Rice

The rice is cultivated on the largest areas in India. Historians believe that while the indica variety of rice was first domesticated in the area covering the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas (i.e. north-eastern India).Rice is a nutritional staple food which provides instant energy as its most important component is carbohydrate (starch). Rice is grown in almost all the states of India. The main rice producing states are Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chhatisgarh, Punjab, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam and Maharashtra. It is also grown in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Gujrat and Kashmir Valley. The rice growing areas in the country can be broadly grouped into five regions as discussed below :

1. North-Eastern Region:This region comprises of Assam and North eastern states. In Assam rice is grown in the basin of Brahmnaputra river. This region receives very heavy rainfall and rice is grown under rain fed condition.
2. Eastern Region This region comprises of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. In this region rice is grown in the basins of Ganga and Mahanadi rivers and has the highest intensity of rice cultivation in the country. This region receives heavy rainfall and rice is grown mainly under rain fed conditions.

iii. Northern Region: This region comprises of Haryana, Punjab, Western Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. The region experiences low winter temperature and single crop of rice from May-July to September-December is grown.

1. Western Region: This region comprises of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Rice is largely grown under rain fed condition during June-August to October – December.
2. Southern Region: This region comprises of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Rice is mainly grown in deltaic tracts of Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery rivers and the non-deltaic rain fed area of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Rice is grown under irrigated condition in deltaic tracts.

Wheat

Wheat is the second most important food crop of India next to rice. It is a Rabi or winter crop. It is sown in the beginning of winter and harvested in the beginning of summer. Normally (in north India) the sowing of wheat begins in the month of October-November and harvesting is done in the month of March-April. This is the staple food of millions of people particularly in the northern and north-western regions of India. Unlike rice, wheat is grown mostly as a rabi or winter crop.

The main regions of wheat production in India are U.P., Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat,Maharashtra. U.P., Punjab and Haryana together produce more than 66% of the total wheat of the country.

Cotton

 

Cotton requires a daily minimum temperature of 16ºC for germination and 21ºC to 27ºC for proper crop growth. During the fruiting phase, the day temperature ranging from 27ºC to 32ºC and cool nights are needed. The sowing season of cotton varies considerably from tract to tract and is generally early (April-May) in northern India where it is mostly irrigated. It is delayed on proceeding to down south. It is cultivated largely under rainfed or dryland conditions. An annual rainfall of atleast 50 centimetre distributed through-out the growing season is required for good yield. It is mainly raised during tropical monsoon season, although in southern India it is cultivated during late-monsoon season in winter. The cotton-picking period from mid September to November must have bright sunny days to ensure a good quality.

India has the largest area under cultivation and third largest producer of cotton next only to China and the USA. Within the country two third of total area and production is shared by four states. The main states for cotton production are Panjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.

Jute

Jute is a crop of humid tropical climates. It thrives well in areas with well distributed rainfall of 2,500 mm spread over vegetative growth period of the crop with no cloudiness. Locations with a mean rainfall of <1,000 mm, incessant rainfall and waterlogging are not suitable for its cultivation.

West Bengal, Bihar and Assam grow jute extensively.

Sugercane

Sugarcane belongs to the grass family. It has a thick jointed stem, Which contains the cane sugar, The juice can be taken as a drink or made into sugar, jaggery or khandsari. . The by-products of sugar are very useful. Bagasse is used to make paper, cattle feed, fuel for mills-and cardboard; molasses for power alcohol. Fertilizers, yeast and rum; and press mud of wax. and shoe polish. It supports the pesticide and fertilizer industries. Sugar factories provide employment to over a million ‘workers. India is the second largest sugarcane producer in the world.

Climatic and soil conditions which favour the cultivation of sugarcane are:-

• Temperature: 20°C-30°C. Temperature above 50°C arrests its growth and temperature below 20°C slows down its growth.
• Rain: 75-120cms. It cannot withstand frost. For ripening it needs a cool dry season.
• Soil: A medium heavy loam is ideal-In northern India it is cultivated on clay loams and alluvial soil while in south India it is cultivated on brown or reddish loams, black cotton soil and laterites.

Leading sugarcane producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab.Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.

Rubber

Rubber tree is sturdy, quick growing and tall. It grows on many types of soil provided the soil is deep and well drained. A warm humid equitable climate (2 1′ to 35′) and a fairly distributed rainfall of not less than 200 c m are necessary for the cultivation of rubber crop.

Kerala (accounts for 90% of the total area under rubber), Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andamanand Nicobar Islands. Parts of West Bengal. Orrisa., Maharashtra, Karnataka and’N.E parts of India are potential regions for rubber-cultivation.

Tea

Commercial Tea plantation in India was started by the Britishers in 1923 when wild tea plants were discovered by them in the hilly and forest areas of Assam.

Climatic conditions required for the growing of tea are

• Temp: 13-35°C. Average of 25°C is suitable.
• Humidity: – High humidity, heavy dew and morning fog promote growth if healthy leaves.
• Rainfall: Annual rainfalI (range) 150-350cm (well distributed)
• Soil- Well drained mountain soil, light, loamy, porous rich in nitrogen and iron/ laterite like the soil found in Assam

Assam is the leading producer that accounts for more than 50% of tea production of India. Tea producing areas of Assam are the hill slopes bordering the Brahmaputra and Surma valleys. West Bengal is the second largest producer of tea where tea is mostly grown in the districts of Darjeeling, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Bihar districts. Tamil Nadu is the third largest producer where tea growing areas are mostly restricted to Nilgiri hills.

Coffee

Commercial cultivation of coffee was started by British entrepreneurs in South India during 1820’s.

Most of India’s coffee is grown in three Southern states: Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, the first two account for nearly 90 percent of total production. Much of the coffee in Kerala and Karnataka is grown in the Western Ghats, a mountain chain that runs parallel to the coast line and about 100 miles inland from the Arabian Sea. India exports nearly 70 percent of the coffee it produces. These exports consist mainly of high grade beans from both the Arabica and the Robusta growing regions.

Geographical Requirement for Coffee cultivation are as follows:-

• Temperatute:- should be ranging between 15 to 28°C throughout the year. Frost free environment. Direct raysof the sun are harmfui as it.is grown in the shade of trees. In its early stages of growth it needs to be protected from hot.dry winds.
• Rainfall:- 125cm- 250 cms throughout the year.
• Soil:-. Well drained, weathered volcanic soil, red and laterite soil. The presence of humus is essential. .
• Topography:- grows on hill slopes at elevation ranging from 500mts to 1800mts.

 

Land is a finite resource. Land availability is only about 20% of the earth’s surface. Land is crucial for all developmental activities, for natural resources, ecosystem services and for agriculture. Growing population, growing needs and demands for economic development, clean water, food and other products from natural resources, as well as degradation of land and negative environmental impacts are posing increasing pressures to the land resources in many countries of the world.

India covers an area of 32,87,263 sq km. According to area size, it is the seventh largest country of the world after Russia, Canada, China, U.S.A., Brazil and Egypt. This vast size itself is the most important resource. About 30 per cent of area is covered by the mountains which are source of scenic beauty, perennial rivers, home of forests and wildlife. About 43 per cent of land area is plain which is highly suitable for agriculture. Remaining about 27 percent under plateaus is the store house of minerals and metals.

The land-use categories as maintained in the Land Revenue Records are as follows :

(i) Forests : In India, at present forest areas cover about 76.5 million hectares of land, which is about 23 per cent of the total geographical area. It ranges from about 87 per cent in Andaman & Nicobar Islands to only about 4 percent in Haryana making to range difference of 83 percent. According to our National Forest Policy, 33% of the total geographical area of the country should be under the forest cover to maintain ecological balance.

(ii) Land put to Non-agricultural Uses : Land under settlements (rural and urban), infrastructure (roads, canals, etc.), industries, shops, etc. are included in this category. An expansion in the secondary and tertiary activitieswould lead to an increase in this category of land-use.

(iii) Barren and Wastelands : The land which may be classified as a wasteland such as barren hilly terrains, desert lands, ravines, etc. normally cannot be brought under cultivation with the available technology.

