IAS Prelims Preparation 2018
Day # 27 (April 19, 2017)
Topics of the day: Geography X NCERT chapter 1 key points
CHAPTER 1 RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT
Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs, provided, it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable can be termed as Resource‘.
These resources can be classified in the following ways–
(a) On the basis of origin – biotic and abiotic
(b) On the basis of exhaustibility – renewable and non-renewable
(c) On the basis of ownership – individual, community, national and international
(d) On the basis of status of development – potential, developed stock and reserves.
Biotic Resources: These are obtained from biosphere and have life such as human beings, flora and fauna, fisheries, livestock etc.
Abiotic Resources: All those things which are composed of non-living things are called abiotic resources. For example, rocks and metals.
Renewable Resources: The resources which can be renewed or reproduced by physical, chemical or mechanical processes are known as renewable or replenishable resources. For example, solar and wind energy, water, forests and wildlife, etc.
Non-Renewable Resources:These occur over a very long geological time. Minerals and fossil fuels are examples of such resources. These resources take millions of years in their formation.
Stock: Materials in the environment which have the potential to satisfy human needs but human beings do not have the appropriate technology to access these, are included among stock.
Reserves are the subset of the stock, which can be put into use with the help of existing technical ‗know-how‘ but their use has not been started. These can be used for meeting future requirements.
Sustainable economic development means ‗development should take place without damaging the environment, and development in the present should not compromise with the needs of the future generations.
In June 1992, more than 100 heads of states met in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the first International Earth Summit.
The Rio Convention endorsed the global Forest Principles and adopted Agenda 21 for achieving Sustainable Development in the 21st century.
Resource planning is a complex process which involves :
(i) identification and inventory of resources across the regions of the country.
This involves surveying, mapping and qualitative and quantitative estimation and measurement of the resources.
(ii) Evolving a planning structure endowed with appropriate
technology, skill and institutional set up for implementing resource development plans.
(iii) Matching the resource development plans with
overall national development plans.
At the international level, the Club of Rome advocated resource conservation for the first time in a more systematic way in 1968.
The seminal contribution with respect to resource conservation at the global level was made by the Brundtland Commission Report, 1987.
This report introduced the concept of ‗Sustainable Development‘ and advocated it as a means for resource conservation, which was subsequently published in a book entitled Our Common Future.
India has land under a variety of relief features, namely; mountains, plateaus, plains and islands.
About 43 per cent of the land area is plain, which provides facilities for agriculture and industry.
Mountains account for 30 percent of the total surface area of the country and ensure perennial flow of some rivers, provide facilities for tourism and ecological aspects.
About 27 per cent of the area of the country is the plateau region. It possesses rich reserves of minerals, fossil fuels and forests.
Formation of Soil: Relief, parent rock or bed rock, climate,vegetation and other forms of life and time are important factors in the formation of soil.
Alluvial Soils:
This is the most widely spread and important soil.
In fact, the entire northern plains are made of alluvial soil.
These have been deposited by three important Himalayan river systems– the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra.
These soils also extend in Rajasthan and Gujarat through a narrow corridor.
Alluvial soil is also found in the eastern coastal plains particularly in the deltas of the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri rivers.
The alluvial soil consists of various proportions of sand, silt and clay.
As we move inlands towards the river valleys, soil particles appear some what bigger in size.
In the upper reaches of the river valley i.e. near the place of the break of slope, the soils are coarse. Such soils are more common in piedmont plains such as Duars, Chos and Terai.
Apart from the size of their grains or components, soils are also described on the basis of their age.
According to their age alluvial soils can be classified as old alluvial (Bangar) and new alluvial (Khadar).
The bangar soil has higher concentration of kanker nodules than the Khadar. It has more fine particles and is more fertile than the bangar.
Alluvial soils as a whole are very fertile.
Mostly these soils contain adequate proportion of potash, phosphoric acid and lime which are ideal for the growth of sugarcane, paddy, wheat and other cereal and pulse crops.
Due to its high fertility, regions of alluvial soils are intensively cultivated and densely populated.
Soils in the drier areas are more alkaline and can be productive after proper treatment and irrigation.
