The Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 was the culmination of a 25-year tumultuous relationship between East and West Pakistan. The British failed to keep a united India as riots started between the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in 1946. The riots were so widespread that on August 14, 1947 India was portioned into two separate states.

Thus partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 divided British India into two independent countries of India and Pakistan. Pakistan was composed of two wings–East and West Pakistan. The two wings were united emotionally, but the marriage of the two wings was artificial as they had little in common other than religion. Their speech, thought, food habits, dress, living and generally speaking, their respective way of life, were totally different.

These differences, in course of time, gave rise to a tumultuous relationship that failed to keep the two wings united. The flawed relationship ended in a brutal war in 1971. As such, it is imperative to learn the background of the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

Causes of War

Language Movement–1952

Bangladeshis had one language and were proud of their ancestry; their language and literature were older than Urdu, the national language of West Pakistan, used by minority. Yet Mohammad Ali Jinnah stated in a public speech in March 1948 that Urdu would remain the state language of Pakistan. This infuriated all the non-Urdu speaking people of East Pakistan. On February 21, 1952, students and other civilians came out in the streets in protest but the police cracked down on the unarmed civilians. For East Pakistan, the language movement was the first stepping stone to independence.

Provincial Elections–1954

The first provincial elections were held in East Pakistan in 1954. In this election, Suhrawardy’s newly organized Awami League (Peoples’ League) allied with Fazlul Huq’s Peasants’ and Workers’ Party and a coalition of other Bangladeshi-dominated parties to form the United Front. In this election, the people of East Pakistan voted unilaterally for the alliance. As a result, the United Front had the maximum number of seats. Nurul Amin’s Muslim League, the dominant party in West Pakistan, won just 10 seats in East Pakistan; and thus, the Urdu-speaking people in East Pakistan’s ability to dictate policy was essentially finished. Fazlul Huq also became the chief minister of East Pakistan. The fine showing of the United Front convinced the politicians, civil servants, and the military at the center that they had to constrain Bangladeshi nationalism.

Ayub Khan’s Declaration of Martial Law–1958

In 1957 and 1958 governments rose and fell in Dhaka as the result of both instability in the assembly alignments and of intervention by the central government.43 As a sequel to the uncertainty, the deputy speaker of the house was killed in a riot. In such a dilapidated condition, president Mirza abrogated the constitution and declared martial law. General Ayub Khan remained as the chief martial law administrator. In 1962 Ayub Khan promulgated the new constitution of Pakistan, primarily giving enormous power to the president. Unfortunately, nothing addressed the concerns of East Bengal; and as such, anger, resentment and Bengali nationalism continued to grow.

Awami League’s Six-Point Program–1966

Before the resignation of Ayub Khan, several events took place in the political spectrum. Among those, the Awami League’s Six-Point Program was viewed as a foundational document in Bangladesh’s struggle for independence. This was not an instant memorandum developed within a short time. Rather, it was an outcome of Bangladeshi grievances accumulated for a long time. The initiation of the Six-Point Program started as a sequel to several events. However, the election of 1965 played an important role in formulating the program

National Election–1970

As Yahya Khan received the Six-Point Program from the Awami League, he opined that he was not in a position to implement them. He reiterated his prime task was to hold a general election in 1970 and hand over power at that point. However, in the December 1970 elections, the Awami League won 160 of 162 seats from East Pakistan. Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples’ Party was successful in the west, winning 81 of 83 seats. Yahya Khan opened talks with both the leaders but failed to reach a consensus, and thus failed to hand over the power to an elected government.

India’s Perspective

There is no doubt that the creation of an independent Bangladesh was in India’s interest for many reasons.

• Firstly, the Indo–Pakistan War in 1965 over Kashmir was one of the tipping points in this regard. India spent a huge amount of money to keep armed forces at a constant state of readiness along the border of her hostile neighbor. A warm relationship with an independent Bangladesh would reduce this big expenditure.
• Secondly, India also wanted to start trading with East Pakistan for mutual benefit. But due to several political deadlocks, it was not a foregone conclusion.
• Thirdly, Pakistani rulers created a problem for India by training and militarily equipping the Naga rebels of Assam (northeastern part of India), who claimed a portion of India to establish an independent Nagaland.
• Apart from these issues, millions of East Pakistanis had religious, cultural, and linguistic ties with India. West Pakistani rulers also demeaned the Hindus of East Pakistan; whereas India was a Hindu-dominated country.

For all these reasons and more, India preferred an independent Bangladesh as a tonic to all these problems. The Indian government expected that if Bangladesh became independent, it would cooperate with India in a much wider form.

Course of War

On March 25, 1971, Yahya Khan, Bhutto and other members left for West Pakistan without giving any message or warning to the Awami League leaders. The West Pakistani military launched its sudden attack on March 25, 1917 at 11 p.m.it used automatic rifles, automatic weapons, bayonets and tanks. Yahya Khan appointed General Tikka Khan as the overall commander, and he was given 48 hours to suppress Bangladeshi nationalist movement. Within 34 hours, approximately 10,000 unarmed civilians were killed.

Until November 21, 1971, mostly Bangladeshi regular forces along with the Mukti Bahini operated in different parts of the country. Besides, there were few naval and air assets utilized to complement the war effort. However, on November 21, 1971 all the forces–Bangladesh Army, Navy, Air Force as well as the Mukti Bahini–launched their joint offensive against Pakistani military.

Pakistan launched the war against India on December 3, 1971, the UN took a more vigorous approach to the problem. While Soviet Union was supporting India, the U.S. and Chine stood by Pakistan. On December 5, 1971 Moscow vetoed a U.S. resolution urging the Security Council to call upon India and Pakistan to carry out a cease fire and military withdrawal.

The Russians exercised another veto within 24 hours when on December 7, 1971, the General Assembly voted 104 against 11 to call upon India and Pakistan to cease fire immediately and withdraw their forces to respective territories.

While the UN was debating, the war on the ground was going in favor of India. In the meantime, U.S. dispatched a naval task forces led by the nuclear-powered carrier Enterprise from U.S. seventh fleet. By the time the naval task force was close to Chittagong port of East Pakistan, all Pakistani forces surrendered unconditionally. If the UN espoused cease fire would be in effect, Bangladeshis’ hope for independence was not to be materialized.

 

 

 

Each landform has its unique physical shape, size, materials and is a result of the action of certain geomorphic processes and agent(s). Every landform has a beginning. Landforms once formed may change in their shape, size and nature slowly or fast due to continued action of geomorphic processes and agents. Due to changes in climatic conditions and vertical or horizontal movements of landmasses, either the intensity of processes or the processes themselves might change leading to new modifications in the landforms.

Evolution

It implies stages of transformation of either a part of the earth’s surface from one landform into another or transformation of individual landforms after they are once formed. That means, each and every landform has a history of development and changes through time. A landmass passes through stages of development somewhat comparable to the stages of life — youth, mature and old age.

Geomorphic Agents

Changes on the surface of the earth owe mostly to erosion by various geomorphic agents. Running water, ground-water, glaciers, wind and waves are powerful    erosional and depositional agents shaping and changing the surface of the earth aided by weathering and mass wasting processes. These geomorphic agents acting over long periods of time produce systematic changes leading to sequential development of landforms.

Fluvial landforms

The landforms created as a result of degradational action (erosion) or aggradation work (deposition) of running water is called fluvial landforms.

These landforms result from the action of surface flow/run-off or stream flow (water flowing through a channel under the influence of gravity). The creative work of fluvial processes may be divided into three physical phases—erosion, transportation and deposition.

The landforms created by a stream can be studied under erosional and depositional categories.

Erosional category

Valleys, gorge and Canyon

The extended depression on ground through which a stream flows throughout its course is called a river valley. A gorge is a deep valley with very steep to straight sides. A canyon is characterized by steep step-like side slopes and may be as deep as a gorge.

At a young stage, The profile of valley  is typically ‘V’ shaped. As the cycle attains maturity, the lateral erosion becomes prominent and the valley floor flattens out. The valley profile now becomes typically ‘U’ shaped with a broad base and a concave slope.

Potholes, Plunge pools

Potholes are more or less circular depressions over the rocky beds of hills streams.Once a small and shallow depression forms, pebbles and boulders get collected in those depressions and get rotated by flowing water. Consequently, the depressions grow in dimensions to form potholes.Plunge pools are nothing but large, deep potholes commonly found at the foot of a waterfall. They are formed because of the sheer impact of water and rotation of boulders.