(iv) Area under Permanent Pastures and Grazing Lands : Most of this type land is owned by the village ‘Panchayat’ or the Government. Only a small proportion of this land is privately owned. The land owned by the village panchayat comes under ‘Common Property Resources’.

(v) Area under Miscellaneous Tree Crops and Groves(Not included is Net sown Area) : The land under orchards and fruit trees are included in this category. Much of this land is privately owned.

(vi) Culturable Waste-Land : Any land which is left fallow (uncultivated) for more than five years is included in this category. It can be brought under cultivation after improving it through reclamation practices.

(vii) Current Fallow : This is the land which is left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year. Fallowing is a cultural practice adopted for giving the land rest. The land recoups the lost fertility through natural processes.

(viii) Fallow other than Current Fallow : This is also a cultivable land which is left uncultivated for more than a year but less than five years. If the land is left uncultivated for more than five years, it would be categorised as culturable wasteland. (ix) Net Area Sown : The physical extent of land on which crops are sown and harvested is known as net sown area.

 

What are natural resources ?

Natural resources are useful raw materials that we get from the Earth. They occur naturally, which means that humans cannot make natural resources. Instead, we use and modify natural resources in ways that are beneficial to us. The materials used in human-made objects are natural resources. Some examples of natural resources and the ways we can use them are:

 

Natural resources                                                                Products and services

Air                                                                                         Wind energy

Animals                                                                                Foods ( Milk, Steak, Bacon etc.),

Clothing ( wool, silk etc.

Coal                                                                                       Electricity

Minerals                                                                                Coins, wire, Steel, Aluminium etc.

Natural gas                                                                             Electricity and Heating

Oil                                                                                           Electricity, Fuel for vehicles

Plants                                                                                      Wood, Paper, Cotton etc.

Sunlight                                                                                   Solar power, Photosynthesis

Water                                                                                       Hydroelectricity, Drinking, Cleaning

 

INDIA : NATURAL RESOURCES

1. Land Resources: In terms of area India ranks seventh in the world with a total area of 32, 87.263 sq. km. (32.87 crore hectare). It accounts for 2.42% of total area of the world. In absolute terms India is really a big country. However, land man ratio is not favourable because of the huge population size.

Land utilisation figures are available for about 92.9% of total geographical area, that is, for 3,287.3 lakh hectare. Forest constitutes 24.01 % of the total geographical area of country. Out of a total land area of 304.2 million hectares about 170.0 million hectares is under cultivation. Food grains have preponderance in gross cropped areas as compared to non food grains. According to Agricultural Census, the area operated by large holdings (10 hectares and above) has declined and area operated under marginal holdings (less than one hectare) has increased. This indicates that land is being fragmented.

1. Forest Resources: India’s forest cover is 78.92 million hectare which is 24.01 % of the geographical area of the country. The per capita forest in India (0.5 hectare) is much less than that in the world (1.9 hectares). According to the National Policy on Forests (1988), one-third (33%) of the country’s area should be covered by forests in order to maintain ecological balance.
2. 3. Mineral Resources :

Iron-Ore: India possesses high quality iron-ore in abundance. The total reserves of iron-ore in the country are about 14.630 million tonnes of haematite and 10,619 million tonnes of magnetite. Haematite iron is mainly found in Chbattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Goa and Karnataka. The major deposit of magnetite iron is available at western coast of Karnataka. Some deposits of iron ore arc also found in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Coal reserves : India has the fifth largest coal reserves in the world. As on 31 March 2015, India had 306.6 billion metric tons (338.0 billion short tons) of the resource. The known reserves of coal rose 1.67% over the previous year, with the discovery of an estimated 5.04 billion metric tons (5.56 billion short tons). The estimated total reserves of lignite coal as on 31 March 2015 was 43.25 billion metric tons (47.67 billion short tons). The energy derived from coal in India is about twice that of the energy derived from oil, whereas worldwide, energy derived from coal is about 30% less than energy derived from oil. Coal deposits are primarily found in eastern and south-central India. Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra accounted for 99.08% of the total known coal reserves in India. As on 31 March 2015, Jharkhand and Odisha had the largest coal deposits of 26.44% and 24.72% respectively .

The top producing states are:

• Odisha
• Chhattisgarh
• Jharkhand

Other notable coal-mining areas are as follows :

• Singarenicollieries in Bhadradi district (Old Khammam District), Telangana
• Jhariamines in Dhanbad district, Jharkhand
• Nagpur& Chandrapur district, Maharshtra
• Raniganjin Bardhaman district, West Bengal
• Neyvelilignite mines in Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu
• Singrauli Coalfieldand Umaria Coalfield in Madhya Pradesh

 

Bauxite:

Bauxite is a main source of metal like aluminium. It is not a specific mineral but a rock consisting mainly of hydrated aluminium oxides. It is clay-like substance which is pinkish whitish or reddish in colour depending on the amount of iron content.

The total reserves of bauxite in India are estimated at 27.40 crores tonnes. The major bauxite producing states in India are Orissa, Jharkhand, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Goa in a descending order of importance.

Large amount of bauxite comes from:

Orissa : Sambalpur, Koraput, Kalahandi and Ganjam,

Jharkhand : Lohardaga near Ranchi and Palamau districts,

Maharashtra: Ratnagiri and Kolaba, Thane, Satara of Kolhapur district,

Madhya Pradesh:  Chhattisgarh – Balaghat, Rajgarh and Bilashpur,

Gujarat : Bhavanagar, Junagarh and Amreli,

Karnataka: Belgaum and Bababudan hills,

Tamil Nadu: Salem.

Uranium deposits : Jaduguda in Singhbhum Thrust Belt (in the state of Jharkhand, formerly part of Bihar) is the first uranium deposit to be discovered in the country in 1951. The Singhbhum Thrust Belt (also known as Singhbhum Copper belt or Singhbhum shear Zone) is a zone of intense shearing and deep tectonization with less than 1km width and known for a number of copper deposits with associated nickel, molybdenum, bismuth, gold, silver etc. It extends in the shape of an arc for a length of about 160 km. This discovery of uranium at Jaduguda in this belt paved the way for intensive exploration work and soon a few more deposits were brought to light in this area. Some of these deposits like Bhatin, Narwapahar and Turamdih are well known uranium mines of the country. other deposits like Bagjata, Banduhurang and Mohuldih are being taken up for commercial mining operations. Some of the other areas like Garadih, Kanyaluka, Nimdih and Nandup in this belt are also known to contain limited reserves with poor grades. Apart from discoveries in the Singhbhum Thrust Belt, several uranium occurrences have also been found in Cuddapah basin of Andhra Pradesh. These include Lambapur-Peddagattu, Chitrial, Kuppunuru, Tumallapalle, Rachakuntapalle which have significantly contributed towards the uranium reserve base of India. In the Mahadek basin of Meghalaya in NorthEastern part of the country, sandsyone type uranium deposits like Domiasiat, Wahkhyn, Mawsynram provide near-surface flat orebodies amenable to commercial operations. Other areas in Rajsthan, Karnataka and Chattishgarh hold promise for developing into some major deposits.

 

 

 

 

Thorium

The IAEA’s 2005 report estimates India’s reasonably assured reserves of thorium at 319,000 tonnes, but mentions recent reports of India’s reserves at 650,000 tonnes. A government of India estimate, shared in the country’s Parliament in August 2011, puts the recoverable reserve at 846,477 tonnes. The Indian Minister of State V. Narayanasamy stated that as of May 2013, the country’s thorium reserves were 11.93 million tonnes (monazite, having 9-10% ThO₂, with a significant majority (8.59 Mt; 72%) found in the three eastern coastal states of Andhra Pradesh (3.72 Mt; 31%), Tamil Nadu (2.46 Mt; 21%) and Odisha (2.41 Mt; 20%). Both the IAEA and OECD appear to conclude that India may possess the largest share of world’s thorium deposits.

 

Iron reserves : Iron ore is a metal of universal use. It is the backbone of modern civilisation. It is the foundation of our basic industry and is used all over the world. four varieties of iron ore are generally recognized.

(i) Magnetite: This is the best quality of iron ore . It possesses magnetic property and hence is called magnetite. It is found in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

 

(ii) Haematite:

It contains 60 % to 70 % pure iron and is found in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

(iii) Limonite:

It contains 40 per cent to 60 per cent pure iron. It is of yellow or light brown colour. Damuda series in Raniganj coal field, Garhwal in Uttarakhand, Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh and Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh.

