational Highways are inadequate too.Moreover, the roadways are highly congestedin cities and most of the bridges and culvertsare old and narrow.

Railways

Railways are the principal mode oftransportation for freight and passengers inIndia. Railways also make it possible toconduct multifarious activities like business,sightseeing, pilgrimage along withtransportation of goods over longer distances.Apart from an important means of transportthe Indian Railways have been a greatintegrating force for more than 150 years.Railways in India bind the economic life ofthe country as well as accelerate thedevelopment of the industry and agriculture.The Indian Railway have a network of 7, 031stations spread over a route length of 63, 221km. with a fleet of 7817 locomotives, 5321passenger service vehicles, 4904 other coachvehicles and 228, 170 wagons as on 31March 2004.

Fig. 7.3: Hilly Tracts

Fig. 7.4: Traffic on north-eastern border road(Arunachal Pradesh)

Roads can also be classified on the basis ofthe type of material used for their constructionsuch as metalled and unmetalled roads.Metalled roads may be made of cement,

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85LIFELINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

Find out the current Railway zones and theirheadquarters. Also locate the headquartersof Railway zones on the map of India.

Source: India Yearbook 2006

The Indian Railway is now reorganised into16 zones.

The distribution pattern of the Railwaynetwork in the country has been largelyinfluenced by physiographic, economic andadministrative factors. The northern plains withtheir vast level land, high population densityand rich agricultural resources provided themost favourable condition for their growth.However, a large number of rivers requiringconstruction of bridges across their wide bedsposed some obstacles. In the hilly terrains ofthe peninsular region, railway tracts are laidthrough low hills, gaps or tunnels. TheHimalayan mountainous regions too areunfavourable for the construction of railwaylines due to high relief, sparse population andlack of economic opportunities. Likewise, it wasdifficult to lay railway lines on the sandy plainof western Rajasthan, swamps of Gujarat,forested tracks of Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand. Thecontiguous stretch of Sahyadri could be crossedonly through gaps or passes (Ghats). In recenttimes, the development of the Konkan railwayalong the west coast has facilitated themovement of passengers and goods in this mostimportant economic region of India. It has alsofaced a number of problem such as sinking oftrack in some stretches and land slides.

Today, the railways have become moreimportant in our national economy than allother means of transport put together. However,rail transport suffers from certain problems aswell. Many passengers travel without tickets.Thefts and damaging of railway property hasnot yet stopped completely. People stop thetrains, pull the chain unnecessarily and thiscauses heavy damage to the railway. Thinkover it, how we can help our railway in runningas per the scheduled time?

Pipelines

Pipeline transport network is a new arrival onthe transportation map of India. In the past,these were used to transport water to cities andindustries. Now, these are used fortransporting crude oil, petroleum products andnatural gas from oil and natural gas fields torefineries, fertilizer factories and big thermalpower plants. Solids can also be transportedthrough a pipeline when converted into slurry.The far inland locations of refineries likeBarauni, Mathura, Panipat and gas basedfertilizer plants could be thought of onlybecause of pipelines. Initial cost of layingpipelines is high but subsequent runningcosts are minimal. It rules out trans-shipmentlosses or delays.

There are three important networks ofpipeline transportation in the country.

• From oil field in upper Assam to Kanpur(Uttar Pradesh), via Guwahati, Barauni andAllahabad. It has branches from Barauni toHaldia, via Rajbandh, Rajbandh toMaurigram and Guwahati to Siliguri.

Gauge in metres Route (Km) Running Track(Km) Total Track (Km.)

Broad Gauge (1. 676) 46, 807 66, 754 88, 547

Metro Gauge (1.000) 13, 209 13, 976 16, 489

Narrow Gauge (0.762 & 0.610) 3, 124 3, 129 3, 450

Total 63, 221 83, 859 1, 08, 486

Table 7.1: India: Railway Track

The Indian Railway network runs on multiple gauge operationsextending over 63,221 route km

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86 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

India: Railways

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87LIFELINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

Fig. 7.5: Inland waterways widely used innorth-eastern states

• From Salaya in Gujarat to Jalandhar inPunjab, via Viramgam, Mathura, Delhi andSonipat. It has branches to connect Koyali(near Vadodara, Gujarat) Chakshu andother places.