Incised or Entrenched Meanders

They are very deep wide meanders (loop-like channels) found cut in hard rocks.In the course of time, they deepen and widen to form gorges or canyons in hard rock.The difference between a normal meander and an incised/entrenched meander is that the latter found on hard rocks.

River Terraces

They are surfaces marking old valley floor or flood plains.They are basically the result of vertical erosion by the stream. When the terraces are of the same elevation on either side of the river, they are called as paired terraces.When the terraces are seen only on one side with none on the other or one at quite a different elevation on the other side, they are called as unpaired terraces.

Depositional Features

Alluvial Fans

They are found in the middle course of a river at the foot of slope/ mountains.When the stream moves from the higher level break into foot slope plain of low gradient, it loses its energy needed to transport much of its load.Thus, they get dumped and spread as a broad low to the high cone-shaped deposits called an alluvial fan.

Deltas

They are found in the mouth of the river, which is the final location of depositional activity of a river. \The coarser material settle out first and the finer materials like silt and clay are carried out into the sea.

 

 Flood Plains, Natural Levees

Natural levees are found along the banks of large rivers. They are low, linear and parallel ridges of coarse deposits along the banks of a river.The levee deposits are coarser than the deposits spread by flood water away from the river.

 

 Meanders and oxbow lakes

• They are formed basically because of three reasons: (i) propensity of water flowing over very gentle gradient to work laterally on the banks; (ii) unconsolidated nature of alluvial deposits making up the bank with many irregularities; (iii) Coriolis force acting on fluid water deflecting it like deflecting the wind.
• The concave bank of a meander is known as cut-off bank and the convex bank is known as a slip-off
• As meanders grow into deep loops, the same may get cut-off due to erosion at the inflection point and are left as oxbow lakes.

Braided Channels

When selective deposition of coarser materials causes the formation of a central bar, it diverts the flow of river towards the banks, which increases lateral erosion. Similarly, when more and more such central bars are formed, braided channels are formed. Riverine Islands are the result of braided channels.

 

Karst Topography

Any limestone, dolomite or gypsum region showing typical landforms produced by the action of groundwater through the process of solution and deposition is called as Karst Topography (Karst region in the Balkans).

Sinkholes

A sinkhole is an opening more or less circular at the top and funnel-shaped towards the bottom.When as sinkhole is formed solely through the process of solution, it is called as a solution sink.When several sink holes join together to form valley of sinks, they are called as blind valleys.

 

Caves

In the areas where there are alternative beds of rocks (non-soluble) with limestone or dolomite in between or in areas where limestone are dense, massive and occurring as thick beds, cave formation is prominent. Caves normally have an opening through which cave streams are discharged Caves having an opening at both the ends are called tunnels.

Stalactites and stalagmites

They are formed when the calcium carbonates dissolved in groundwater get deposited once the water evaporates.These structures are commonly found in limestone caves.Stalactites are calcium carbonate deposits hanging as icicles while Stalagmites are calcium carbonate deposits which rise up from the floor.When a stalactite and stalagmite happened to join together, it gives rise to pillars or columns of different diameters.

GLACIERS

Masses of ice moving as sheets over the land (continental glacier or piedmont glacier if a vast sheet of ice is spread over the plains at the foot of mountains) or as linear flows down the slopes of mountains in broad trough-like valleys (mountain and valley glaciers) are called glaciers.

EROSIONAL LANDFORMS

Cirque

Cirques are the most common of landforms in glaciated mountains. They are deep, long and wide troughs or basins with very steep concave to vertically dropping high walls at its head as well as sides. A lake of water can be seen quite often within the cirques after the glacier disappears. Such lakes are called cirque or tarn lakes.

Horns and Serrated Ridges

Horns form through head ward erosion of the cirque walls. If three or more radiating glaciers cut headward until their cirques meet, high, sharp pointed and steep sided peaks called horns form.

 

Glacial Valleys/Troughs

Glaciated valleys are trough-like and U-shaped with broad floors and relatively smooth, and steep sides. There may be lakes gouged out of rocky floor or formed by debris within the valleys. There can be hanging valleys at an elevation on one or both sides of the main glacial valley. Very deep glacial troughs filled with sea water and making up shorelines (in high latitudes) are called fjords/fiords.

 

Depositional landforms

 

Moraines

They are long ridges of deposits of glacial till. Terminal moraines are long ridges of debris deposited at the end (toe) of the glaciers. Lateral moraines form along the sides parallel to the glacial valleys. The lateral moraines may join a terminal moraine forming a horse-shoe shaped ridge. deposits varying greatly in thickness and in surface topography are called ground moraines.

 

Eskers

When glaciers melt in summer, the water flows on the surface of the ice or seeps down along the margins or even moves through holes in the ice. These waters accumulate beneath the glacier and flow like streams in a channel beneath the ice. Such streams flow over the ground (not in a valley cut in the ground) with ice forming its banks. Very coarse materials like boulders and blocks along with some minor fractions of rock debris carried into this stream settle in the valley of ice beneath the glacier and after the ice melts can be found as a sinuous ridge called esker.

Outwash Plains

The plains at the foot of the glacial mountains or beyond the limits of continental ice sheets are covered with glacio-fluvial deposits in the form of broad flat alluvial fans which may join to form outwash plains of gravel, silt, sand and clay.

Drumlins

Drumlins are smooth oval shaped ridge-like features composed mainly of glacial till with some masses of gravel and sand. The long axes of drumlins are parallel to the direction of ice movement. They may measure up to 1 km in length and 30 m or so in height.

 

Arid Landforms

Wind is one of the  dominant agents in hot deserts. The wind action creates a number of interesting erosional and depositional features in the deserts.

EROSIONAL LANDFORMS

Pediments and Pediplains

. Gently inclined rocky floors close to the mountains at their foot with or without a thin cover of debris, are called pediments. through parallel retreat of slopes, the pediments extend backwards at the expense of mountain front, and gradually, the mountain gets reduced leaving an inselberg which is a remnant of the mountain. That’s how the high relief in desert areas is reduced to low featureless plains called pediplains.

Playas

Plains are by far the most prominent landforms in the deserts. In times of sufficient water, this plain is covered up by a shallow water body. Such types of shallow lakes are called as playas where water is retained only for short duration due to evaporation and quite often the playas contain good deposition of salts.

. Deflation Hollows and Caves

Weathered mantle from over the rocks or bare soil, gets blown out by persistent movement of wind currents in one direction. This process may create shallow depressions called deflation hollows. Deflation also creates numerous small pits or cavities over rock surfaces. The rock faces suffer impact and abrasion of wind-borne sand and first shallow depressions called blow outs are created, and some of the blow outs become deeper and wider fit to be called caves.

Mushroom, Table and Pedestal Rocks

Many rock-outcrops in the deserts easily susceptible to wind deflation and abrasion are worn out quickly leaving some remnants of resistant rocks polished beautifully in the shape of mushroom with a slender stalk and a broad and rounded pear shaped cap above. Sometimes, the top surface is broad like a table top and quite often, the remnants stand out like pedestals.

Depositional Landforms

When the wind slows or begins to die down, depending upon sizes of grains and their critical velocities, the grains will begin to settle.

Sand Dunes

Dry hot deserts are good places for sand dune formation. Obstacles to initiate dune formation are equally important. There can be a great variety of dune forms Crescent shaped dunes called barchans with the points or wings directed away from wind .Parabolic dunes form when sandy surfaces are partially covered with vegetation. That means parabolic dunes are reversed barchans with wind direction being the same.

Seif is similar to barchan with a small difference. Seif has only one wing or point. Longitudinal dunes form when supply of sand is poor and wind direction is constant. They appear as long ridges of considerable length but low in height. Transverse dunes are aligned perpendicular to wind direction. These dunes form when the wind direction is constant and the source of sand is an elongated feature at right angles to the wind direction.

 

Since the grant of diwani for Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1765, the major concern of the East India Company’s administration in India was to collect as much revenue as possible. Agriculture was the main basis of economy and the main source of income and hence, although the nawabi administration was retained with Muhammad Reza Khan acting as the Naib Diwan for the Company, several land revenue experiments were introduced in haste to maximise extraction.

In 1772, Warren hastings  introduced a new system, known as the farming  system. European District Collectors, as the nomenclature suggested, were to be in charge of revenue collection, while the revenue collecting right was farmed out to the highest bidders. About the periodicity of the settlements, a number of experiments were made.