(iv) Siderite:

It contains many impurities and has just 40 to 50 per cent pure iron. However, due to presence of lime, it is self fluxing.

 

(4) Oil reserves : India had about 750 Million metric tonne of proven oil reserves as April 2014 or 5.62 billion barrels as per EIA estimate for 2009, which is the second-largest amount in the Asia-Pacific region behind China. Most of India’s crude oil reserves are located in the western coast (Mumbai High) and in the northeastern parts of the country, although considerable undeveloped reserves are also located in the offshore Bay of Bengal and in the state of Rajasthan. The combination of rising oil consumption and fairly unwavering production levels leaves India highly dependent on imports to meet the consumption needs. In 2010, India produced an average of about 33.69 million metric tonne of crude oil as on April 2010 or 877 thousand barrels per day as per EIA estimate of 2009. As of 2013 India Produces 30% of India’s resources mostly in Rajasthan.

India’s oil sector is dominated by state-owned enterprises, although the government has taken steps in past recent years to deregulate the hydrocarbons industry and support greater foreign involvement. India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is the largest oil company. ONGC is the leading player in India’s upstream sector, accounting for roughly 75% of the country’s oil output during 2006, as per Indian government estimates. As a net importer of all oil, the Indian Government has introduced policies aimed at growing domestic oil production and oil exploration activities. As part of the effort, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas crafted the New Exploration License Policy (NELP) in 2000, which permits foreign companies to hold 100% equity possession in oil and natural gas projects. However, to date, only a handful of oil fields are controlled by foreign firms. India’s downstream sector is also dominated by state-owned entities, though private companies have enlarged their market share in past recent years.

The Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve (ISPR) is an emergency fuel store of total 5 MMT (million metric tons) or 36.92 MMbbl of strategic crude oil enough to provide 10 days of consumption which are maintained by the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited.

Strategic crude oil storages are at 3 underground locations :  in Mangalore, Visakhapatnam and Padur(nr Udupi). All these are located on the east and west coasts of India which are readily accessible to the refineries. These strategic storages are in addition to the existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and serve in response to external supply disruptions .

In the 2017-18 budget speech by the Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley, it was announced that two more such caverns will be set up Chandikhole in Jajpur district of Odisha and Bikaner in Rajasthan as part of the second phase. This will take the strategic reserve capacity to 15.33 million tons.

Apart from this,India is planning to expand more strategic crude oil facilities in second phase at Rajkot in Gujarat, Padur in and Udupi district of Karnataka.

(5)  Natural gas reserves : Natural gas consists primarily of methane .Propane , butane, pentane and hexane are also present . KG basin, Assam, Gulf of Khambhat, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, Barmer in Rajasthan etc. are natural gas reserves of India.

 

 

 

 

Wind energy resources : The development of wind power in India began in the 1990s, and has significantly increased in the last few years. Although a relative newcomer to the wind industry compared with Denmark or the US, domestic policy support for wind power has led India to become the country with the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world.

As of March 31, 2016 the installed capacity of wind power in India was 26,769.05 MW, mainly spread across Tamil Nadu (7,269.50 MW), Maharashtra (4,100.40 MW), Gujarat (3,454.30 MW), Rajasthan (2,784.90 MW), Karnataka (2,318.20 MW), Andhra Pradesh (746.20 MW) and Madhya Pradesh (423.40 MW) Wind power accounts for 14% of India’s total installed power capacity. India has set an ambitious target to generate 60,000 MW of electricity from wind power by 2022.

 

 

 

Solar power : Solar power is attractive because it is abundant and offers a solution to fossil fuel emissions and global climate change. Earth receives solar energy at the rate of approximately 1,73,000 TW. This enormously exceeds both the current annual global energy consumption rate of about 15 TW, and any conceivable requirement in the future. India is both densely populated and has high solar insolation, providing an ideal combination for solar power in India. India is already a leader in wind power generation. In solar energy sector, some large projects have been proposed, and a 35,000 km² area of the Thar Desert has been set aside for solar power projects, sufficient to generate 700 to 2,100 GW.

With about 300 clear sunny days in a year, India’s theoretical solar power reception, just on its land area, is about 5 PWh/year (i.e. = 5 trillion kWh/yr ~ 600 TW). The daily average solar energy incident over India varies from 4 to 7 kWh/m² with about 1500–2000 sunshine hours per year, depending upon location. This is far more than current total energy consumption. The India Energy Portal estimates that if 10% of the land were used for harnessing solar energy, the installed solar capacity would be at 8,000GW, or around fifty times the current total installed power capacity in the country. For example, even assuming 10% conversion efficiency for PV modules, it will still be thousand times greater than the likely electricity demand in India by the year 2015.

NATIONAL SOLAR MISSION

 

NTPC  Vidyut Vyapar Nigam(NVVN) ,the nodal agency for implementing the first phase of JNNSM , received 418 applications against a requirement of 650 MW(500 MW Solar Thermal and 150 MW Solar PV) for Batch I. Out of this 343 applications were for solar PV and 55 for Solar Thermal. The interest was high in the investor community for solar PV as applications worth 1715 MW (343*5 MW) were received as against a total of 150 MW. 30 bidders were selected through reverse bidding and projects were allocated to companies that offered highest discount to base tariff rate of Rs. 17.91/kWh. Projects totaling 610 MW were awarded with 145 MW under solar PV and 470 MW under Solar Thermal. The winning bids for solar PV varied from Rs. 10.95/kWh to Rs. 12.76/kWh and for Solar Thermal it was Rs. 11.14/kWh  in Phase I Batch I. Camelot Enterprises Private Ltd was the lowest bidder and other successful bidders included Mahindra Solar One, Azure Power, SunEdison Energy, Lanco Infratech.  The project capacity under Batch I is 5 MW for solar PV and minimum 5 MW and maximum 100MW for Solar Thermal. By July 2011, negotiations were concluded, PPAs awarded and financial closure achieved for 34 projects.

Under batch II, the project size has been increased up to 20 MW and the base price for solar PV projects is Rs. 15.39/kWh.  NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) received 154 applications for 1915 MW of solar PV projects against a requirement of 350 MW. The results of the bidding for solar PV projects indicate that the grid parity for solar power may not be too far off. The winning bids varied from Rs. 7.49/kWh to Rs. 9.41/kWh. The average bid price for both batch I and II was Rs. 12.15/kWh. French project developer Solairedirect emerged as the lowest bidder and Green Infra Solar the highest bidder. The other successful bidders included companies like Welspun Solar, Azure Power, SunBorne Energy  and Mahindra Solar One. Around 70% and 85% of the allocated capacity under Phase I Batch I and Phase I Batch II respectively is to be implemented in Rajasthan.

LAND RESOURCES : UTILIZATION PATTERN IN INDIA

Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. It also has been defined as “the total of arrangements, activities, and input that people undertake in a certain land cover type.

Land is a scarce resource, whose supply is fixed for all practical purposes. At the same time, the demand for land for various competing purposes is continuously increasing with the increase in human population and economic growth.

Agricultural land: Agricultural land (also agricultural area) denotes the land suitable for agricultural production, both crops and livestock. It includes net sown area, current fallows and land under miscellaneous trees crops and groves. Agricultural land in India totals approx. 46 %  of the total geographical area in the country. This is the highest among the large and medium-sized countries of the world. This indicates The influence of favourable physical factors (like size, extent of plains and plateaus, etc.) and  The extension of cultivation to a large proportion of the cultivable land. But, because of the large population of the country, the per capita arable land (i.e. land suitable for agriculture) is low: 0.16 hectares against the world average of 0.24 hectares. About 15 per cent of the sown area is multi-cropped.

Non-agricultural land: This includes land under forests and permanent pastures, land under other non-agricultural uses (towns, villages, roads, railways, etc.) and  land classified as cultivable waste as well as barren and uncultivated land of mountain and desert areas.