• Gas pipeline from Hazira in Gujaratconnects Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh, viaVijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. It has branchesto Kota in Rajasthan, Shahajahanpur,Babrala and other places in Uttar Pradesh.

Waterways

Since time immemorial, India was one of theseafaring countries. Its seamen sailed far andnear, thus, carrying and spreading Indiancommerce and culture. Waterways are thecheapest means of transport. They are mostsuitable for carrying heavy and bulky goods.It is a fuel-efficient and environment friendlymode of transport. India has inland navigationwaterways of 14,500 km in length. Out ofthese only 3,700 km are navigable bymechanised boats. The following waterwayshave been declared as the National Waterwaysby the Government.

Apart from these, India’s trade with foreigncountries is carried from the ports located alongthe coast. 95 per cent of the country’s tradevolume (68 per cent in terms of value) is movedby sea.

Major Sea Ports

With a long coastline of 7,516.6 km, India isdotted with 12 major and 181 medium andminor ports. These major ports handle 95 percent of India’s foreign trade.

Kandla in Kuchchh was the first portdeveloped soon after Independence to ease thevolume of trade on the Mumbai port, in thewake of loss of Karachi port to Pakistan afterthe Partition. Kandla is a tidal port. It caters tothe convenient handling of exports and importsof highly productive granary and industrial beltstretching across the states of Jammu andKashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana,Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Mumbai is the biggest port with a spaciousnatural and well-sheltered harbour. TheJawaharlal Nehru port was planned with a viewto decongest the Mumbai port and serve as a

• The Ganga river between Allahabad andHaldia (1620 km)-N.W. No.1

• The Brahmaputra river between Sadiya andDhubri (891 km)-N.W. No.2

• The West-Coast Canal in Kerala(Kottapurma-Komman, Udyogamandal andChampakkara canals-205 km) – N.W. No.3The other viable inland waterways include

the Godavari, Krishna, Barak, Sunderbans,Buckingham Canal, Brahmani, East-westCanal and Damodar Valley Corporation Canal.

hub port for this region. Marmagao port (Goa)is the premier iron ore exporting port of thecountry. This port accounts for about fifty percent of India’s iron ore export. New Mangaloreport, located in Karnataka caters to the exportof iron ore concentrates from Kudremukhmines. Kochi is the extreme south-westernport, located at the entrance of a lagoon with anatural harbour.

Fig. 7.6: Trucks being driven into the vessel atMumbai port

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88 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

It can cover very difficult terrains like highmountains, dreary deserts, dense forests andalso long oceanic stretches with great ease.Think of the north-eastern part of the country,marked with the presence of big rivers,dissected relief, dense forests and frequentfloods and international frontiers, etc. in theabsence of air transport. Air travel has madeaccess easier.

Moving along the east coast, you would seethe extreme south-eastern port of Tuticorin, inTamil Nadu. This port has a natural harbourand rich hinterland. Thus, it has a flourishingtrade handling of a large variety of cargoes toeven our neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka,Maldives, etc. and the coastal regions of India.Chennai is one of the oldest artificial ports ofthe country. It is ranked next to Mumbai in termsof the volume of trade and cargo.Vishakhapatnam is the deepest landlocked andwell-protected port. This port was, originally,conceived as an outlet for iron ore exports.Paradip port located in Orissa, specialises in theexport of iron ore. Kolkata is an inland riverineport. This port serves a very large and richhinterland of Ganga- Brahmaputra basin. Beinga tidal port, it requires constant dredging ofHoogly. Haldia port was developed as asubsidiary port, in order to relieve growingpressure on the Kolkata port.

Fig. 7.7: Tanker discharging crude oil at NewMangalore port

Fig. 7.8: Handling of oversize cargo at Tuticorin port

Fig. 7.9

The air transport was nationalised in 1953.On the operational side, Indian Airlines,Alliance Air (subsidiary of Indian Airlines),private scheduled airlines and non- scheduledoperators provide domestic air services. AirIndia provides international air services.Pawanhans Helicopters Ltd. provideshelicopter services to Oil and Natural GasCommission in its off- shore operations, toinaccessible areas and difficult terrains like thenorth-eastern states and the interior parts ofJammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh andUttaranchal. Indian Airlines operations alsoextend to the neighbouring countries of Southand south-east Asia and the Middle east.

