Geography X NCERT chapter 7 key points

        IAS Prelims Preparation 2018

Day # 33 (April 25, 2017)

Topics of the day: Geography X NCERT chapter 7 key points

CHAPTER – 7 LIFE LINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

Roadways

 India has one of the largest road networks in the world, aggregating to about 2.3 million km at present.

 In India, roadways have preceded railways.

 They still have an edge over railways in view of the ease with which they can be built and maintained.

 The growing importance of road transport vis-à-vis rail transport is rooted in the following reasons;

(a) construction cost of roads is much lower than that of railway lines, (b) roads can traverse comparatively more dissected and undulating topography,

(c) roads can negotiate higher gradients of slopes and as such can traverse mountains such as the Himalayas,

(d) road transport is economical in transportation of few persons and relatively smaller amount of goods over short distances,

(e) it also provides door-to-door service, thus the cost of loading and unloading is much lower,

(f) road transport is also used as a feeder to other modes of transport such as they provide a link between railway stations, air and sea ports.

In India, roads are classified in the following six classes according to their capacity

• Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways:

 The government has launched a major road development project linking Delhi-KolkataChennai-Mumbai and Delhi by six-lane Super Highways.

 The North-South corridors linking Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) and Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), and East-West Corridor connecting Silcher (Assam) and Porbander (Gujarat) are part of this project.

 The major objective of these Super Highways is to reduce the time and distance between the mega cities of India.

 These highway projects are being implemented by the National

Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

• National Highways:

 National Highways link extreme parts of the country.

 These are the primary road systems and are laid and maintained by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

 A number of major National Highways run in North-South and East- West directions.

 The historical Sher-Shah Suri Marg is called National Highway No.1, between Delhi and Amritsar.

State Highways:

 Roads linking a state capital with different district headquarters are known as State Highways.

 These roads are constructed and maintained by the State Public Works Department (PWD) in State and Union Territories.

• District Roads:

 These roads connect the district headquarters with other places of the district.

 These roads are maintained by the Zila Parishad.

• Other Roads:

Rural roads, which link rural areas and villages with towns, are classified under this category. These roads received special impetus under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana. Under this scheme special provisions are made so that every village in the country is linked to a major town in the country by an all season motorable road.

Border Roads:

 Border Roads Organisation a Government of India undertaking

constructs and maintains roads in the bordering areas of the country.

 This organisation was established in 1960 for the development of the roads of strategic importance in the northern and northeastern border areas. These roads have improved accessibility in areas of difficult terrain and have helped in the economic development of these area.

 Roads can also be classified on the basis of the type of material used for their construction such as metalled and unmetalled roads.

 Metalled roads may be made of cement, concrete or even bitumen of coal, therefore, these are all weather roads.

 Unmetalled roads go out of use in the rainy season.

 Road Density The length of road per 100 sq. km of area is known as density of roads.

 Distribution of road is not uniform in the country.

 Density of all roads varies from only 12.14 km in Jammu and

Kashmir to 517.77 km in Kerala (as on 31 March 2011) with the

national average of 142.68 km (31 March 2011).

 Road transportation in India faces a number of problems.

 Keeping in view the volume of traffic and passengers, the road

network is inadequate.

 About half of the roads are unmetalled and this limits their usage during the rainy season.

 The National Highways are inadequate too.

 Moreover, the roadways are highly congested in cities and most of the bridges and culverts are old and narrow.

 However, in recent years fast development of road network has taken place in different parts of the country.

Railways

 Railways are the principal mode of transportation for freight and passengers in India.

 Railways also make it possible to conduct multifarious activities like business, sightseeing, pilgrimage along with transportation of goods over longer distances.

 Apart from an important means of transport the Indian Railways have been a great integrating force for more than 150 years.

 Railways in India bind the economic life of the country as well as accelerate the development of the industry and agriculture.

 The distribution pattern of the Railway network in the country has been largely influenced by physiographic, economic and

administrative factors. The northern plains with their vast level land, high population density and rich agricultural resources provided the most favourable condition for their growth.

 However, a large number of rivers requiring construction of bridges across their wide beds posed some obstacles.

 In the hilly terrains of the peninsular region, railway tracts are laid through low hills, gaps or tunnels.

 The Himalayan mountainous regions too are unfavourable for the

construction of railway lines due to high relief, sparse population and lack of economic opportunities.

 Likewise, it was difficult to lay railway lines on the sandy plain of western Rajasthan, swamps of Gujarat, forested tracks of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand.