 

The population continues to grow rapidly in India and great pressure is being placed on arable land resources to provide an adequate supply of food and energy requirements. Even if land resources are never exhausted, on a per capita basis they will decline significantly because they must be divided among more people. Land is one such natural resources of a nation on which the entire superstructure is created. Thus, land use is a synthesis of physical, chemical and biological systems and processes on the one hand and human/societal processes and behavior on the other hand. Land is important not only for producing food stuffs, cereals, fruits and vegetables for consumption but also for generating surpluses to meet the increasing demands created by rising population and developing industrial sector, for laying down the transport network, communication lines, for the construction of dwellings and public institutions, etc. Due to unprecedented population growth, man has made uses and misuses of land resources causing environmental degradation.

Again environmental degradation in developing countries like India, especially its manifestations in the form of soil erosion, deforestation etc, is often attributed to rapid population growth. It has however been increasingly realized that since these predominantly agricultural countries are undergoing the process of technological progress and development, many other factors also modify the relationship between population and land. Changing techniques of production, changes in the pattern of land utilization of natural as well as human resources, industrialization, urbanization, changing life styles, rising aspirations, change in consumption pattern are some of the macro level factors which make the relationship between population and land use much more complex.

 

 

 

Objective questions

 

Q 1. Which one of the following is an example of non-renewable resources?

1. Wind
2. Natural gas
3. Solar energy
4. Soil

Q 2. Consider the following statements regarding the reserves of natural resources in India ?

1. Naharkatia and Kalol are famous for reserves of Crude oil .
2. Kolar is source of Diamond .
3. India’s forest cover is 14 % of the total geographical area .

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

1. only 1
2. only 1 and 2
3. only 2 and 3
4. only 1 and 3

Q 3. Which of the statements given below is / are correct ?

1. Natural gas primarily consists of Butane and methane and propane are also present in minor amount .
2. Barmer in Rajasthan is natural gas reserve.

Choose the correct answer from the code given below :

1. only 1
2. only 2
3. 1 and 2 both
4. Neither 1 nor 2

 

Q 4. Which of the following place is well known for Uranium reserves ?

1. Narwapahar
2. Koraput
3. Ratnagiri
4. Balaghat

 

Q 5. Consider the following statements regarding land use pattern in India :

1. More than 50 % area is swon area in the country .
2. Urbanization and industrialization are the factors changing India’s land use pattern

Which of the statements given above is / are correct :

1. Only 1
2. Only 2
3. 1 and 2 both
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q 6. Which of the following statements is / are correct ?

1. India’s geographical location is favourable for solar power .
2. India ranks first in wind energy production.

Choose the correct answer from the code given below :

1. Only 1
2. Only 2
3. 1 and 2 both
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q 7. Which the following is / are non-metallic mineral/s ?

1. Limestone
2. Mica
3. Gypsum
4. All of the above

 

Q 8. With reference to the Iron ore which of the following statement/s  is / are correct ?

 

1. Limonite contains max. percentage of pure iron.
2. Magnetite is not found in India.

Choose the correct answer from the code given below:

1. Only 1
2. Only 2
3. 1 and 2 both
4. Neither 1 nor 2

 

Q 9. Which of the following statement is correct ?

 

1. Neyveli lignite mines are located in Jharkhand.
2. Singrauli coalfield is in Uttar pradesh .
3. Kalahandi is famous for Bauxite.
4. Lohardaga bauxite mine is located in Karnataka.

 

Q 10. Siderite is an ore of :

 

1. Aluminium
2. Thorium
3. Iron
4. Uranium

 

 

ANSWER KEYS

1. B
2. A
3. B
4. A
5. B
6. A
7. D
8. D
9. C
10. C

 
The definition of function varies across the disciplines. In political science it refers to duties, in mathematics it means the relationship between two variables and in geography it is synonymous to occupation.

Geographers have classified towns on the basis of their site, situation, size, rank, location and relative elevation. Functional classification of towns attempts to categorize towns and cities according to their economic functions, thereby identifying their roles within urban systems. Most classifications use employment and occupational data. In the functional classification approach, towns are classified on the basis of their dominant function. The functional classification of towns has been illus­trated in the following paras:

1.)Administrative town

The main function of administrative cities and towns is to administer the country/state or a specific territory.It includes not only the capital cities of countries, but all the centres of provinces, states, districts and other administrative divisions of the country.

2.Defensive Towns:

During the medieval period, most of the towns and cities used to be developed on the defensive sites.Forts and garrisons used to be constructed at strategic places. The defensive towns have barracks, cantonments, and training facilities for the armed forces, airfields, and harbours for warships.Visakhapatnam, MHOW and Khadakwasla (India);

In many garrison and defensive towns, there is a clear division of land use between the civil and military authorities, so that the military installa­tions are often at a little distance from the town or are grouped together in one part of the town. This is necessary to maintain security, though often many town people are employed by the military.

3.Cultural Centres:

There are numerous towns and cities in the world, almost in each of the countries, which perform cultural functions.The cities of Oxford and Cambridge in England are the most suitable examples of educational towns. In these towns, one may find colleges, libraries, hostels, churches, playgrounds, parks and shopping centres. The environmental pollution in these towns is almost insignificant.

4.) Collection Centres:

The mining towns, fishing ports and lumbering centres fall under the category of collection centres/towns. There are numerous metallic, non-metallics, precious stones and energy resources which are obtained from mines.The towns which serve these mines may be small settlements serving a particular mine such as Zawar near Udaipur (Rajasthan), Bjiladela (Madhya Pradesh) and Digboi (Assam).They may be large in size such as Raniganj, Hazaribagh (Bihar), Ipoh in the tin rich Kinta valley of Malaysia, or Kuwait and Abadan in the oil producing regions of Kuwait and Tehran, respectively.Such towns may have some industries related to the mineral mines, such as smelters and refineries. The shops in such towns sell mining equipments and special clothes needed for miners.

5.) Production Centres:

Urban places, town and cities in which some kind of manufacturing industry is the major function is known as a production centre. The size and appearance of the town are affected by the type of industry located there.

• For example, Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Bhilai, Durgapur, Dhanbad and Bhadravati in India, Pittsburgh in USA, Magnitogorsk in Russia and Birmingham in UK are dominated by large steel plants. Such iron and steel producing towns are generally located near the coal fields.
• For the manufacturing towns, as collecting centres, transportation is very important for the transport of raw materials and the finished goods. These days such towns are generally set up on lines of communication.

In manufacturing towns, there is a segregation of houses and estab­lishments; the officer’s quarters may be grouped at one place and that of the labourers at the other.

6.) Towns of Diversified Functions:

As stated at the outset, towns are classified according to their major functions. So, all those towns (such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, etc.) can be put into a definite category in which a large number of activities are conducted. Such towns are referred as diversified in functions.

Over space and time, the functions of towns change. For example, defensive sites often become restrictive when the town expands.Thus, many towns have restricted centres which were once confined within the town walls and more extensive suburbs which grew up outside the walls or after the walls were demolished.

Shahjahanabad (old Delhi), Padova (Italy), Lahore and Rawalpindi (Pakistan), Baghdad (Iraq) and Baku (Azerbaijan) are some of the examples of such towns.

7.)Residential Towns:

In some towns, the chief function is simply to house a concentration of population. In such areas, most of the land is devoted to houses, parks and hospitals. These towns are very- well-connected with the major cities, which enables the commuters to get to work each day.

8.  Resorts:

The urban places which cater to the recreation needs of people are known as resorts or recreation towns.These urban places may be based on health-giving water (hot springs), seaside recreation, mountain climbing, cultural attractions, historical monuments, sports facilities, national parks and attractive scenery.Resorts and recreational towns have many hotels to accommodate visitors, and also provide sporting facilities such as golf courses, swimming pools, trekking and skiing. Moreover, they have numerous entertainment facilities, such as theatres, cinemas, and night clubs and children parks.

9. Transfer and Distribution Centres:

The main functions performed at transfer centres are the trade, commerce and services. Towns which are concerned with the transfer and distribution of goods, however, have trade as their major function.

They include several types of towns. For example, market towns, sea ports and financial towns.Market towns are characterized by markets, a wide range of shops, stores, warehouses, godowns, cold storages and wholesale .markets.Market towns also have banks, insurance companies and other financial organizations. Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Indore, Bhopal, Patna, Lucknow, Ludhiana and Hapur in India, Norwich in England, Alexandria in Egypt, and Kumasi in Ghana are some of the examples of such towns.