But the farming system ultimately failed to improve the situation, as the farmers tried to extract as much as possible without any concern for the production process. The burden of revenue demand on th peasants increased as a result and often it was so onerous that it could not be collected at all. The net outcome of this whole period of rash experimentation was the ruination of the agricultural population. In 1784, Lord Cornwallis was therefore sent to India with a specific mandate to streamline the revenue administration.

Up to 1793 A.D., The East India Company continued to follow the revenue farming system in Bengal Presidency. In 1782, Sir John Shore Committee was appointed to draft a new land revenue policy. The policy was approved by Michael Dundas, The President of Board of Control and William Pete the P.M. of England.

Permanent Settlement

The Permanent Settlement or Zamindari Sysem was introduced by Lord Corniwallis in 1793. In Bengal, North Cauvery Delta in Madras Presidency and Varanasi division. It covered altogether 19% of the total cultivable land under company rule.

Terms and Conditions of the System

• Zamindars were recognized as owner of the lands. Zamindars were given the rights to collect the rent from the peasants.
• The realized amount would be divided into 11 parts. 1/11 of the share belongs to Zamindars and 10/11 of the share belongs to East India Company.
• The Zamindars were also given Judicial powers
• The Sunset Law come into force in the event of Zamindars becoming defaulters.
• The system was introduced for a period of 10 years.

 

Effect of the system

• The effects of this system both on the zamindars and ryots were disastrous. As the revenue fixed by the system was too high, many zamindars defaulted on payments. Their property was seized and distress sales were conducted leading to their ruin. The rich zamindars who led luxurious lives left their villages and migrated into towns. They entrusted their rent collection to agents who exacted all kinds of illegal taxes besides the legal ones from the ryots.
• This had resulted in a great deal of misery amongst the peasants and farmers. Therefore Lord Cornwallis’ idea of building a system of benevolent land-lordism failed. Though initially the Company gained financially, in the long run the Company suffered financial loss because land productivity was high, income from it was meagre since it was a fixed sum. It should be noted that in pre- British period a share on the crop was fixed as land tax.

Ryotwari Settlement

The Ryotwari experiment was started by Alexander Reed in Baramahal in 1792 and was continued by Thomas Munro from 1801 when he was asked to take charge of the revenue administration of the Ceded Districts. Instead of zamindars they began to collect revenue directly from the village , fixing the amount each village had to pay. After this they proceeded to assess each cultivator or ryot separately and thus evolved the Ryotwari System. It created individual proprietary right in land, but it was vested in the peasants, rather than in the zamindars.

Effects of System

• It raised the revenue income of the government, but put the cultivators in great distress.
• In many areas no surveys were carried out and the tax of a ryot was assessed on an arbitrary basis, based on village accounts.
• The cultivating peasants were, therefore, gradually impoverished, and increasingly indebted and could not invest for the extension of cultivation.
• The Ryorwari system did not also eliminate village elites as inter mediaries between the government and the peasantry. As privileged rents and special rights of the mirasidars were recognised and caste privileges of the Brahmans respected.

Mahalwari System

Mahalwari system was introduced in 1833 during the period of William Bentick. It was introduced in Central Province, North-West Frontier, Agra, Punjab, Gangetic Valley, etc of British India.The Mahalwari system had many provisions of both the Zamindari System and Ryotwari System. In this system, the land was divided into Mahals. Each Mahal comprises one or more villages. Ownership rights were vested with the peasants. The villages committee was held responsible for collection of the taxes.

Effects of the Land Revenue Policy

• Land become a Commodity for the first time in Indian history
• Property rights in the land created for first time
• New rural classes were formed- The absentee landlords, money lenders and age earning working class.
• Commercialisation of agriculture encouraged. As a result , shortage of food crops took place causing famines. The 1832 Ganjan famine(Orissa) and 1875 deccan famine were the worst famines.
• The revenue policy was the single most important cause for all the major civilian rebellions in modern India, against the British.

 

 

 

 

 

Under the plan of 3 June, more than 562 princely states were given the option of joining either India or Pakistan, or choosing independence. Indian nationalists and large segments of the public feared that if these states did not accede, most of the people and territory would be fragmented. The Congress as well as senior British officials considered Patel the best man for the task of achieving unification of the princely states with the Indian dominion.

Patel asked v.p.menon a senior civil servant with whom he had worked over the partition of India to become his right-hand as chief secretary of the States Ministry. On 6 May 1947, Patel began lobbying the princes, attempting to make them receptive towards dialogue with the future Government and trying to forestall potential conflicts. Patel used social meetings and unofficial surroundings to engage most monarchs, inviting them to lunch and tea at his home in Delhi At these meetings, Patel stated that there was no inherent conflict between the Congress and the princely order. Nonetheless, he stressed that the princes would need to accede to India in good faith by 15 August 1947.

Patel invoked the patriotism of India’s monarchs, asking them to join in the freedom of their nation and act as responsible rulers who cared about the future of their people. He persuaded the princes of 565 states of the impossibility of independence from the Indian republic, especially in the presence of growing opposition from their subjects.

He proposed favorable terms for the merger, including creation of privy purses for the descendants of the rulers. While encouraging the rulers to act with patriotism, Patel did not rule out force, setting . deadline of 15 August 1947 for them to sign the instrument of accession document. All but three of the states willingly merged into the Indian union—only Jammu and Kashmir, junagadh and Hyderabad did not fall into basket.

Integration of Junagadh: The West Gujarat known as Saurastra constituted a number of small states which did not have much potential from the point of view of economic and political independence. In all, 327 such States existed in Gujarat. Sardar succeeded in bringing the small states together and it was a very important step towards national solidarity although the states were in theory free to choose whether they wished to accede to India or Pakistan, Mountbatten had pointed out that “geographic compulsions” meant that most of them must choose India.

In effect, he took the position that only the states that shared a border with Pakistan could choose to accede to it. The Nawab of Junagadh, a princely state located on the south-western end of Gujarat and having no common border with Pakistan, chose to accede to Pakistan ignoring Mountbatten’s views, arguing that it could be reached from Pakistan by sea. The rulers of two states that were subject to the suzerainty of Junagadh— Mangrol and Babariawad—reacted to this by declaring their independence from Junagadh and acceding to India. In response, the Nawab of Junagadh militarily occupied the states. The rulers of neighboring states reacted angrily, sending their troops to the Junagadh frontier and appealed to the Government of India for assistance.

A group of Junagadhi people, led by Samaldas Gandhi, formed a government-in-exile, the Aarzi Hukumat (“temporary government”). India believed that if Junagadh was permitted to go to Pakistan, the communal tension already simmering in Gujarat would worsen, and refused to accept the accession. The government pointed out that the state was 80% Hindu, and called for a plebiscite to decide the question of accession. Simultaneously, they cut off supplies of fuel and coal to Junagadh, severed air and postal links, sent troops to the frontier, and reoccupied the principalities of Mangrol and Babariawad that had acceded to India.

Pakistan agreed to discuss a plebiscite, subject to the withdrawal of Indian troops, a condition India rejected. On 26 October, the Nawab and his family fled to Pakistan following clashes with Indian troops. On 7 November, Junagadh’s court, facing collapse, invited the Government of India to take over the State’s administration. The Government of India agreed.

A plebiscite was conducted in February 1948, which went almost unanimously in favour of accession to India.

Kashmir conflict: Kashmir was also a problem. At the time of the transfer of power, Kashmir was ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh, a Hindu, although the state itself had a Muslim majority. Hari Singh was equally hesitant about acceding to either India or Pakistan, as either would have provoked adverse reactions in parts of his kingdom. He signed a Standstill Agreement with Pakistan and proposed one with India as well, but announced that Kashmir intended to remain independent. However, his rule was opposed by Sheikh Abdullah, the popular leader of Kashmir’s largest political party, the National Conference, who demanded his abdication.

Pakistan, attempting to force the issue of Kashmir’s accession, cut off supplies and transport links. The chaos in Punjab resulting from Partition had also severed transport links with India, meaning that Kashmir’s only links with the two dominions was by air. Rumours about atrocities against the Muslim population of Poonch by the Maharajah’s forces caused the outbreak of civil unrest. Shortly thereafter, Pathan tribesmen from the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan crossed the border and entered Kashmir. The invaders made rapid progress towards Srinagar. The Maharaja of Kashmir wrote to India, asking for military assistance.

India required the signing of an Instrument of Accession and setting up an interim government headed by Sheikh Abdullah in return. The Maharaja complied, but Nehru declared that it would have to be confirmed by a plebiscite, although there was no legal requirement to seek such confirmation. Indian troops secured Jammu, Srinagar and the valley itself during the First Kashmir War, but the intense fighting flagged with the onset of winter, which made much of the state impassable.