 The contiguous stretch of Sahyadri could be crossed only through gaps or passes (Ghats).

 In recent times, the development of the Konkan railway along the west coast has facilitated the movement of passengers and goods in this most important economic region of India.

 It has also faced a number of problem such as sinking of track in some stretches and land slides.

Pipelines

Pipeline transport network is a new arrival on the transportation

map of India.

In the past, these were used to transport water to cities and

industries. Now, these are used for transporting crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas from oil and natural gas fields to refineries, fertilizer factories and big thermal power plants. Solids can also be transported through a pipeline when converted into slurry.

There are three important networks of pipeline transportation in the country.

1. From oil field in upper Assam to Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), via

Guwahati, Barauni and Allahabad. It has branches from Barauni to Haldia, via Rajbandh, Rajbandh to Maurigram and Guwahati to Siligur.

2. From Salaya in Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab, via Viramgam,

Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat. It has branches to connect Koyali

(near Vadodara, Gujarat) Chakshu and other places.

3. Gas pipeline from Hazira in Gujarat connects Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh, via Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. It has branches to Kota in Rajasthan, Shahajahanpur, Babrala and other places in Uttar Pradesh.

Waterways

 Waterways are the cheapest means of transport.

 They are most suitable for carrying heavy and bulky goods.

 It is a fuel-efficient and environment friendly mode of transport.

 India has inland navigation waterways of 14,500 km in length. Out of these only 5685 km are navigable by mechanised vessels.

 The following waterways have been declared as the National

Waterways by the Government.

 The Ganga river between Allahabad and Haldia (1620 km)-N.W.

No.1

 The Brahmaputra river between Sadiya and Dhubri (891 km)-N.W. No.2 The West-Coast Canal in Kerala (Kottapurma-Kollam,

Udyogamandal and Champakkara canals-205 km) – N.W. No.3

 Specified stretches of Godavari and Krishna rivers along with

Kakinada Puducherry stretch of canals (1078 km) – N.W. No.4

 Specified stretches of river Brahmani along with Matai river, delta channels of Mahanadi and Brahmani rivers and East Coast Canal (588 km) – N.W. No.5

 Major Sea Ports With a long coastline of 7,516.6 km, India is dotted with 12 major and 187, notified nonmajors (minor/intermediate) ports. These major ports handle 95 per cent of India‘s foreign trade.

 Kandla in Kuchchh was the first port developed soon after

Independence to ease the volume of trade on the Mumbai port, in the wake of loss of Karachi port to Pakistan after the Partition.

 Kandla is a tidal port. It caters to the convenient handling of exports and imports of highly productive granary and industrial belt stretching across the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

 Mumbai is the biggest port with a spacious natural and well sheltered harbour. The Jawaharlal Nehru port was planned with a view to decongest the Mumbai port and serve as a hub port for this region.

 Marmagao port (Goa) is the premier iron ore exporting port of the country. This port accounts for about fifty per cent of India‘s iron ore export.

 New Mangalore port, located in Karnataka caters to the export of iron ore concentrates from Kudremukh mines.

 Kochchi is the extreme south-western port, located at the entrance of a lagoon with a natural harbour. Moving along the east coast, you would see the extreme south-eastern port of Tuticorin, in Tamil Nadu. This port has a natural harbour and rich hinterland. Thus, it has a flourishing trade handling of a large variety of cargoes to even our neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, etc. and the coastal regions of India.

 Chennai is one of the oldest artificial ports of the country. It is ranked next to Mumbai in terms of the volume of trade and cargo.

 Vishakhapatnam is the deepest landlocked and well-protected port.

This port was, originally, conceived as an outlet for iron ore exports.

 Paradwip port located in Odisha, specialises in the export of iron ore.

Kolkata is an inland riverine port. This port serves a very large and rich hinterland of Ganga- Brahmaputra basin. Being a tidal port, it requires constant dredging of Hoogly. Haldia port was developed as a subsidiary port, in order to relieve growing pressure on the Kolkata port.

Airways

 The air transport was nationalised in 1953. On the operational side, Indian Airlines, Alliance Air (subsidiary of Indian Airlines), private scheduled airlines and non- scheduled operators provide domestic air services.

 Air India provides international air services.

 Pawanhans Helicopters Ltd. provides helicopter services to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in its off-shore operations, to inaccessible areas and difficult terrains like the north-eastern states and the interior parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.