 

Problem of Human settlement:

Some of the major problems of urbanisation in India are

1. Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl or real expansion of the cities, both in population and geographical area, of rapidly growing cities is the root cause of urban problems. In most cities the economic base is incapable of dealing with the problems created by their excessive size

1. Overcrowding

Overcrowding is a situation in which too many people live in too little space. Overcrowding is a logical consequence of over-population in urban areas. It is naturally expected that cities having a large size of population squeezed in a small space must suffer from overcrowding. This is well exhibited by almost all the big cities of India.

 

3.Slums and Squatter Settlements:

The natural sequel of unchecked, unplanned and haphazard growth of urban areas is the growth and spread of slums and squatter settlements which present a striking feature in the ecological structure of Indian cities, especially of metropolitan centres.

 

4.)Overcrowding

Overcrowding leads to a chronic problem of shortage of houses in urban areas. This problem is specifically more acute in those urban areas where there is large influx of unemployed or underemployed immigrants who have no place to live in when they enter cities/towns from the surrounding areas.

5.)Seweage problem

Urban areas in India are almost invariably plagued with insufficient and inefficient sewage facilities. Not a single city in India is fully sewered. Resource crunch faced by the municipalities and unauthorised growth of the cities are two major causes of this pathetic state of affairs.

 

Urban morphology is the study of the form of human settlements and the process of their formation and transformation.Morphological studies often deal with development of forms and
pattern of the present city or other urban areas through time.

Urban morphology is the study of the physical form of a city, which consists of street patterns, building sizes and shapes, architecture, population density and patterns of residential, commercial, industrial and other uses, among other things. Special attention is given to how the physical form of a city changes over time and to how different cities compare with each other.

India exhibits a very stable settlement structure such that much of the urban growth that has occurred has been because of the accretion to existing towns and settlements and only marginally because of the emergence of new towns. As a result, the proportion of urban population residing in towns above a certain population cut-off point continues to increase, but there is little evidence of correlation between city size and rates of population growth.

In other words we can state that the development of new urban centers in India has been minimal and the urban growth has been accredited to the development of existing centers.

Prof. E. Ahmad has identified some of the components of urban morphology as site characteristics, historical background, sky-line, green open spaces, and water bodies, physical and cultural dominants.

For the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows;

1. All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.
2. All other places which satisfied the following criteria: i) A minimum population of 5,000; ii) At least 75 per cent of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and iii) A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.

Urban centres of India are of 4 types:
1. Those that have grown from ancient town and villages e.g. Varansi, Madurai, Patna

2. Those that have grown from medieval towns such as Lucknow, Delhi, Jaipur. These towns have lot of features of medieval Islamic architecture with palaces, minarates, walled city with Meena bazaars.
3. Cities that have grown from the British administrative centres. Most of them were medieval towns or cantonment areas which retain lot of features of European Victorial architecture.
4. During the post independence period a number of planned cities have been developed. Chandigarh, Bhuvneshwar, Gandhinagar, Dispur and Bokaro are some of the typical examples of planned cities.

City is a complex agglomeration of multiple activities – economic, social, cultural, etc. Its ‘central area’ also known as Central Business District is its distinct section which is identified as the centre of marketing, business and financial activities as well as dense built-up sector where lines of transportation converge from various parts and nearly from all direction.

 

Settlement can be defined as any form of human habitation which ranges from a single dwelling to large city. The word settlement has another connotation as well as this is a process of opening up and settling of a previously uninhabited area by the people. In geography this process is also known as occupancy.

Settlements can broadly be divided into two types – rural and urban. Before discussing about meaning and types of rural and urban settlement in India, we should know some basic differences between rural and urban areas in general. (i) The major difference between rural and urban areas is the function. Rural areas have predominantly primary activities, whereas urban areas have domination of secondary and tertiary activities. (ii) Generally the rural areas have low density of population than urban.

Types of Rural Settlements:

Geographers have suggested various schemes of classification. If we group settlements found all over the country, these can broadly be grouped under four categories:

1. Compact/clustered/nucleated settlement
2. Semi-compact/Semi-clustered/fragmented settlement
3. Hemleted settlement
4. Dispersed settlement

 

Compact Settlements:

• As the name suggests, these settlements have closely built up area. Therefore in such settlements all the dwellings are concentrated in one central sites and these inhabited area is distinct and separated from the farms and pastures.
• Maximum settlements of our country comes under this category. They are spread over almost every part of the country.
• These settlements are distributed over the entire northern Indo-Ganga plain (from Punjab in the north-west to West Bengal in the east), Orissa coast, basins of Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh, coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, cauvery delta of Tamil Nadu, Maidaus of Karnataka, lower Assam and Tripura, in the valleys of Siwaliks etc.
• Sometimes people live in compact settlement for security or defence purpose. The greatest example of this type is in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
• In Rajasthan also people live in compact settlement because of the scarce availability of cultivable land and water body. Therefore, they want to make maximum use of available natural resources.

Semi compact Settlement:

As the name suggests, the dwellings or houses are not well-knitted. Such settlements are characterized by a small but compact nuclears around which hamlets are dispersed.

• It covers more area than the compact settlements.
• These settlements are found both in plains and plateaus depending upon the environmental conditions prevailing in that area.
• Such settlements are situated along streams in Manipur Mandla and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, and Rajgarh district of Chhattisgarh. Different tribal groups inhabit such settlements in the Chhota Nagpur region. In Nagaland, such settlements may be in the form of blushing villages.

Hamleted Settlements:

These type of settlements, are fragmented into several small units. The main settlement does not have much influence on the other units. Very often the original site is not easily distinguishable and these hamlets are often spread over the area with intervening fields. This segregation is often influenced by social and ethnic factors. The hamlets are locally named as faliya, para, dhana, dhani, nanglay etc. These settlements are generally found in West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and coastal plains. Geographically it covers lower Ganga plain, lower valleys of the Himalayas and central plateau or upland region of the country.

 Dispersed Settlements:

This is also known as isolated settlements. Here the settlement is characterized by units of small size which may consist of a single house to a small group of houses. It varies from two to seven huts. Therefore, in this type, hamlets are scattered over a vast area and does not have any specific pattern. Such type of settlements are found in tribal areas of central part of India covering Chhota Nagpur plateau, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, etc. Such patterns are also common in the hills of north Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

 

There are three factors that influence the type of settlements in India. These factors are (i) Physical (ii) Ethnic or cultural and (iii) Historical or defence. Let us discuss these factors one by one.

Physical Factors:

These include relief, altitude, soil capability, climate, drainage, ground water level, etc. These factors influence the type and spacing of dwelling or instance, in dry regions of Rajasthan, water is a crucial factor and, therefore, houses are situated along a pond or well which guides the compactness of the settlement.

Ethnic and Cultural Factors:

These include aspects like caste, community, ethnicity and religion. In India it is commonly found that the main land owning caste resides at the centre of the village and the other service providing castes on the periphery. This leads to social segregation and fragmentation of a settlement into several units

Historical or Defence Factors:

In the past, mostly border areas of northwestern plains were conquered or attacked frequently by outsiders. For a long time, apart from attack from outsiders, there had been continuous fight between princely states and kingdom within the country therefore, security concerns favoured the evolution of nucleated settlements.

 

Type of urban settlement:

Like rural settlements, urban settlements are classified on various bases. However, classification based on size and function are most common. Let us discuss them one by one

Classification based on Population Size

According to population size, census of India classifies urban centres into six classes. Classwise urban settlements and their population

Class                              Population

Class I                            1,00,000 and above

Class II                          50,000 – 99,999

Class III                          20,000 – 49,999

Class IV                          10,000 – 19,999

Class V                            5,000 – 9,999

Class VI                          less than 5,000

 

There is another classification of urban settlements. The classification is as follows:

Town                                   Places which have less than one lakh population

City                                     Urban centres having population between one lakh to one million.