Prime Minister Nehru, recognizing the degree of international attention brought to bear on the dispute, declared a ceasefire and sought UN arbitration, arguing that India would otherwise have to invade Pakistan itself, in view of its failure to stop the tribal incursions. The plebiscite was never held, and on 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India came into force in Kashmir, but with special provisions made for the state. India did not, however, secure administrative control over all of Kashmir. The northern and western portions of Kashmir came under Pakistan’s control in 1947, and are today Pakistan-administered Kashmir. In the 1962 Sino-Indian War, China occupied Aksai Chin.

Hyderabad Operation Polo: Sardar’s greatest role in the integration of states was his able handling of the Hyderabad crisis. Most of the states acceded to India, Hyderabad was a landlocked state that stretched over 82,000 square miles (over 212,000 square kilometres) in southeastern India. While 87% of its 17 million people were Hindu, its ruler Nizam Osman Ali Khan was a Muslim, and its politics were dominated by a Muslim elite. The Muslim nobility and the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen, a powerful pro-Nizam Muslim party, insisted Hyderabad remain independent and stand on an equal footing to India and Pakistan. Accordingly, the Nizam in June 1947 issued a firman announcing that on the transfer of power, his state would be resuming independence. The situation deteriorated further in 1948. The Razakars (“volunteers”), a militia affiliated to the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen and set up under the influence of Muslim radical Qasim Razvi, assumed the role of supporting the Muslim ruling class against upsurges by the Hindu populace, and began intensifying its activities and was accused of attempting to intimidate villages.

The Hyderabad State Congress Party, affiliated to the Indian National Congress, launched a political agitation. Matters were made worse by communist groups, which had originally supported the Congress but now switched sides and began attacking Congress groups. Attempts by Mountbatten to find a negotiated solution failed and, in August, the Nizam, claiming that he feared an imminent invasion, attempted to approach the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice.

India  now insisted that if Hyderabad was allowed to continue its independence, the prestige of the Government would be tarnished and then neither Hindus nor Muslims would feel secure in its realm. The date for the attack was fixed as 13 September, even though General Sir Roy Bucher, the Indian chief of staff, had objected on grounds that Hyderabad would be an additional front for the Indian army after Kashmir.

On 13 September, the Indian Army was sent into Hyderabad under Operation Polo on the grounds that the law and order situation there threatened the peace of South India. The troops met little resistance and between 13 and 18 September took complete control of the state. The Nizam was retained as the head of state in the same manner as the other princes who acceded to India.He thereupon disavowed the complaints that had been made to the UN and, despite vehement protests from Pakistan and strong criticism from other countries, the Security Council did not deal further with the question, and Hyderabad was absorbed into India.

Other States: Regarding the accession of the other states, Sardar acted like a magic-stick. In no time, he could merge the States of Orissa, Chhatishgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and so on. He realized that the people of states were supreme and by organizing the States’, people for establishment of popular government, he could achieve success. He had, with him, able workers and supporters who had worked untiringly to bring such a merger in record time. There are innumerable instances where Sardar could bring down the rulers of the States to terms and agree them to accession to India as per the terms and conditions stipulated by the Government of India. Sardar had to deal with diversified Kings having different attitude with caution and applying varied, human, social, political and psychological approach.

 

 

Introduction

• India’s missile programme took a shot from space programme, beginning 1967.
• In 1972, Rohini- a 560 two-stage, solid propulsion sounding rocket was developed and test fired
• India first launched its small 17-tonne SLV-3 space booster in 1979
• India successfully injected the 35 kg Rohini I satellite into near-earth orbit in 1980.
• In 1987, an augmented booster, the 35-tonne ASLV had begun flight testing.
• In 1983 a decisive shift took place in India’s missile program with the launch of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) The principal aim was to develop a family of strategic and tactical guided missiles based on local design and development for three defence services.

Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme

The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) was conceived by renowned scientist DR.A P J Abdul Kalam to enable Indian Attain self-sufficiency in the filed of Missile Technology.

 

Prithvi

• The Prithvi missile is a family of tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles(SRBM) and is
• India’s first indigenously developed ballistic missile.
• it was first test-fired on 25 February 1988 from Sriharikota, SHAR Centre,
• It has a range of up to 150 to 300 km.
• The land variant is called Prithvi while the naval operational variant of Prithvi I and Prithvi II class missiles are code named Dhanush(meaning Bow).

Agni

Surface to surface intercontinetal ballistic missile.

Agni-I is a single stage, solid fuel, road and rail mobile, medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM) This shorter ranger missile is specially designed to strike targets in Pakistan.

Agni II is an operational version of Agni I and is an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) test-fired in April 1999.

The range for Agni II is more than 2000 km.

Agni III, an intermediate-range ballistic missile was developed by India as the successor to Agni II. Intended to be a two-stage ballistic missile capable of nuclear weapons delivery, it is touted as India’s nuclear deterrent against China. The missile is likely to support a wide range of warhead configurations, with a 3,500 km range and a total payload weight of 2490 kg.

Agni V, believed to be an upgraded version of the Agni III The inter-continental ballistic missile  have a range of about 5000-6000 km . Agni V will be able to carry multiple warheads and would also display countermeasures against anti-ballistic missile systems.

 

Trishul

Trishul is the name of a short range surface-to-air missile developed by India as a part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. It has a range of 9 km and is fitted with a 5.5 kg warhead. Designed to be used against low-level (sea skimming) targets at short range, the system has been developed to defend naval vessels against missiles and also as a short-range surface-to-air missile on land.

 

Akash

Akash is a medium range surface-to-air missile developed as part of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme to achieve self-sufficiency in the area of surface-to-air missiles. It is the most expensive missile project ever undertaken by the Union government in the 20th century.

 

Nag

Nag is India’s third generation “Fire-and-forget” anti-tank missile. It is an all weather, top attack missile with a range of 3 to 7 km.

 

Other Missiles

Significant additions also include

 

PINAKA– the Multi-Barrel Rocket System , an area weapon system to supplement the existing artillery gun at ranges beyond 30 km, having quick reaction time and high rate of fire has been accepted by the user after extensive trials.

 

BrahMos-  being jointly developed with Russia, is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.

BrahMos is among the fastest supersonic cruise missiles in the world, at speeds ranging between Mach 2.5 to 2.8, being about three and a half times faster than the American subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile. Although BrahMos is primarily an anti-ship missile, it is also capable of engaging land-based targets.

 

Nirbhay- cruise missile  was announced in 2007—a subsonic missile with a range of 1000 km. Capable of being launched from multiple platforms on land, sea and air. Nirbhay will supplement BrahMos in the sense that it would enable delivery of warheads farther than the 300 km range of BrahMos.

In 2008, New Delhi announced the end of the IGMDP with the focus now shifting towards serial production of missiles developed under this programme.

 

Shaurya– a landbased variant of the K-15 Sagarika which can be stored in underground silos for longer time and can be launched using gas canisters as booster was successfully test-fired in November 2008. This nuclear-capable missile aims to enhance India’s second-strike Sagarika missile is being integrated with India’s nuclearpowered Arihant class submarine that began sea trials in July 2009.

 

Dhanush– which has been tested several times in recent years believed to be a short-range, sea-based, liquid-propellant ballistic missile—perhaps a naval variant of the Prithvi series, with a maximum range of approximately 300 km.

 

Air-to-air missile Astra– It is an air to air missile Beyond Range (BVR). This is the first indigenous air-to-air missile developed by India. The range of this missile is 80 km in head-on chase and 15 km in tail chase.

 

Ballistic Missile Defence system

Two interceptor missiles, the Prithivi air defence missile and the Advanced Air Defence (Ashwin) missile are designed to provide a high-low cover against incoming ballistic missiles. Prithivi is reported to be capable of intercepting missiles at exo-atmospheric altitudes of 50 – 80km, while the AAD is designed to operate at endo-atmospheric altitudes of upto 30kms.

 

It would be apposite to conclude by stating that India’s missile programme represents an iconic image demonstrating sovereignty and self-reliance vis-à-vis its technological achievements. Resultant of nearly three decades of research, India’s guided missile programme has assumed a self-sustaining character and become fundamentally crucial to New Delhi’s proposed minimal deterrent.

