| Sr. No. | Order | Area (In Thousand Hectares) | Percentage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (i) | Inceptisols | more...
Land Use and Agriculture
Different types of lands are suited to different uses. Human beings thus/ use land as a resource for production as well as residence and recreation.
Land-use records maintained by land revenue department. The land use categories add up to reporting area, which is somewhat different from the geographical area. The Survey of India is responsible for measuring geographical area of administrative units in India. The difference between the two concepts are that while the former changes somewhat depending on the estimates of the land revenue records/ the latter does not change and stays fixed as per Survey of India measurements.
The land-use categories as maintained in the Land Revenue are as follows:
(i) Forests: It is important to note that area under actual forest cover is different from area classified as forest. The latter is the area which the Government has identified and demarcated for forest growth. The land revenue records are consistent with the latter definition. Thus/ there may be an increase in this category without any increase in the actual forest cover.
(ii) Land put to Non-agricultural Uses: Land under settlements (rural and urban)/ infrastructure (roads, canals, etc.), industries, shops, etc. are included in this category. An expansion in the secondary and tertiary activities would lead to an increase in this category of land-use.
(iii) Barren and Wastelands: The land which may be classified as a wasteland such as barren hilly terrains, desert lands, ravines, etc. normally cannot be brought under cultivation with the available technology.
(iv) Area under Permanent pastures and Grazing Lands: Most of this type land is owned by the village 'Panchayat' or the Government. Only a small proportion of this land is privately owned. The land owned by the village panchayat comes under 'Common Property Resources'.
(v) Area under Miscellaneous Tree Crops and Goves (Not included is Net sown Area): The land under orchards and fruit trees are included in this category. Much of this land is privately owned.
(vi) Culturable Waste-Land: Any land which is left fallow.(uncultivated) for more than five years is included in secondly, since even the reporting area has been relatively constant over the years, a decline in one category usually leads to an this category. It can be brought Si under cultivation after improving it b through reclamation practices,
(vii) Current Fallow: This is the land which is left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year, Fallowing is a, cultural practice adopted for giving the land rest. The: land recoups the lost fertility through natural processes.
(viii) Fallow other than Current Fallow: This is also a cultivable land which is left uncultivated for more than five years/ it would be categorized as culturable wasteland.
(ix) Net Area Sown: The physical extent of land on which crops are sown and harvested is known as net sown area.
Land-use Changes in more...
Mineral and Energy Resources
India is endowed with a rich variety of mineral resources due ‘to its varied geological structure. Bulk of the valuable minerals are products of pre-Paleozoic age mainly associated with metamorphic and igneous rocks of the peninsular India. The vast alluvial plain tract of north India is devoid of minerals of economic use.
The mineral resources provide the country with the necessary base for industrial development. The availability of various types of mineral and energy resources in the country.
Mode of Occurrence of Minerals
Minerals generally occur in these forms:
(i) In igneous and metamorphic rocks minerals may occur in the cracks/ crevices, faults or joints. The smaller occurrences are called veins and the larger are called lodes. In most cases, they are formed when minerals in liquid/molten and gaseous forms are forced upward through cavities towards the earth's surface. They cool and solidify as they rise. Major metallic minerals like tin, copper, zinc and lead etc. are obtained from veins and lodes.
(ii) In sedimentary rocks a number of minerals occur in beds or layers. They have been formed as a result of deposition, accumulation and concentration in horizontal strata. Coal and some forms of iron ore have been concentrated as a result of long periods under great heat and pressure. Another group of sedimentary minerals include gypsum. Potash salt and sodium salt. These are formed as a result of evaporation especially in arid regions.
(iii) Another mode of formation involves the decomposition of surface rocks, and the removal of soluble constituents, leaving a residual mass of weathered material containing ores. Bauxite is formed this way.
(iv) Certain minerals may occur as alluvial deposits in sands of valley floors and the base of hills. These deposits are called 'placer deposits' and generally contain minerals, which are not corroded by water. Gold, silver, tin and platinum are most important among such minerals.
(v) The ocean waters contain vast quantities of minerals, but most of these are too widely diffused to be of economic significance. However, common salt/ magnesium and bromine are largely derived from ocean waters. The ocean beds, too, are rich in manganese nodules.
Rat-Hole Mining. Do you know that most of the minerals in India are nationalized and their extraction is possible only after obtaining due permission from the government? But in most of the tribal areas of the north-east India, minerals are owned by individuals or communities. In Meghalaya, there are large deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone and dolomite etc. Coal mining in Jowai and Cherapunjee is done by family member in the form of a long narrow tunnel, known as 'Rat hole' mining.