Metropolitan Cities          Cities having population in between one million to five million

Mega cities                         Cities having more than 5 million population

 

The rapid pace of population growth has led to the excessive utilization of natural resources. Huge population also leads to huge production of wastes. The resultant outcomes are loss of biodiversity, pollution of air, water and soil and increased pressure on arable land. All these have been putting great stress on the environment. If you take the case of India, it supports 17 percent of world population on just 2.4 per cent of the world land area.

The earth’s carrying capacity in terms of its food resource is approaching its limits. Oceanic supply of fish, rangelands which support livestock, and the hydrological cycle to produce freshwater are strained. The backlog of unused agricultural technology is shrinking in industrial and developing countries alike, slowing the rise in cropland productivity. At the same time, soil erosion, air pollution, soil compaction, aquifer depletion, the loss of soil organic matter, and the waterlogging and salting of irrigated land are all slowing food production. At present, it appears that nothing can reverse the worldwide decline in grain output per person. The bottomline is that the world’s farmers can no longer be counted on to feed the projected additions to the present population. Attaining a humane balance between food production and population growth now depends more on family planners instead of farmers.

Mazor impact of popuatlion growth on Environment are:

• Resource Scarcity:

– Food

– Energy (coal, oil, uranium)

– Raw materials (iron, copper, wood, water)

• Environmental Impacts

– Soil degradation

– Deforestation

– Global Warming

Population growth would not be sustainable if it has important negative impacts that will jeopardize the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

 

Rural-Urban Composition:

For the first time since Independence, the absolute increase in population is more in urban areas that in rural areas

Rural Population in India: 68.84%

Urban Population in India: 31.16%

Level of urbanization increased from 27.81% in 2001 Census to 31.16% in 2011 Census

The proportion of rural population declined from 72.19% to 68.84%

 

INDIA/STATE/UT	TOTAL POPULATION	RURAL POPULATION	URBAN POPULATION	RURAL POP PERCENTAGE	URBAN POP PERCANTAGE
A & N ISLANDS	3,79,944	2,44,411	1,35,533	64.33	35.67
ANDHRA PRADESH	8,46,65,533	5,63,11,788	2,83,53,745	66.51	33.49
ARUNACHAL PRADESH	13,82,611	10,69,165	3,13,446	77.33	22.67
ASSAM	3,11,69,272	2,67,80,516	43,88,756	85.92	14.08
BIHAR	10,38,04,637	9,20,75,028	1,17,29,609	88.7	11.3
CHANDIGARH	10,54,686	29,004	10,25,682	2.75	97.25
CHHATTISGARH	2,55,40,196	1,96,03,658	59,36,538	76.76	23.24
DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI #	3,42,853	1,83,024	1,59,829	53.38	46.62
DAMAN & DIU	2,42,911	60,331	1,82,580	24.84	75.16
GOA	14,57,723	5,51,414	9,06,309	37.83	62.17
GUJARAT	6,03,83,628	3,46,70,817	2,57,12,811	57.42	42.58
HARYANA	2,53,53,081	1,65,31,493	88,21,588	65.21	34.79
HIMACHAL PRADESH	68,56,509	61,67,805	6,88,704	89.96	10.04
INDIA	1,21,01,93,422	83,30,87,662	37,71,05,760	68.84	31.16
JAMMU & KASHMIR	1,25,48,926	91,34,820	34,14,106	72.79	27.21
JHARKHAND	3,29,66,238	2,50,36,946	79,29,292	75.95	24.05
KARNATAKA	6,11,30,704	3,75,52,529	2,35,78,175	61.43	38.57
KERALA	3,33,87,677	1,74,55,506	1,59,32,171	52.28	47.72
LAKSHADWEEP	64,429	14,121	50,308	21.92	78.08
MADHYA PRADESH	7,25,97,565	5,25,37,899	2,00,59,666	72.37	27.63
MAHARASHTRA	11,23,72,972	6,15,45,441	5,08,27,531	54.77	45.23
MANIPUR	27,21,756	18,99,624	8,22,132	69.79	30.21
MEGHALAYA	29,64,007	23,68,971	5,95,036	79.92	20.08
MIZORAM	10,91,014	5,29,037	5,61,977	48.49	51.51
NAGALAND	19,80,602	14,06,861	5,73,741	71.03	28.97
NCT OF DELHI	1,67,53,235	4,19,319	1,63,33,916	2.5	97.5
ORISSA	4,19,47,358	3,49,51,234	69,96,124	83.32	16.68
PUDUCHERRY	12,44,464	3,94,341	8,50,123	31.69	68.31
PUNJAB	2,77,04,236	1,73,16,800	1,03,87,436	62.51	37.49
RAJASTHAN	6,86,21,012	5,15,40,236	1,70,80,776	75.11	24.89
SIKKIM	6,07,688	4,55,962	1,51,726	75.03	24.97
TAMIL NADU	7,21,38,958	3,71,89,229	3,49,49,729	51.55	48.45
TRIPURA	36,71,032	27,10,051	9,60,981	73.82	26.18
UTTAR PRADESH	19,95,81,477	15,51,11,022	4,44,70,455	77.72	22.28
UTTARAKHAND	1,01,16,752	70,25,583	30,91,169	69.45	30.55
WEST BENGAL	9,13,47,736	6,22,13,676	2,91,34,060	68.11	31.89

 

 

 

 

 

Age Structure:

 

Age- sex structure is one of the most important characteristics of population composition. Almost all population characteristics vary significantly with age.

Information is included by sex and age group (0-14 years, 15-64 years, 65 years and over). The age structure of a population affects a nation’s key socioeconomic issues. Countries with young populations (high percentage under age 15) need to invest more in schools, while countries with older populations (high percentage ages 65 and over) need to invest more in the health sector. The age structure can also be used to help predict potential political issues. For example, the rapid growth of a young adult population unable to find employment can lead to unrest.

Below is the age structure of India:

 

 

0-14 years: 27.71% (male 186,420,229/female 164,611,755)
15-24 years: 17.99% (male 121,009,850/female 106,916,692)
25-54 years: 40.91% (male 267,203,029/female 251,070,105)
55-64 years: 7.3% (male 46,398,574/female 46,105,489)
65 years and over: 6.09% (male 36,549,003/female 40,598,872) (2016 est.)

 

 

Sex Ratio:

Sex ratio is used to describe the number of females per 1000 of males. Sex ratio is a valuable source for finding the population of women in India and what is the ratio of women to that of men in India.

In the Population Census of 2011 it was revealed that the population ratio in India 2011 is 940 females per 1000 of males. The Sex Ratio 2011 shows an upward trend from the census 2001 data. Census 2001 revealed that there were 933 females to that of 1000 males.

While Kerala with sex ratio of 1084 top the list, Daman and Diu with sex ratio of 618 is at the bottom of the list.

Below is the list of states according to the sex ration. In the list we can see the states with good sex ratio.

 

		2011 Census
S.No.	State	Sex Ratio	Child Sexratio
–	India	943	919
1	Kerala	1084	964
2	Puducherry	1037	967
3	Tamil Nadu	996	943
4	Andhra Pradesh	993	939
5	Chhattisgarh	991	969
6	Meghalaya	989	970
7	Manipur	985	930
8	Orissa	979	941
9	Mizoram	976	970

 

 

 

India is the second most populous country in the world next only to China. On March 1, 2011 the total population of India was at 1.247 billion. This accounted for 17.5% of the world’s total population. In other words, about every sixth person in the world there is an Indian. China, the most populous country of the world, is a step ahead of us as every fifth person in the world there is a Chinese. While India possesses only 2.42% of the world’s total land area, she is required to sustain almost 17.5% of the world’s population.

Two components of population growth are: Natural growth: It is analysed by assessing the crude birth and death rates. Induced growth: It is assessed by the volume of inward and outward movement of people in any given area. There are four phases of population growth in India. The period from 1901-1921 is referred to as a period of stagnant growth of India’s population. The high birth rate was counterbalanced by high death rate. The decades 1921-1951 are referred to as the period of steady population growth. The mortality rate started showing downward trend as a result of improvement in general health and sanitation conditions after 1921.

The density of population is expressed as the number of persons per square kilometre. According to 2011 census, the density of population in India is 382 persons per square kilometre. Over the last 100 years density has increased more than four times.