 

FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF TOWN AND PROBLEM OF HUMAN SETTLEMENT

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

2. 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Formation of Linguistic States:–

India is a land of many languages, each with its distinct script, grammar, vocabulary and literary tradition. In 1917, the Congress Party had committed itself to the creation of linguistic provinces in a Free India. After Congress’s Nagpur Session in 1920, the principle was extended and formalized with the creation of provincial Congress Committee by linguistic zones.

The linguistic reorganization of the Congress was encouraged and supported by Mahatma Gandhi. After the bitter partition on the basis of religion the then PM Nehru was apprehensive of dividing country further on the basis of language.

Dhar commission

During that time some Marathi speaking Congress members raised the pitches for separate Maharashtra State. Following this demand, other language speaking people too demands a separate state for them. Hence, Constituent Assembly in 1948 appointed the Linguistic Provinces Commission, headed by Justice S.K. Dhar, to enquire into the desirability of linguistic provinces.

The Dhar Commission advised against this at that time reason being it might threaten national unity and also be administratively inconvenient.

JVP Committee

After some time the clamor for linguistic states again got momentum. To appease the vocal votaries of linguistic states, the congress appoints a committee (JVP) in December 1948 consisting of Nehru, Sardar Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya to examine the question afresh. This JVP Committee revoked the seal of approval that the congress has once put on the principle of linguistic provinces.

The demands for separate state on the linguistic basis didn’t subside. There were renewed movements aimed at linguistic autonomy in 1948, 1949. There was the campaign for Samyukta Karnataka, uniting Kannada speaking spread across the states of Madras, Mysore, Bombay, Hyderabad, Samyukta Maharashtra, Maha Gujarat movement. In case of Punjab, struggle brought together both the factors language and religion (Sikh).

Andhra Movement

After Independence, the speakers of Telugu asked the congress to implement its old resolution in favour of linguistic states.

On 19 October 1952, a popular freedom fighter, Potti Sriramulu undertook a fast unto death over the demand for a separate Andhra and expired after fifty-eight days. After his death people were agitated and it was followed by rioting, demonstrations, hartals and violence all over Andhra. The Vishalandhra movement (as the movement for a separate Andhra was called) turned violent. Finally, the then PM, Nehru announced the formation of a separate Andhra State in December 1952.

State Reorganization Commission

The formation of Andhra Pradesh spurred the struggle for making of other states on linguistic lines in other parts of the country.

Hence Nehru appointed in August 1953 the states Reorganisation Commission (SRC) with justice Fazl Ali, K.M. Panikkar and Hridaynath Kunzru as members, to examine “objectively and dispassionately” the entire question of the reorganization of the states of the Union. The SRC submitted its report in October 1955. It recognized for the most part on the linguistic principle and recommended redrawing of state boundaries on that basis.

The then government accepted the SRC’s recommendations. Finally, the states Reorganization Act was passed by parliament in November 1956. It provided for fourteen states and six centrally administered territories. SRC opposed the splitting of Bombay & Punjab.

Case of Bombay

Therefore, the strongest reaction against SRC’s report came from Maharashtra, where widespread rioting took place. To fulfill their demand of separate Marathi speaking people’s state, there was the broad based Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti and on the other hand in Bombay state, there was Maha Gujarat Janata Parishad led the movement for Gujarati people.

After on years of the reorganization of states Act, the government finally agreed in May 1960, the bifurcate the state of Bombay into Maharashtra, Gujarat with Bombay city being included in Maharashtra and Ahmedabad being made the capital of Gujarat.

Case of Punjab

The other state where an exception was made to the linguistic principle was Punjab. In 1956, the state of PEPSU had been merged with Punjab, which remained a trilingual state having three language speakers-Punjab, Hindu and Pahari within its border. In the Punjabi speaking part of the state, there was a strong demand for carving out a separate Punjabi Suba (Punjabi Speaking State). This demand got communal overtones. The Akali Dal led Sikh Communalists, while the Jan Sangh, led Hindu communalists.

SRC had rejected the demands in Punjab, as it would not solve either the language or the communal problem of Punjab. Finally in 1966, Indira Gandhi agreed to the division of Punjab into two Punjabi and Hindi speaking status of Punjab and Haryana, with the Pahari speaking district of Kangra and a port of the Hoshiarpur district being merged with HP.

Finally, after more than ten years of continuous strife and popular struggles, the linguistic reorganization of India was largely completed

Forests – Natural Vegetation of India

 

Table of Contents

• 1Forests – Natural Vegetation of India
• 2Classification of Natural Vegetation of India
• 3Moist Tropical Forests
  • 1Tropical Wet Evergreen Forests or Rain Forests
  • 2Tropical Semi-Evergreen Forests
  • 3Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests
  • 4Littoral and Swamp Forests
• 4Dry Tropical Forests
  • 1Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests
    • 1.1Casuarina plantation
  • 2Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests
  • 3Tropical Thorn Forests
• 5Montane Sub-Tropical Forests
  • 1Sub-tropical Broad-leaved Hill Forests
  • 2Sub-tropical Moist Pine Forests
  • 3Sub-tropical Dry Evergreen Forests
• 6Montane Temperate Forests
  • 1Montane Wet Temperate Forests
  • 2Himalayan Moist Temperate Forests
  • 3Himalayan Dry Temperate Forests
• 7Alpine Forests

Forests – Natural Vegetation of India:Types and distribution

types

• Climate, soil and topographyare the major factors that influence Natural Vegetation of a place.
• The main climatic factors arerainfall and temperature. The amount of annual rainfall has a great bearing on the type of vegetation.

Annual Rainfall	Type of Vegetation
200 cm or more	Evergreen Rain Forests
100 to 200 cm	Monsoon Deciduous Forests
50 to 100 cm	Drier Deciduous or Tropical Savanna
25 to 50 cm	Dry Thorny Scrub (Semi-arid)
Below 25 cm	Desert (Arid)

• Temperature is the major factor in Himalayas and other hilly regions with an elevation of more than 900 metres.
• As the temperature falls with altitude in the Himalayan region the vegetal cover changes with altitude fromtropical to sub-tropical, temperate and finally alpine.
• Soil is an equally determining factor in few regions.Mangrove forests, swamp forests are some of the examples where soil is the major factor.
• Topography is responsible for certain minor types e.g.alpine flora, tidal forests, etc..

Classification of Natural Vegetation of India

• Classification of Natural Vegetation of India is primarily based on spatial and annual variations in rainfall. Temperature, soil and topography are also considered.
• India’s vegetation can be divided into 5 main types and 16 sub-types as given below.

A. Moist Tropical Forests

• Tropical Wet Evergreen
• Tropical Semi-Evergreen
• Tropical Moist Deciduous
• Littoral and Swamp

B. Dry Tropical Forests

• Tropical Dry Evergreen
• Tropical Dry Deciduous
• Tropical Thorn

C. Montane Sub-tropical Forests

• Sub-tropical broad leaved hill
• Sub-tropical moist hill (pine)
• Sub-tropical dry evergreen

D. Montane Temperate Forests

• Montane Wet Temperate
• Himalayan Moist Temperate
• Himalayan Dry Temperate

E. Alpine Forests

• Sub-Alpine
• Moist Alpine scrub
• Dry Alpine scrub

Forest Type in India	% of Total Area
Tropical Moist Deciduous	37
Tropical Dry Deciduous	28
Tropical Wet Evergreen	8
Sub-Tropical Moist Hill	6
Tropical Semi-Evergreen	4
Rest below 4 %

Moist Tropical Forests

Tropical Wet Evergreen Forests or Rain Forests

Climatic Conditions

• Annual rainfall exceeds 250 cm
• The annual temperature is about 25°-27°C
• The average annual humidity exceeds 77 per cent and
• The dry season is distinctly short.

Characteristics

• Evergreen: Due to high heat and high humidity, the trees of these forests do not shed their leaves together.
• Mesosphytic:Plants adopted to neither too dry nor too wet type climate.

What are mesophytes? ·         Unlike hydrophytic plants, such as water lily or pondweed, that grow in saturated soil or water, or xerophytic plants, such as cactus, that grow in extremely dry soil, mesophytes are ordinary plants that exist between the two extremes. ·         Mesophytic environments are marked by average to hot temperatures and soil that is neither too dry nor too wet.

• Lofty: The trees often reach 45 – 60 metres in height.
• Thick Canopy: From the air, the tropical rain forest appears like a thick canopy of foliage, broken only where it is crossed by large rivers or cleared for cultivation.
• All plants struggle upwards (mostephiphytes) for sunlight resulting in a peculiar layer arrangement. The entire morphology looks like a green carpet when viewed from above.