Find out the names of the countries connectedby Indian Airlines.

Air travel is not within the reach of thecommon people. It is only in the north-easternstates that special provisions are made toextend the services to the common people.

Airways

The air travel, today, is the fastest, mostcomfortable and prestigious mode of transport.

Why is air travel preferred in the north-eastern states?

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89LIFELINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

India: Major Ports and International Airports

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90 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Communication

Ever since humans appeared on the earth, theyhave used different means of communication.But, the pace of change, has been rapid inmodern times. Long distance communicationis far easier without physical movement of thecommunicator or receiver. Personalcommunication and mass communicationincluding television, radio, press, films, etc. arethe major means of communication in thecountry. The Indian postal network is the largestin the world. It handles parcels as well aspersonal written communications. Cards andenvelopes are considered first–class mail andare airlifted between stations covering both landand air. The second–class mail includes bookpackets, registered newspapers and periodicals.They are carried by surface mail, covering landand water transport. To facilitate quick deliveryof mails in large towns and cities, six mailchannels have been introduced recently. Theyare called Rajdhani Channel, Metro Channel,Green Channel, Business Channel, Bulk MailChannel and Periodical Channel.

order to strengthen the flow of informationfrom the grassroot to the higher level, thegovernment has made special provision toextend twenty-four hours STD facility toevery village in the country. There is a uniformrate of STD facilities all over India. It hasbeen made possible by integrating thedevelopment in space technology withcommunication technology.

Mass communication providesentertainment and creates awareness amongpeople about various national programmes andpolicies. It includes radio, television,newspapers, magazines, books and films. AllIndia Radio (Akashwani) broadcasts a varietyof programmes in national, regional and locallanguages for various categories of people,spread over different parts of the country.Doordarshan, the national television channel ofIndia, is one of the largest terrestrial networksin the world. It broadcasts a variety ofprogrammes from entertainment, educationalto sports, etc. for people of different age groups.

India publishes a large number ofnewspapers and periodicals annually. They areof different types depending upon theirperiodicity. Newspapers are published inabout 100 languages and dialects. Did youknow that the largest number of newspaperspublished in the country are in Hindi, followedby English and Urdu? India is the largestproducer of feature films in the world. Itproduces short films; video feature films andvideo short films. The Central Board of FilmCertification is the authority to certify bothIndian and foreign films.

International Trade

The exchange of goods among people, statesand countries is referred to as trade. The marketis the place where such exchanges take place.Trade between two countries is calledinternational trade. It may take place throughsea, air or land routes. While local trade iscarried in cities, towns and villages, state leveltrade is carried between two or more states.Advancement of international trade of acountry is an index to its economic prosperity.It is, therefore, considered the economicbarometer for a country.

In comparison with the other country,India has about 37,565 telephoneexchanges spread all over in the country.Make a comparison with any othercountry of your choice.

Fig.7.10 : Emergency call box on NH-8

India has one of the largest telecomnetworks in Asia. Excluding urban placesmore than two-thirds of the villages in Indiahave already been covered with SubscriberTrunk Dialling (STD) telephone facility. In

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91LIFELINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

As the resources are space bound, nocountry can survive without internationaltrade. Export and import are the componentsof trade. The balance of trade of a country isthe difference between its export and import.When the value of export exceeds the value ofimports, it is called a favourable balance oftrade. On the contrary, if the value of importsexceeds the value of exports, it is termed asunfavourable balance of trade.

India has trade relations with all the majortrading blocks and all geographical regions ofthe world. Among the commodities of export,whose share has been increasing over the lastfew years till 2004-05 are agriculture and alliedproducts (2.53 per cent), ores and minerals(9.12 per cent), gems and jewellery (26.75 percent) and chemical and allied products (24.45per cent), engineering goods( 35.63 per cent)and petroleum products (86.12 per cent)

The commodities imported to India includepetroleum and petroleum products (41.87 percent), pearls and precious stones (29.26 percent), inorganic chemicals (29.39 per cent),

coal, coke and briquettes (94.17 per cent),machinery (12.56 per cent). Bulk imports as agroup registered a growth accounting for 39.09per cent of total imports. This group includesfertilizers (67.01 per cent), cereals (25.23 percent), edible oils (7.94 per cent) and newsprint(5.51 per cent). International trade has undergone a sea change in the last fifteen years.Exchange of commodities and goods have beensuperseded by the exchange of information andknowledge. India has emerged as a softwaregiant at the international level and it is earninglarge foreign exchange through the export ofinformation technology.