Density and its variation across states can be accessed by the following table:-

State	Area Sq. Km	Density 2011	Density 2001	Density 2011
–	India (Average)	3,287,240	382	324
1	Delhi	1,483	11,320	9,340
2	Chandigarh	114	9,258	7,900
3	Puducherry	490	2,547	2,034
4	Daman and Diu	111	2,191	1,413
5	Lakshadweep	30	2,149	1,895
6	Bihar	94,163	1,106	881
7	West Bengal	88,752	1,028	903
8	Kerala	38,852	860	819
9	Uttar Pradesh	240,928	829	690
10	Dadra and Nagar Haveli	491	700	449
11	Haryana	44,212	573	478
12	Tamil Nadu	130,060	555	480
13	Punjab	50,362	551	484
14	Jharkhand	79,716	414	338
15	Assam	78,438	398	340
16	Goa	3,702	394	364
17	Maharashtra	307,713	365	315
18	Tripura	10,486	350	305
19	Karnataka	191,791	319	276
20	Gujarat	196,244	308	258
21	Andhra Pradesh	275,045	308	277
22	Orissa	155,707	270	236
23	Madhya Pradesh	308,252	236	196
24	Rajasthan	342,239	200	165
25	Uttarakhand	53,483	189	159
26	Chhattisgarh	135,192	189	154
27	Meghalaya	22,429	132	103
28	Manipur	22,327	128	103
29	Himachal Pradesh	55,673	123	109
30	Nagaland	16,579	119	120
31	Sikkim	7,096	86	76
32	Jammu and Kashmir	222,236	56	46
33	Mizoram	21,081	52	42
34	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	8,249	46	43
35	Arunachal Pradesh	83,743	17	13

 

 

 

 

 

 

Natural Hazards of India

Disaster

A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s capacity to cope using its own resources.

Vulnerability + Hazard =Disaster

Vulnerability- it is defined as the diminished capacity of an individual or group to anticipate, copes with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural or manmade hazard.

Types of Disaster

Hazards are routinely divided into natural or manmade, although complex disasters, where there is no single root cause, are more common in developing countries. A specific disaster may spawn a secondary disaster. A classical example is Earthquake that cause Tsunami that results in coastal flooding.

Natural Hazards

Natural Hazards are naturally occurring physical phenomenon caused either by rapid or slow onset events which can be

• Geophysical– Earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic activity
• Hydrological– Avalanches and Floods
• Climatological- extreme temperatures, drought and wildfires
• Meteorological– Cyclones and storms
• Biological- epidemics and animal plagues

Natural Disasters and Aggravating Factors

Although these hazards are natural but there are certain aggravating factors which will result in increased frequency, complexity and severity of disasters. These factors are

• Climate change
• Unplanned urbanisation
• Under development
• Poverty
• Pandemics

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are tectonic in origin; that is the moving plates are responsible for the occurrence of violent shakes. The occurrence of an earthquake in a populated area may cause numerous casualties and injuries as well as extensive damage to property.

The Earthquake Risk in India

India’s increasing population and extensive unscientific constructions mushrooming all over, including multistoried luxury apartments, huge factory buildings, gigantic malls, supermarkets as well as warehouses and masonry buildings keep – India at high risk. During the last 15 years, the country has experienced 10 major earthquakes that have resulted in over 20,000 deaths.

 

As per the current seismic zone map of the country, over 59 per cent of India’s land area is under threat of moderate to severe seismic hazard-; that means it is prone to shaking of MSK Intensity VII and above In fact, the entire Himalayan belt is considered prone to great earthquakes of magnitude exceeding 8.0-; and in a relatively short span of about 50 years, four such earthquakes have occurred: 1897 Shillong (M8.7); 1905 Kangra (M8.0); 1934 Bihar-Nepal (M8.3); and 1950 Assam-Tibet (M8.6). Scientific publications have warned of the likelihood of the occurrence of very severe earthquakes in the Himalayan region, which could adversely affect the lives of several million people in India.

 

 

In our present state of knowledge, earthquakes can neither be prevented nor predicted in terms of their magnitude, or place and time of occurrence. Therefore the most effective measures of risk reduction are pre disaster mitigation, preparedness and preventive measures.

Govt efforts

• National Earthquake Mitigation Project – it aims at strengthening the structural and non structural earthquake mitigation efforts and reducing the vulnerability in high risk areas.
• National Building Code- a national instrument providing guidelines for regulating the building construction activities.
• Building Material & Technology promotion council
• Institutional arrangements like NDMA
• Capacity building
• Retrofitting

Floods

Floods have been recurrent phenomenon in many parts of India, causing loss of lives and public property and bringing untold misery to the people, especially those in the rural areas. There is also a larger economic impact, as they derail economic activities, thus affecting growth. Indian continent has peculiar climatic conditions since it has floods in some parts whereas drought in other parts.

Over the years, several expert Committees have studied the problems caused by floods and suggested various measures for their management to the Government. However, despite the various steps undertaken over the last five decades, the trend of increasing damage and devastation brought by floods has posed a challenge to the Government as well as to the people. The approaches to flood management presently exercised in India also need to give a re-look to have an integrated strategy for policy and management related to floods.

Brahmaputra River Region:

This region consists of the rivers Brahmaputra & Barak and their tributaries covering seven states .The catchments of these rivers receive very heavy rainfall ranging from 110 cm. to 635 cm. a year which occurs mostly during the months of May / June to September. As a result, floods in this region are severe and quite frequent.

Ganga River Region:

The river Ganga and its numerous tributaries, of which important ones are the Yamuna, the Sone, the Ghaghra, the Gandak, the Kosi and the Mahananda, constitute this river region. The flood problem is mostly confined to the areas on the northern bank of the river Ganga. The damage is caused by the northern tributaries of the Ganga by spilling over their banks and changing their courses.
North West River Region:

The main rivers in this region are the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum, the tributaries of Indus, all flowing from the Himalayas. These carry quite substantial discharge during the monsoon and also large volumes of sediment. They change their courses frequently and leave behind tracts of sandy waste. Compared to the Ganga and the Brahmaputra river region, the flood problem is relatively less in this region. The major problem is that of inadequate surface drainage which causes inundation and water logging over vast areas.
Central India and Deccan Region:

The important rivers in this region are the Narmada, the Tapi , the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Cauvery. These rivers have mostly well defined stable courses. They have adequate capacity within the natural banks to carry the flood discharge except in the delta area. The lower reaches of the important rivers on the East Coast have been embanked, thus largely eliminating the flood problem.

Flood management measures in India

Different measures have been adopted to reduce the flood losses and protect the flood plains. Depending upon the nature work, Flood protection and flood management measures may be broadly classified as under:

(a) Engineering / Structural Measures

The engineering measures for flood control which bring relief to the flood prone areas by reducing flood flows and thereby the flood levels are –

(a) an artificially created reservoir behind a dam across a river

(b) a natural depression suitably improved and regulated, if necessary or

(c) by diversion of a part of the peak flow to another river or basin, where such diversion would not cause appreciable damage.

(d) by constructing a parallel channel bye passing a particular town/reach of the river prone to flooding.

The engineering methods of flood protection, which do not reduce the flood flow but reduce spilling, are:

(a) embankments which artificially raise the effective river bank and thereby prevent spilling and

(b) channel and drainage improvement works, which artificially reduce the flood water level so as to keep the same, confined within the river banks and thus prevent spilling.

Administrative methods

The administrative methods endeavour to mitigate the flood damages by;

(a) Facilitating timely evacuation of the people and shifting of their movable property to safer grounds by having advance warning of incoming flood i.e. flood forecasting, flood warning in case of threatened inundation

(b) Discouraging creation of valuable assets/settlement of the people in the areas subject to frequent flooding i.e. enforcing flood plain zoning regulation.

Landslides

the northward movement of the Indian plate towards China causes continuous stress on the rocks rendering them friable, weak and prone to landslides and earthquakes. The slow motion of the Indian crust, about 5 cm/year accumulates stress to which natural disasters are attributed. Some landslides make unique, and unparalleled catastrophes. Landslides and avalanches are among the major hydro-geological hazards that affect large parts of India besides the Himalayas, the Northeastern hill ranges, the Western Ghats, the Nilgiris, the Eastern Ghats and the Vindhyans, in that order, covering about 15 % of the landmass. The Himalayas alone count for landslides of every fame, name and description- big and small, quick and creeping, ancient and new.