• Less undergrowth: The sun light cannot reach the ground due to thick canopy. The undergrowth is formed mainly of bamboos, ferns, climbers, orchids, etc.

Distribution

• Western side of the Western Ghats (500 to 1370 metres above sea level).
• Some regions in the Purvanchal hills.
• In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Timber

• Hardwood: The timber of these forests is fine-grained, hard and durable.
• It has high commercial value but it is highly challenging to exploit dueto dense undergrowth, absence of pure stands and lack of transport facilities [Read previous posts on Climatic regions to understand how lumbering industry works in Equatorial Rainforests (hardwood) and Taiga Climatic (softwood) conditions].
• The important species of these forests aremahogany, mesua, white cedar, jamun, canes, bamboo 

Tropical Semi-Evergreen Forests

• They are transitional forests between tropical wet evergreen forests and tropical deciduous forests.
• They are comparatively drier areas compared to tropical wet evergreen forests.

Climatic Conditions

• Annual rainfall is 200-250 cm
• Mean annual temperature varies from 24°C to 27°C
• The relative humidity is about 75 per cent
• The dry season is not short like in tropical evergreen forests.

Distribution

• Western coast
• Assam
• Lower slopes of the Eastern Himalayas
• Odisha and

Characteristics

• The semi-evergreen forests are less dense.
• They are moregregarious [living in flocks or colonies – more pure stands] than the wet evergreen forests.
• These forests are characterized by many species.
• Trees usually havebuttressed trunks with abundant epiphytes.

Buttressed Trunks

• The important species are laurel, rosewood, mesua, thorny bamboo – Western Ghats, white cedar, Indian chestnut, champa, mango, etc. – Himalayan region.

Timber

• Hardwood: Similar to that in tropical evergreen forests except that these forests are less dense withmore pure stands (timber industry here is better than in evergreen forests).

Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests

Climatic Conditions

• Annual rainfall 100 to 200 cm.
• Mean annual temperature of about 27°C
• The average annual relative humidity of 60 to 75 per cent.
• Spring (between winter and summer) and summer are dry.

Characteristics

• The trees drop their leaves during the spring and early summer when sufficient moisture is not available.
• The general appearance is bare in extreme summers (April-May).
• Tropical moist deciduous forests present irregular top storey [25 to 60 m].
• Heavily buttressed trees and fairly complete undergrowth.
• These forests occupy a much larger area than the evergreen forests but large tracts under these forests have been cleared for cultivation.

Distribution

• Belt running along the Western Ghats surrounding the belt of evergreen forests.
• A strip along the Shiwalik range including terai and bhabar from 77° E to 88° E.
• Manipur and Mizoram.
• Hills of eastern Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
• Chota Nagpur Plateau.
• Most of Odisha.
• Parts of West Bengal and
• Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Timber

• These provide valuable timer like
• The main species found in these forests are teak, sal, laurel, rosewood, amla, jamun, bamboo, etc.
• It iscomparatively easy to exploit these forests due to their high degree of gregariousness (more pure stands).

Littoral and Swamp Forests

• They can survive and grow both in fresh as well asbrackish water(The mixture of seawater and fresh water in estuaries is called brackish water and its salinity can range from 0.5 to 35 ppt).
• Occur in and around the deltas, estuaries and creeks prone totidal influences (delta or tidal forests).
• Littoral (relating to or on the shore of the sea or a lake) forests occur at several places along the coast.
• Swamp forests are confined to the deltas of the Ganga, the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Cauvery.
• Dense mangroves occur all along the coastline in sheltered estuaries, tidal creeks, backwaters, salt marshes and mudflats. It provides useful fuel wood.
• The most pronounced and the densest is theSunderban in the Ganga delta where the predominant species is Sundri (Heriteera).

Timber

• It provides hard and durable timber which is used for construction, building purposes and making boats.
• The important species found in these forests are Sundri, agar, rhizophora, screw pines, canes and palms, etc.

Dry Tropical Forests

Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests

Distribution

• Along the coasts of Tamil Nadu.

Climatic Conditions

• Annual rainfall of 100 cm [mostly from the north-east monsoon winds in October – December].
• Mean annual temperature is about 28°C.
• The mean humidity is about 75 per cent.
• The growth of evergreen forests in areas of such low rainfall is a bit strange.

Characteristics

• Short statured trees, up to 12 m high, with complete canopy.
• Bamboos and grasses not conspicuous.
• The important species are jamun, tamarind, neem, etc.
• Most of the land under these forests has been cleared for agriculture orcasuarina plantations.

Casuarina plantation ·         It resembles feathery conifer in general appearance. ·         They are rapid-growing, carefree species for sites and climates as varied as coastal sand dunes, high mountain slopes, hot humid tropics, and semi-arid regions. ·         They have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. It grows 15 to 25 metres in height on an average. · · · Casuarina plantation Distribution ·         Casuarina is the most popular farm forestry in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Karnataka. Benefits ·         Reduces damage in the event of natural calamities. ·         Line planting in the coastal areas helps in controlling the wind force. ·         It is also used for tourism promotion in view of its ornamental appearance. ·         It provides top quality firewood. ·         The wood is suitable for paper pulp and useful raw material for the manufacture of paper for writing, printing, and wrapping. ·         It is got some serious medicinal values as well. Wasteland development ·         The characteristics which make it a suitable species for wasteland development include adaptability to wide range of habitats, fast growth, salt tolerant, drought resistant, ability to reclaim land and stabilize sand dunes. ·         Intercrops such as groundnut, cucumber, watermelons, sesamum, and pulses can also be raised along with the plantation.

Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests

Climatic Conditions

• Annual rainfall is 100-150 cm.

Characteristics

• These are similar to moist deciduous forests and shed their leaves in dry season.
• The major difference is that they can grow in areas of comparatively less rainfall.
• They represent a transitional type – moist deciduous on the wetter side and thorn forests on the drier side.
• They have closed but uneven canopy.
• The forests are composed of a mixture of a few species of deciduous trees rising up to a height of 20 metres.
• Undergrowth: Enough light reaches the ground to permit the growth of grass and climbers.

Distribution

• They occur in an irregular wide strip running from the foot of the Himalayas to Kanniyakumari except in Rajasthan, Western Ghats and West Bengal.
• The important species are teak, axlewood, rosewood, common bamboo,red sanders, laurel, satinwood, etc.
• Large tracts of this forest have been cleared for agricultural purposes.
• These forests have suffer from over grazing, fire, etc.

Tropical Thorn Forests

Climatic Conditions

• Annual rainfall less than 75 cm.
• Humidity is less than 50 per cent.
• Mean temperature is 25°-30°C.

Characteristics

• The trees are low (6 to 10 metres maximum) and widely scattered.
• Acacias and Euphorbias are very prominent.
• The Indian wild date is common. Some grasses also grow in the rainy season.

Distribution

• Rajasthan, south-western Punjab, western Haryana, Kachchh and neighbouring parts of Saurashtra.
• Here they degenerate into desert type in the Thar desert.
• Such forests also grow on the leeside of the Western Ghats covering large areas of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
• The important species are neem, babul, cactii, etc.

Montane Sub-Tropical Forests

Sub-tropical Broad-leaved Hill Forests

Climatic conditions

• Mean annual rainfall is 75 cm to 125 cm.
• Average annual temperature is 18°-21°C.
• Humidity is 80 per cent.

Distribution

• Eastern Himalayas to the east of 88°E longitude at altitudes varying from 1000 to 2000 m.

Characteristics

• Forests of evergreen species.
• Commonly found species are evergreen oaks, chestnuts, ash, beech, sals and pines.
• Climbers and epiphytes [a plant that grows non-parasitically on a tree or other plant] are common.
• These forests are not so distinct in the southern parts of the country. They occur only in the Nilgiri and Palni hills at 1070-1525 metres above sea level.
• It is a “stunted rain-forest” and is not so luxuriant as the true tropical evergreen.
• The higher parts of the Western Ghats such as Mahabaleshwar, the summits of the Satpura and the Maikal Range, highlands of Bastar and Mt. Abu in the Aravali Range carry sub-types of these forests.

Sub-tropical Moist Pine Forests

Distribution

• Western Himalayas between 73°E and 88°E longitudes at elevations between 1000 to 2000 metres above sea level.
• Some hilly regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Naga Hills and Khasi Hills.

Timber

• Chir or Chilis the most dominant tree which forms pure stands.
• It providesvaluable timber for furniture, boxes and buildings.
• It is also used for producing resin and turpentine.