Agencies Involved in the exploration of minerals
In India, systematic surveying, prospecting and exploration for minerals is undertaken by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd. (MECL), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Indian Bureau of Mines more...
Sugar Industry
The sugar industry is the second most important agro-based industry in the country. India is the largest producer of both sugarcane and cane sugar and contributes about 8 per cent of the total sugar production in the world. Besides, khandasari and gur or jaggery are also prepared from sugarcane. This industry provides employment for more than 4 lakh persons directly and a large number of farmers indirectly. Sugar industry is a seasonal industry because of the seasonality of raw materials.
Development of the industry on modern lines dates back to 1903, when a sugar mill was started in Bihar. Subsequently, sugar mills were started in other parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In 1950-51,139 factories were in operation producing 11.34 lakh tons of sugar. The number of sugar factories rose to 506 and production to 176,99 lakh tones in. 2000-01.
Location of the Sugar Industry
Sugarcane is a weight-losing crop. The ratio of sugar to sugarcane varies between 9 to 12 per cent depending on its variety. Its sucrose content begins to dry during haulage after it has been harvested from the field. Better recovery of sugar is dependent upon its being crushed within 24 hours of its harvesting. Sugar factories hence, are located within the cane producing regions.
Maharashtra has emerged as a leading sugar producer in the country and produces more than one-third of the total production of the sugar in the country. There are 119 sugar mills in the state in a narrow belt extending from Manmad in the north to Kolhapur- in me south. There are 87 mills in the cooperative sector.
Uttar Pradesh is the second largest producer of sugar. The sugar factories are concentrated in two belts-the Ganga-Yamuna doab and the taria region. The major sugar producing centres in- the Ganga- Yamuna doab are Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad Baghpat and Bulandshehr districts; 'while Kheri Lakhimpur, Basti, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Bahraich are important sugar producing districts in me Tarai region.
In Tamil Nadu, sugar factories are located in, Coimbatore, Vellore Tiruvanamalai, Villupuram and. Tiruchchirappalli districts. Belgaum, Bellary, Mandya, Shimoga, Bijapur, and Chitradurg districts are the major producers in Karnataka. The industry is distributed in the coastal regions i.e. East Godawari, West, Godavari, Vishakhapatnam districts and Nizamabad, and Medak districts of Telangana along with Chittoor district of Rayalseema;
The other States which produce sugar are Bihar, Punjab Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Saran Chainparan, Muzaffarnagar Siwan Darbhanga, and Gaya are -the important, sugarcane producing districts in Bihar the relative significance of. Punjab has declined, although Gurdaspur Jalandhar, Sangartir, Patiala and Amritsar are major sugar ‘producers. In Haryana, sugar factories, are located in Yamuna Nagar, Rohtak, Hissar and Faridabad districts. Sugar industry is comparatively new in Gujarat. Sugar mills are. Located in the carie growing tracts of Surat, Jamnagar Rajkot, Amreli Valsad and Bhavnagar districts.
Petrochemicai Industries
This group of industries has been growing very fast in India. A variety more...
Transport and Communication
The use of transport and communication depends upon our need to move things from place of their availability to the place of their use.
Land Transport
Road Transport: India has .one of the largest road networks in the world with a total length. Of 33.1 lakh km (2005). About 85 per Cent of passenger and 70 per cent of freight traffic are carried by roads every year. Road transport is relatively suitable for shorter distance travel.
Road transport in modern sense was very limited in India before World War-11. The first serious attempt was made in 1943 when 'Nagpur Plan' was drawn. This plan could not be implemented; due to lack of coordination among the princely states and British India. After Independence/twenty- year road plan (1961:) was introduced to. improve the conditions of roads in India. However/ roads continue to concentrate in and around urban centers. Rural and remote areas had the least connectivity by road.
For the purpose of construction and maintenance/ roads are classified as National Highways (NH)/ State Highways (SH)/ Major District Roads and Rural Roads:
National Highways: The main roads which are constructed and maintained by the Central Government are known as the National Highways. These roads are meant for inter-state transport and movement of defence men and material in strategic areas. These also connect the state capitals/ major cities/ important ports/ railway junctions/ etc. The length of the National Highways has increased from 19/700 km in 1951 to 65,769 km in 2005. The National Highways constitute only two per cent of the total road: length but carry 40 per cent of the road traffic.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was operationalized in 1995. It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Surface Transport. It is entrusted with the responsibility of development/ maintenance and operation of National Highways. This is also the apex body to improve the .quality of the roads designated as National Highways.
Indian Road Network (2005)
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