Tourism as a Trade

Tourism in India has grown substantially overthe last three decades. Foreign tourist’s arrivalsin the country witnessed an increase of 23.5per cent during the year 2004 as against theyear 2003, thus contributing Rs 21,828 croreof foreign exchange.

Over 2.6 million foreign tourists visit Indiaevery year. More than 15 million people are

Prepare a project on the heritage tourism in India

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92 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

directly engaged in the tourism industry.Tourism also promotes national integration,provides support to local handicrafts andcultural pursuits. It also helps in thedevelopment of international understandingabout our culture and heritage. Foreigntourists visit India for heritage tourism, ecotourism, adventure tourism, cultural tourism,medical tourism and business tourism.

Rajasthan, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir andtemple towns of south India are importantdestinations of foregin tourists in India. Thereis vast potential of tourism development in thenorth-eastern states and the interior parts ofHimalayas, but due to strategic reasons thesehave not been encouraged so far. However,there lies a bright future ahead for thisupcoming industry.

EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES

1. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Which two of the following extreme locations are connected by the east-west corridor?

(a) Mumbai and Nagpur (c) Mumbai and Kolkata

(b) Silcher and Porbandar (d) Nagpur and Siligudi

(ii) Which mode of transportation reduces trans-shipment losses and delays?

(a) Railways (c) Pipeline

(b) Roadways (d) Waterways

(iii) Which one of the following states is not connected with the H.V.J. pipeline?

(a) Madhya Pradesh (c) Gujarat

(b) Maharashtra (d) Uttar Pradesh

(iv) Which one of the following ports is the deepest land-locked and well-protected port along the east coast?

(a) Chennai (c) Tuticorin

(b) Paradip (d) Vishakhapatnam

(v) Which one of the following is the most important modes of transportationin India?

(a) Pipeline (c) Roadways

(b) Railways (d) Airways

(vi) Which one of the following terms is used to describe trade between two ormore countries?

(a) Internal trade (c) External trade

(b) International trade (d) Local trade

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

(i) State any three merits of roadways.

(ii) Where and why is rail transport the most convenient means oftransportation?

(iii) What is the significance of the border roads?

(iv) What is meant by trade? What is the difference between internationaland local trade?

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93LIFELINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

3. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.

(i) Why are the means of transportation and communication called the lifelinesof a nation and its economy?

(ii) Write a note on the changing nature of the international trade in the lastfifteen years.

QUIZ DRIVE

1. Northern terminal of the North-south corridor.

2. The name of National Highway No.2.

3. The headquarter of the southern railway zone.

4. The rail gauge with a track width of 1.676 m.

5. The southern terminal of the National Highway No.7.

6. A Riverine Port.

7. Busiest railway junction in Northern India.

ACTIVITY

Start your search vertically, horizontally or diagonally and reach variousdestinations across the country!

S H E R S H A H S U R I M A R G

A R T P R N X E L A T A D L A Y

J M M X I P O R A Y M P G H T X

Y C H E N N N A I I K M C A I M

O D C D A L M C S O T P O R C P

A P T R G S K J M J L E A N E R

R A E T A J P O R M W M A S X O

I L S B R O A D G A U G E L O T

A S N L C M E C U K Z M A A J E

L M U G H A L S A R A I B S N A

G O E T V R A Y F T O R E A J M

K Q A I P M N Y R Y A Y H L I N

Q K O L K A T A E U I T W B E A

N I T N K D E M O U R P N P J D

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Page 95: Geography 10th-ncert

Appendix-IAppendix-IAppendix-IAppendix-IAppendix-I

Websites you can see

Bombay Natural History Society: http://www.bnhs.org/

Birding in India and South Asia: http://www.birding.in/

Website of Project Tiger: http://projecttiger.nic.in/

Nature Conservation Foundation: http://www.ncf-india.org/

Wildlife Conservation Society of India: http://www.wildlife.in/

Wildlife Trust of India: http://www.wildlifetrustofindia.org/

Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group: http://www.kalpavriksh.org/