Sub-tropical Dry Evergreen Forests

Distribution

• Found in the Bhabar, the Shiwaliks and the western Himalayas up to about 1000 metres above sea level.

Climatic Conditions

• Annual rainfall is 50-100 cm (15 to 25 cm in December-March).
• The summers are sufficiently hot and winters are very cold.

Characteristics

• Low scrub forest with small evergreen stunted trees and shrubs.
• Olive, acacia modesta and pistacia are the most predominant species.

Montane Temperate Forests

Montane Wet Temperate Forests

Climatic Conditions

• Grows at a height of 1800 to 3000 m above sea level
• Mean annual rainfall is 150 cm to 300 cm
• Mean annual temperature is about 11°C to 14°C and the
• Average relative humidity is over 80 per cent.

Distribution

• Higher hills of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, in the Eastern Himalayan region.

Characteristics

• These are closed evergreen forests. Trunks have large girth.
• Branches are clothed with mosses, ferns and other epiphytes.
• The trees rarely achieve a height of more than 6 metres.
• Deodar, Chilauni, Indian chestnut, birch, plum, machilus, cinnamomum, litsea, magnolia, blue pine, oak, hemlock, etc. are important species.

Himalayan Moist Temperate Forests

Climatic Conditions

• Annual rainfall varies from 150 cm to 250 cm

Distribution

• Occurs in the temperate zone of the Himalayas between 1500 and 3300 metres.
• Cover the entire length of this mountain range in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Darjeeling and Sikkim.

Characteristics

• Mainly composed ofconiferous species.
• Species occur in mostly pure strands.
• Trees are 30 to 50 m high.
• Pines, cedars, silver firs, spruce, etc. are most important trees.
• They form high but fairly open forest with shrubby undergrowth including oaks, rhododendrons and some bamboos.

Timber

• It provides fine wood which is of much use for construction, timber and railway sleepers.

Himalayan Dry Temperate Forests

Climatic Conditions

• Precipitation is below 100 cm and is mostly in the form of snow.

Characteristics

• Coniferous forests with xerophytic shrubs in which deodar, oak, ash, olive, etc are the main trees.

Distribution

• Such forests are found in the inner dry ranges of the Himalayas where south-west monsoon is very feeble.
• Such areas are in Ladakh, Lahul, Chamba, Kinnaur, Garhwal and Sikkim.

Alpine Forests

• Altitudes ranging between 2,900 to 3,500.
• These forests can be divided into: (1) sub-alpine; (2) moist alpine scrub and (3) dry alpine scrub.
• The sub-alpine forests occur lower alpine scrub and grasslands.
• It is a mixture of coniferous and broad-leaved trees in which the coniferous trees attain a height of about 30 m while the broad leaved trees reach only 10 m.
• Fir, spruce, rhododendron, etc. are important species.
• The moist alpine scrub is a low evergreen dense growth of rhododendron, birch etc. which occurs from 3,000 metres and extends upto
• The dry alpine scrub is the uppermost limit of scrub xerophytic, dwarf shrubs, over 3,500 metres above sea level and found in dry zone. Juniper, honeysuckle, artemesia etc. are important species.

Sources of Energy: Conventional and Nonconventional Sources –

Energy is one of the most important component of economic infrastructure.

It is the basic input required to sustain economic growth. There is direct relation between the level of economic development and per capita energy consumption.

Simply speaking more developed a country, higher is the per capita consumption of energy and vice-versa. India’s per capita consumption of energy is only one eighth of global average. This indicates that our country has low rate of per capita consumption of energy as compared to developed countries.

Two Main Sources of Energy:

The sources of energy are of following types:

 

 

 

 

 

 (A) Conventional Energy Sources:

The energy sources which cannot be compensated, once these are used (after their exploitation) are termed as conventional energy sources.

Some important conventional energy sources are discussed below:

1. Coal:

Coal is a major conventional energy sources. It was formed from the remains of the trees and ferns grew in swamps around 500 millions year ago. The bacterial and chemical decomposition of such plant debris (which remained buried under water or clay) produced an intermediate product known as peat which is mainly cellulose (C₆H₁₀O₅)_n. Due to progressive decomposition by heat and pressure, the cellulose lost moisture H₂ and O_z and got converted in to coal as per the given equation

The average formula of coal is (C_3/H_4/)_n. Out of the 6000 billion tons coal stocks under earth crust, 200 tons have been exploited the present society. The coal reserves are found in the states like Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, M.P. and A.P. Some important coal fields are :Talcher, Raniganj, Jharia, Bokaro, PanchKonkam, Signoulli, Chanda etc.

2. Petroleum and natural gases:

Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, mostly alkanes and cycloalkanes. It occurs below the earth crust entrapped under rocky strata. In its crude form, the viscous black liquid is known as petroleum and a gas in contact with petroleum layer which flows naturally from oil wells is termed as natural gases. The composition of natural gas is a mixture of mainly methane, (95.0%), small amounts of ethane, propane and butane (3.6%) and traces of CO₂ (0.48%) and N₂ (1.92%).

A liquid mixture of propane and butane can be obtained from natural gas or refinery gases at room temperature under a pressure of 3-5 atmosphere. This is stored and distributed in 40-100 litre capacity steel cylinders.

The crude petroleum after being refined and purified, are available as petrol, diesel, kerosene, lubricating oil, plastic etc. for commercial and domestic use. In India, the oil deposits, are found at Ganga-Brahmaputra Valley, Bombay high, plains of Gujarat, Thardesert of Rajasthan and area around Andaman Nicobar islands.

On the world basis, petroleum deposits are found at Saudi Arab, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, USA, Mexico, Russia etc. As per the current survey, it is found that world petroleum deposits are diminishing at a very faster rate. If preventive steps are not taken, the existing petroleum will be available maximum up to 40 years.

3. Fuel woods:

The rural peoples require fuel wood or fire Wood for their day to day cooking which are obtained from natural forests and plantations. Due to rapid deforestation, the availability of fire wood or fuel wood becomes difficult. This problem can be avoided by massive afforestation (plantation) on degraded forest land, culturable waste land, barren land grazing land etc.

4. Hydropower:

Energy obtainable from water flow or water falling from a higher potential to lower potential, is known is hydro- power. It is a conventional and renewable form of energy which can be transmitted to long distance through cables and wires.

In India, hydroelectric power is generated by a number of multipurpose river valley projects e.g. Hydro-power project Hirakud, BhakraMangal project, Narmada valley project, NagarjunSagar project, SardarSarovar project etc.

5. Nuclear energy:

A small amount of radioactive substance (U²³⁵) can produce a lot of energy through the process of nuclear fission. For example, one ton of uranium can provide energy which is much higher than three million tons of coal or 12 million barrels of oil. In order to obtain nuclear energy, nuclear reactors are required. There are around 300 nuclear reactors all over the world. India has only four nuclear power stations (reactors).

The nuclear energy can be used in production of electrical energy, as a fuel for marine vessel and space crafts and for the generation of heat in chemical processing plants. In India, Uranium deposits are found at different parts of Rajasthan and Singhbum of Jharkhand.

Thorium is recovered from monazite sand found in the state of Kerala. Due to the higher energy releasing tendency of these radioactive substances, these can be used in nuclear reactors to release energy crisis. But the radioactive substances are exhaustible and can be used to develop nuclear weapons of mass destruction. In addition, dumping or radioactive wastes cause serious environmental hazards.

(B) Non conventional energy sources:

The conventional energy sources discussed above are exhaust­ible and in some cases, installation of plants to get energy is highly expensive. In order to meet the energy demand of increased popu­lation, the scientists developed alternate nonconventional natural Resources sources of energy which should be renewable and provide a pol­lution free environment.

Some nonconventional, renewable and inexpensive energy sources are described below:

1. Solar energy:

Solar energy, a primary energy source, is non-polluting and inexhaustible.

There are three methods to harness solar energy:

(i) Converting solar energy directly into electrical energy in solar power stations using photo cells or photovoltaic cells or silicon solar cell.

(ii) Using photosynthetic and biological process for energy trapping. In the process of photosynthesis, green plants absorb solar energy and convert it into chemical energy, stored in the form of carbohydrate.

(iii) Converting solar energy in to thermal energy by suitable devices which may be subsequently converted into mechanical, chemical or electrical energy.

Since solar energy is non-ending and its conversion to some other energy form is nonpolluting, attention should be paid for the maximum utilization of solar energy.