 

The Northeastern region is badly affected by landslide problems of a bewildering variety. Landslides in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal as also those in Sikkim, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh pose chronic problems, causing recurring economic losses worth billions of rupees. A different variety of landslides, characterized by a lateritic cap, pose constant threat to the Western Ghats in the South, along the steep slopes overlooking the Konkan coast besides Nilgiris, which is highly landslide prone.

 

Some spectacular events of tragedies are reported as Varnavat landslide, Uttarkashi District, Malpha landslide Pithoragarh district, Okhimath landslide in Chamoli district, UK and Paglajhora in Darjeeling district as well as Sikkim, Aizawl sports complex, Mizoram.These are some of the more recent examples of landslides. The problem therefore needs to be tackled for mitigation and management for which hazard zones have to be identified and specific slides to be stabilized and managed in addition to monitoring and early warning systems to

 

Remedial Measures

• Afforestation
• Use of geo textiles which reduces slope instability
• Making community aware about impact of landslides and build their capacity to reduce vulnerability
• Proper mapping of Landslide zone and shifting people from such zones
• No mining activities should be allowed in Eco sensitive zones

Cyclones

Cyclones are caused by atmospheric disturbances around a low-pressure area distinguished by swift and often destructive air circulation. Cyclones are usually accompanied by violent storms and bad weather. The air circulates inward in an anticlockwise direction in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere. Cyclones are classified as: (i) extra tropical cyclones (also called temperate cyclones); and (ii) tropical cyclones.

The Indian subcontinent is one of the worst affected regions in the world. The subcontinent with a long coastline of 8041 kilometres is exposed to nearly 10 per cent of the world’s tropical cyclones. Of these, the majority of them have their initial genesis over the Bay of Bengal and strike the East coast of India. On an average, five to six tropical cyclones form every year, of which two or three could be severe. More cyclones occur in the Bay of Bengal than the Arabian Sea and the ratio is approximately 4:1.

Tropical cyclones occur in the months of May-June and October-November. Cyclones of severe intensity and frequency in the North Indian Ocean are bi-modal in character, with their primary peak in November and secondary peak in May. The disaster potential is particularly high during landfall in the North Indian Ocean (Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) due to the accompanying destructive wind, storm surges and torrential rainfall. Of these, storm surges cause the most damage as sea water inundates low lying areas of coastal regions and causes heavy floods, erodes beaches and embankments, destroys vegetation and reduces soil fertility.

Remedial measures

• Early warning and Communication- inform those who are likely to be affected and disseminate the information by AIR, Door Darshan, local community radio etc.
• Capacity Building among people and educate people on various aspects of disaster management.
• Storm Shelters- with full amenities for both Humans and Animals
• Bio shields- vegetation, trees, shrubs which develops near the coast, they protect from strong storms and winds.
• Integrated development of coastal areas with strong infrastructure.

DROUGHT

It is difficult to provide a precise and universally accepted definition of drought due to its varying characteristics and impacts across different regions such as rainfall patterns, human response and resilience etc. Drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate and occurs in all climatic regimes and is usually characterized in terms of its spatial extension, intensity and duration. Drought causes economic, environmental and social impacts.

Ministry of Agriculture is the nodal Ministry in respect of monitoring and managing drought conditions and droughts are classified into meteorological droughts, hydrological droughts and agricultural droughts.

Meteorological drought is classified based on rainfall deficiency w.r.t. long term average – 25% or less is normal, 26-50% is moderate and more than 50% is severe.

Hydrological drought is best defined as deficiencies in surface and sub-surface water supplies leading to a lack of water for normal and specific needs. Such conditions arise even in times of average (or above average) precipitation when increased usage of water diminishes the reserves.

Agricultural drought is identified by 4 consecutive weeks of meteorological drought, weekly rainfall is 50 mm from 15/5/ to 15/10, 6 such consecutive weeks rest of the year and crop planted is 80% in kharif season.

In India, around 68% of the country is prone to drought in varying degrees. 35% which receives rainfall between 750 mm and 1125 mm is considered drought prone while 33% receiving less than 750 mm is chronically drought prone.

National Disaster Management Guidelines on Management of Drought

• The NDMA guidelines on management of drought are issued in 2010. The recommendations are as follows:
• Creation of Drought Monitoring Cells (DMCs) cells at state level with requisite staff.
• Preparation of vulnerability maps for each state by the State DMCs. Development of real-time drought related information by using information and communication technology.
• The watershed development approach would be taken up for drought management.
• Assessment of damage would include agricultural production, depletion of water resources, livestock population, land degradation and deforestation as well as human health.
• Revamping of Drought Management Information System of Department of Agriculture.
• To enable micro level analysis and forecasting, automatic weather station and rain-gauges to be put in place.
• Development of drought resistant crop varieties through large scale research.
• Formulation of a cloud seeding policy.
• Promoting crop diversification through sprinklers/Drip irrigation systems (micro irrigation techniques) etc.

Cloud Bursts

Highly concentrated rainfall over a small area lasting for a few minutes to few hours is called a cloud burst. It leads to sudden flash floods and landslides in which houses collapse and ultimately results in human casualties on a large scale.

Cloud bursts are manifestations of an intense whirling mass of fluid, on small scale, that generate strong currents, which lift the moisture laden air with sufficient rapidity to form dense towering vertical clouds which are capable of shedding water load with great strength and ferocity.

Steep hills favour the formation of these clouds. Also, water flowing down steep slopes brings debris, boulders and uprooted trees with great velocity, damaging any structure that comes in the way.

There is no satisfactory technique for anticipating a cloud burst because they occur in relatively small scale. A very fine network of radars is required to detect the likelihood of a cloud burst which could be very expensive.Cloud bursts causes landslides and flooding.

Tsunami

A tsunami (pronounced su-nah-me) is a wave train, or series of waves, generated in a body of water by an impulsive disturbance that vertically displaces the water column. Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and even the impact of cosmic bodies, such as meteorites, can generate tsunamis. Tsunamis can savagely attack coastlines, causing devastating property damage and loss of life.

The tsunami that occurred during 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of Mw 9.3 was primarily caused by vertical displacement of the seafloor, in response to slip on the inter-plate thrust fault.  The earthquake and resulting tsunami in the Indian Ocean affected many countries in Southeast Asia and beyond, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Somalia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Seychelles and others.

The Government of India has put in place an Early Warning System for mitigation of such oceanogenic disasters under the control of Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad. A state-of-the-art early warning centre was established with the necessary computational and communication infrastructure that enables reception of real-time data from  sensors, analysis of the data, generation and dissemination of tsunami advisories following a standard operating procedure.

The 2004 tsunami also prompted NDMA to formulate Tsunami Risk Management Guidelines to outline inter-agency roles and responsibilities, tsunami risk preparedness, mitigation and response.

The Guidelines recommends practical and effective ways for awareness generation, capacity building, education, training and research & development for better tsunami risk management.  The Guidelines explore options for effective dissemination of tsunami alert and warning messages generated by INCOIS to the concerned agencies and coastal vulnerable communities exposed to tsunamis in a coordinated manner.

 

Heat Wave

A Heat Wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season in the North-Western parts of India. Heat Waves typically occur between March and June, and in some rare cases even extend till July. The extreme temperatures and resultant atmospheric conditions adversely affect people living in these regions as they cause physiological stress, sometimes resulting in death.

 

Higher daily peak temperatures and longer, more intense heat waves are becomingly increasingly frequent globally due to climate change. India too is feeling the impact of climate change in terms of increased instances of heat waves which are more intense in nature with each passing year, and have a devastating impact on human health thereby increasing the number of heat wave casualties.

Health Impacts of Heat Waves

The health impacts of Heat Waves typically involve dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke. The signs and symptoms are as follows:

• Heat Cramps: Ederna (swelling) and Syncope (Fainting) generally accompanied by fever below 39*C i.e.102*F.
• Heat Exhaustion: Fatigue, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps and sweating.
• Heat Stoke: Body temperatures of 40*C i.e. 104*F or more along with delirium, seizures or coma. This is a potential fatal condition