Down to Earth Magazine: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/

Centre for Environment Education, India: http://www.ceeindia.org/cee/index.html

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Page 96: Geography 10th-ncert

Production of Iron ore, 2003-04 showingstatewise share in per cent

State Production % of total(1000 tons) production

Karnataka 31,562 26

Orissa 30,179 25

Chhattisgarh 22,675 19

Goa 20,157 17

Jharkhand 14,484 12

Others 1,544 1

Total 1,20,601 100

Appendix-IIAppendix-IIAppendix-IIAppendix-IIAppendix-II

Production of Copper, 2003-04 showingstatewise share in per cent

State Qunatity % of total(tons) production

Madhya Pradesh 82,699 58

Rajasthan 60,073 42

Sikkim 287 —

Total 1,43,059 100

Source: Ministry of Mines, Government of India

Production of Manganese ore, 2003-04 showingstatewise share in per cent

State Quantity % of total(tons) production

Orissa 576,324 33

Madhya Pradesh 373,630 22

Karnataka 257,581 15

Others 529,965 30

Total 1,737,500 100

Source: Ministry of Mines, Government of India

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Page 97: Geography 10th-ncert

Production of Bauxite, 2003-04 showing statewiseshare in per cent

State Quantity % of total(tons) production

Orissa 4,934,155 45

Gujarat 1,864,387 17

Jharkhand 1,518,096 14

Maharashtra 1,167,720 11

Others 1,472,180 13

Total 10,956,536 100

Source: Ministry of Mines, Government of India

Production of Limestone, 2003-04 showingstatewise share in per cent

State Production % of total(in tons) production

Andhra Pradesh 25,035 16

Madhya Pradesh 23,721 15

Rajasthan 22,657 15

Gujarat 17,698 11

Tamil Nadu 13,786 09

Others 51,228 34

Total 154,125 100

Source: Ministry of Mines, Government of India

96 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

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Appendix-IIIAppendix-IIIAppendix-IIIAppendix-IIIAppendix-III

Steel Plants Year of Establishment Collaborating LocationCountry

IISCO 1870-1913 (Private initially) (Nationalised Kulti andin 1972) Burnpur (W.B.)

TISCO 1907 (Private ownership) Jamshedji Tata Jamshedpur(Jharkhand)

VISL 1923 Pvt. as MISCO Nationalised later Bhadravati(Karnataka)

Bhilai 1959 (Public Sector) Soviet Union Bhilai (M.P.)

Bokaro 1972 (Public Sector) Soviet Union Bokaro(Jharkhand)

Durgapur 1959 (Public Sector) U.K. Durgapur (W.B.)

Rourkela — (Public Sector) Germany Rourkela(Orissa)

Vishakhapatnam — (Public Sector) — Vishakhapatnam

Andhra Pradesh

Salem — (Public Sector) — Salem (T. Nadu)

Vijay Nagar — Public Sector — Karnataka

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GlossaryGlossaryGlossaryGlossaryGlossary

Anticline: A fold in sedimentary strata that resembles an arch.

Gross Domestic Product: It is a monetary measure of the value of goods and servicesproduced within a natural economy at a given period of time. Normally it is one year.

Geologist: A scientist who studies the composition, structure and history of theearth.

Geothermal Gradient: The gradual increase in temperature with depth in thecrust. The average is 30°C per kilometer in the upper crust.

Humus: Dead and decayed organic matter adds to the fertility of the top soil.

Igneous Rocks: Rocks which have solidified from molten magma.

Manganese Nodules: A type of sediment scattered on the ocean floor, consistingmainly of manganese and iron, and usually containing small amounts of copper,nickel and cobalt.

Metamorphic Rocks: Rocks which were originally igneous or sedimentary, but havechanged in character and appearance.

Oil Trap: A geological structure that allows for significant amounts of oil and gas toaccumulate.

Rock: A consolidated mixture of minerals

Sedimentary Rocks: Rocks which have been deposited as beds and layers ofsediments.

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