2. Wind energy:

Wind is air in motion. The movement of air takes place due to the convection current set out in the atmosphere which is again due to heating of earth’s surface by solar radiation, rotation of earth etc. The movement of air occurs both horizontally and vertically.

The average annual wind density is 3 kW/m²/day along costal lines of Gujarat, western ghat central parts of India which may show a seasonal variation (i.e., in winter it may go up to 10kW/m²/day).]

Since wind has a tremendous amount of energy, its energy can be converted into mechanical or electrical energy using suitable devices, now days, wind energy s converted in to electrical energy which is subsequently used for pumping water, grinding of corns etc. As per available data dearly 20,000 mW of electricity can be generated from wind. In Puri, wind farms are set up which can generate 550 kW of electricity.

3. Tidal energy:

The energy associated with the tides of the Ocean can be converted in to electrical energy. France constructed the first tidal power plant in 1966. India could take up Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and by the process it will be capable of generating 50,000 mW of electricity, to meet the power requirements of remote oceanic islands and coastal towns. The Netherlands is famous for windmills. In India, Gujarat and Tamil nadu have windmills. The largest wind farm has been set at Kanyakumari which generates 380 mW of electricity.

4. Geothermal energy:

The geothermal energy may be defined as the heat energy obtainable from hot rocks present inside the earth crust. At the deeper region of earth crust, the solid rock gets melted in to magma, due to very high temperature. The magma layer is pushed up due to some geological changes and get concentrated below the earth crust. The places of hot magma concentration at fairly less depth are known as hot spots.

These hot spots are known as sources of geothermal energy. Now a days, efforts are being made to use this energy for generating power and creating refrigeration etc. There are a quite few number of methods of harnessing geothermal energy. Different sites of geothermal energy generation are Puga (Ladakh), Tattapani (Suraguja, M.P.), Cambay Basin (Alkananda Valley, Uttaranchal).

5. Bio-mass based energy:

The organic matters originated from living organisms (plants and animals) like wood, cattle dung, sewage, agricultural wastes etc. are called as biomass. These substances can be burnt to produce heat energy which can be used in the generation of electricity. Thus, the energy produced from the biomass is known as biomass energy.

There are three forms of biomass:

(i) Biomass in traditional form:

Energy is released by direct burning of biomass (e.g. wood, agricultural residue etc.)

(ii) Biomass in nontraditional form:

The biomass may be converted in to some other form of fuel which can release energy. For example carbohydrate can be converted into methanol or ethanol which may be used as a liquid fuel.

(iii) Biomass for domestic use:

When organic matters like cow dung, agricultural wastes, human excreta etc. subjected to bacterial decomposition in presence of water in absence of air, a mixture of CH₄, C0₂, H₂, H₂S etc. is produced. These gases together is known as biogas. The residue left after the removal of biogas is a good source of manure and biogas is used as a good source of non-polluting fuel.

6. Biogas:

Biogas is an important source of energy to meet energy, requirements of rural area. As per given data, around 22,420-million m³ of gas can be produced from the large amount of cow dungs obtained in rural areas in a year. The gas is generated by the action of bacteria on cow dung in absence of air (oxygen). There are two types of biogas plants namely. Fixed done type and floating gas holder type .

These plants are commonly known as Gobar gas plants because the usual raw material is cow dung (Gobar). The methodology involves in the process is to prepare a slurry of cow dung with water. Sometimes form waters can also be added to the slurry.

The slurry is subjected to bacterial decomposition at 35 .C. There are about 330, 00 biogas plants in India. All India dung production is about 11.30 kg per cattle and 11.60 kg per buffalo with about 67.10 m³ of gas per ton of wet dung.

 

7. Petro plants:

In order to release the pressure on mineral oils (a nonrenewable resource), the scientists have discovered some potential plant species from which liquid hydrocarbons can be extracted. The liquid hydrocarbons present in such plants can be converted in to petroleum.

Such plants are known as petro plants which belong to families Apocynaceae, Ascalepiadaceae, Euphrobiaceae; Convolvulaceae and Spontaceae. Still research is on to increase the biomass of the petro plants and effective method of converting their hydrocarbons in petroleum.

8. Dendrothermal energy (Energy plantation):

Due to rapid deforestation and overgrazing, a number of denuded wastelands are formed. On these wastelands, fast growing trees and shrubs may be planted which will provide fuel wood, charcoal, fodder, etc. Through gasification, these plants can produce a lot of energy-

9. Baggasse-based plants:

Bagggasse is generated as a waste product in sugar mills. This can be utilised to produce electrical energy. As per available data, the sugar mills in India can generate about 2000 mW surplus electricity during crushing season.

10. Energy from urban waste:

Sewage and solid municipal wastes can also generate energy on their suitable treatments.

 

 

 

Development of Hindi and Urdu Language

 

Hindi and Urdu are two Hindustani Languages; spoken mostly in the northern and Central India and in Pakistan.

Hindi and Urdu are two different languages but these languages have many common things.Both Hindi and Urdu are developed in a similar phase and adopted many changes.

We will discuss about the development of both the languages one by one.

 

Development of Hindi:

Hindi in Khariboli form has been accepted as officiallanguage of India. It is written in Devnagari script. It is listed in the 22 scheduled languages of India in our Constitution.

Hindi is one of the youngest languages of India which come in literary only before 2-3 centuries back.

Hindi is 4^ththe most speaking languages of the world after Mandarin, Spanish and English.

Now we will dig deep to find the foundation of Hindi language. Hindi is an Indo-Aryan Language which find its root in various Prakrit languages in India. There were various Prakrit was being spoken in various regions of  like Magadhi, ArdhaMagadhi, Himalayan Prakrit, ShaurseniPrakrit etc.

This was around 500-600 century than these Prakritwere developed in their regions under the patron of their rulers. Although Sanskrit was used as official communication and for literary works, yet regional languages were the languages of the masses.

 

 

Hindi language was originally calledHindvi. It started taking shape around 10^th century. It was mostly spoken in the present day Delhi. It was highly influenced by the ShaurseniAprabhansha.

The vocabulary is derived mostly from the Sanskrit Language.

We can divide the development of Hindi language in 3 stages for our understanding:

1. Early Stages
2. Middle Stage

• Modern Stage

 

1. Early Stage: This was the making time of Hindi when it was finding its root in regional Prakrit. The time can be considered form 5^th century to 1300 AD. In this time

 

1. Middle Stage: We can mark this time from 14^th century to 1800 Century. In this stage various saints and other poet wrote which was the basis of Modern day Hindi. Kabir, Ramananda, Tulsidas, Gurunanak, Meerabai , Amir Khusrau had much impact on this.

 

 

• Modern Stage: This was the time when Hindi language developed fully. A lot of development happened during this time from grammar to modern novel writing. A lot of writers and scholars have done a lot for the development of Hindi. BharatenduHarishchandra also known as father of Modern Hindi Literature; did a lot for the development of Hindi and to shape it in standardized form.

 

 

 

Development of Urdu:

The early history of Hindi and Urdu is almost same. The invasion of foreigner from western part of India from Middle East brought many changes in the Indian people. The changes was not only in culture, lifestyle but was in the language as well. The invaders patronized Persian and Arabic form of languages;which influenced the local languages and vice-versa.

Urdu is also a Hindustani language which found its origin in various other languages. Urdu is mostly spoken in the northern parts of India and is official language of some states of India. After the partition of India, Urdu was accepted as national language of Pakistan.

Urdu is developedfrom the medieval Apabhramsa of Shaurseni.

Shaurseni is an Indo-Aryan language that is also the ancestor of other modern languages, including the Punjabi and Hindi dialects.

Around 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit.

Urdu developed under the influence of the Persian and Arabic languages, both of which have contributed a significant amount of vocabulary to formal speech.

 

The development of Urdu can be summarized in three stages:

1. Early Stage
2. Middle Stage

• Modern Stage

 

1. Early Stage: The early stage of Hindi and Urdu is almost same where it was finding its source in regional Prakrit languages. Invaders of Muslim rulers from West also brought development to initial stages. This period can be marked from 500-1300 AD.

 

1. Middle Stage: With the upcoming of Muslims rulers from west in India Persian language become prominent. Persian language itself has its roots in Arabic language. Urdu was influenced by the Perso-Arabic language duo and marked its tremendous development. Period: 1400AD -1800 AD

 

 

• Modern stage: British had played important role in developing Modern day Urdu language. Persian was the official language of many ruler’s court, British were not happy with this and they tried developing Urdu to counter Persian language. Modern writers also played an important role in development of Urdu language.