Black Soil
These soils are black in colour and are also known as regur soils. Black soil is ideal for growing cotton and is also known as black cotton soil.
It is believed that climatic condition along with the parent rock material are the important factors for the formation of black soil.
This type of soil is typical of the Deccan trap (Basalt) region spread over northwest Deccan plateau and is made up of lava flows.
They cover the plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and extend in the south east direction along the Godavari and the Krishna valleys.
The black soils are made up of extremely fine i.e. clayey material.
They are well-known for their capacity to hold moisture.
In addition, they are rich in soil nutrients, such as calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime.
These soils are generally poor in phosphoric contents.
They develop deep cracks during hot weather, which helps in the proper aeration of the soil.
These soils are sticky when wet and difficult to work on unless tilled immediately after the first shower or during the pre-monsoon period.
Red and Yellow Soils
Red soil develops on crystalline igneous rocks in areas of low rainfall in the eastern and southern parts of the Deccan plateau.
Yellow and red soils are also found in parts of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, southern parts of the middle Ganga plain and along the piedmont zone of the Western Ghats.
These soils develop a reddish colour due to diffusion of iron in
crystalline and metamorphic rocks. It looks yellow when it occurs in a hydrated form.
Laterite Soil
Laterite has been derived from the Latin word ‗later‘ which means brick.
The laterite soil develops in areas with high temperature and heavy rainfall. This is the result of intense leaching due to heavy rain.
Humus content of the soil is low because most of the micro organisms, particularly the decomposers, like bacteria, get destroyed due to high temperature.
Laterite soils are suitable for cultivation with adequate doses of manures and fertilizers.
These soils are mainly found in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and the hilly areas of Odisha and Assam.
After adopting appropriate soil conservation techniques particularly in the hilly areas of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, this soil is very useful for growing tea and coffee.
Red laterite soils in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala are more suitable for crops like cashew nut.
Arid Soils
Arid soils range from red to brown in colour.
They are generally sandy in texture and saline in
nature.
In some areas the salt content is very high and common salt is obtained by evaporating the water.
Due to the dry climate, high temperature, evaporation is faster and the soil lacks humus and moisture.
The lower horizons of the soil are occupied by Kankar because of the increasing calcium content downwards. The Kankar layer formations in the bottom horizons restrict the infiltration of water.
After proper irrigation these soils become cultivable as has been in the case of western Rajasthan.
Forest Soils
These soils are found in the hilly and mountainous areas where sufficient rain forests are available.
The soils texture varies according to the mountain environment where they are formed.
They are loamy and silty in valley sides and coarse grained in the upper slopes.
In the snow covered areas of Himalayas, these soils experience denudation and are acidic with low humus content.
The soils found in the lower parts of the valleys particularly on the river terraces and alluvial fans are fertile.
Soil Erosion and Soil Conservation:
The denudation of the soil cover and subsequent washing down is described as soil erosion.
The processes of soil formation and erosion, go on simultaneously and generally there is a balance between the two.
Sometimes, this balance is disturbed due to human activities like deforestation, over-grazing, construction and mining etc., while natural forces like wind, glacier and water lead to soil erosion.
The running water cuts through the clayey soils and makes deep channels as gullies.
The land becomes unfit for cultivation and is known as bad land.
In the Chambal basin such lands are called ravines.
Sometimeswater flows as a sheet over large areas down a slope. In such cases the top soil is washed away. This is known as sheet erosion.
Wind blows loose soil off flat or sloping land known as wind erosion.
Soil erosion is also caused due to defective methods of farming. Ploughing in a wrong way i.e. up and down the slope form channels for the quick flow of water leading to soil erosion.
Ploughing along the contour lines can decelerate the flow of water down the slopes. This is called contour ploughing.
Steps can be cut out on the slopes making terraces. Terrace cultivation restricts erosion. Western and central Himalayas have well developed terrace farming.
Large fields can be divided into strips. Strips of grass are left to grow between the crops. This breaks up the force of the wind. This method is known as strip cropping.
Planting lines of trees to create shelter also works in a similar way. Rows of such trees are called shelter belts. These shelter belts have contributed significantly to the stabilisation of sand dunes and in stabilising the desert in western India.