UPSC Geography Human Resources NCERT Extracts - Miscellaneous

Primary Activities

• Commercial grain cultivation is practised in the interior parts of semi-arid lands of the midlatitudes.
• Wheat is the principal crop, though other crops like corn, barley, oats and rye are also grown.
• The size of the farm is very large, therefore entire operations of cultivation from ploughing to harvesting are mechanised.
• There is low yield per acre but high yield per person. Why does this happen?
• This type of agriculture is best developed in Eurasian steppes, the Canadian and American Prairies, the Pampas of Argentina, the Velds of South Africa, the Australian Downs and the Canterbury Plains of New Zealand.

Mixed Farming

• Mixed farms are moderate in size and usually the crops associated with it are wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, fodder and root crops.
• Fodder crops are an important component of mixed farming.
• Crop rotation and intercropping play an important role in maintaining soil fertility.
• Equal emphasis is laid on crop cultivation and animal husbandry.
• Animals like cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry provide the main income along with crops.

Mediterranean Agriculture

• Mediterranean agriculture is highly specialised commercial agriculture.
• It is practised in the countries on either side of the Mediterranean sea in Europe and in north Africa from Tunisia to Atlantic coast, southern California, central Chile, south western parts of South Africa and south and south western parts of Australia.
• This region is an important supplier of citrus fruits.
• Viticulture or grape cultivation is a speciality of the Mediterranean region.
• Best quality wines in the world with distinctive flavours are produced from high quality grapes in various countries of this region,         
• The inferior grapes are dried into raisins and currants. This region also produces olives and figs.
• The Netherlands specialises in growing flowers and horticultural crops especially tulips, which are flown to all major cities of Europe.
• The regions where farmers specialise in vegetables only; the farming is know as truck farming. The distance of truck farms from the market is governed by the distance that a truck can cover overnight, hence the name truck farming.
• Co-operative movement originated over a century ago and has been successful in many western European countries like Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Italy etc.
• In Denmark, the movement has been so successful that practically every farmer is a member of a co-operative.
• Collective farming or the model of Kolkhoz was introduced in erstwhile Soviet Union to improve upon the inefficiency of the previous methods of agriculture and to boost agricultural.

Secondary Activities

• Foot loose industries can be located in a wide variety of places.
• They are not dependent on any specific raw material, weight losing or otherwise.
• They largely depend on component parts which can be obtained anywhere.
• They produce in small quantity and also employ a small labour force.
• These are generally not polluting industries. The important factor in their location is accessibility by road network.
• It is the smallest manufacturing unit. The artisans use local raw materials and simple tools to produce everyday goods in their homes with the help of their family members or parttime labour.
• Finished products may be for consumption in the same household or, for sale in local (village) markets, or, for barter.
• Capital and transportation do not wield much influence as this type of manufacturing has low commercial significance and most of the tools are devised locally.
• Small scale manufacturing is distinguished from household industries by its production techniques and place of manufacture (a workshop outside the home/cottage of the producer).
• This type of manufacturing uses local raw material, simple power-driven machines and semi-skilled labour. It provides employment and raises local purchasing power.

Tertiary and Quaternary Activities

• Quaternary activities involve some of the following : the collection, production and dissemination of information or even the production of information.
• Quaternary activities centre around research, development and may be seen as an advanced form of services involving specialised knowledge and technical skills.
• The Quaternary Sector along with the Tertiary Sector has replaced most of the primary and secondary employment as the basis for economic growth.
• Over half of all workers in developed economies are in the 'Knowledge Sector' and there has been a very high growth in demand for and consumption of information based services from mutual fund managers to tax consultants, software developers and statisticians.
• Personnel working in office buildings, elementary schools and university classrooms, hospitals and doctors' offices, theatres, accounting and brokerage firms all belong to this category of services.
• The highest level of decision makers or policy makers perform quinary activities.
• Quinary activities are services that focus on the creation, re-arrangement and interpretation of new and existing ideas; data interpretation and the use and evaluation of new technologies.
• Often referred to as 'gold collar' professions, they represent another subdivision of the tertiary sector representing special and highly paid skills of senior business executives, government officials, research scientists, financial and legal consultants, etc.
• Their importance in the structure of advanced economies far outweighs their numbers.
• Outsourcing or contracting out is giving work to an outside agency to improve efficiency and to reduce costs.
• When outsourcing involves transferring work to overseas locations, it is described by the term off - shoring, although both off - shoring and outsourcing are used together.

International Trade

• Every January after the harvest season Jon Beel Mela takes place in Jagiroad, 35 km away from Guwahati and it is possibly the only fair In India, where barter system is still alive.
• A big market is organised during this fair and people from various tribes and communities exchange their products.
• The word salary comes from the Latin word Salarium which means payment by salt.
• As in those times producing salt from sea water was unknown and could only be made from rock salt which was rare and expensive. That is why it became a mode of payment.
• The Silk Route is an early example of long distance trade connecting Rome to China - along the 6,000 km route.
• San Francisco is the largest land-locked harbour in the world.
• Types of port on the basis of location :                                  
• Inland Ports: These ports are located away from the sea coast. They are linked to the sea through a river or a canal. Such ports are accessible to flat bottom ships or barges. For example, Manchester is linked with a canal; Memphis is located on the river Mississippi; Rhine has several ports like Mannheim and Duisburg; and Kolkata is located on the river Hoogli, a branch of the river Ganga.
• Out Ports: These are deep water ports built away from the actual ports. These serve the parent ports by receiving those ships which are unable to approach them due to their large size. Classic combination, for example, is Athens and its out port Piraeus in Greece.
• Types of port on the basis of specialized functions:      
• Oil Ports: These ports deal in the processing and shipping of oil.' Some of these are tanker ports and some are refinery ports. Maracaibo in Venezuela, Esskhira in Tunisia, Tripoli in Lebanon are tanker ports. Abadan on the Gulf of Persia is a refinery port.                                         
• Ports of Call: These are the ports which originally developed as calling points on main sea routes where ships used to anchor for refuelling, watering and taking food items. Later on, they developed into commercial ports. Aden, Honolulu and Singapore are good examples.
• Packet Station: These are also known as ferry ports. These packet stations are exclusively concerned with the transportation of passengers and mail across water bodies covering short distances. These stations occur in pairs located in such a way that they face each other across the water body, e.g. Dover in England and Calais in France across the English Channel.
• Entrepot Ports: These are collection centres where the goods are brought from different countries for export. Singapore is an entrepot for Asia. Rotterdam for Europe, and Copenhagen for the Baltic region.
• Naval Ports: These are ports which have only strategic importance. These ports serve warships and have repair workshops for them. Kochi and Karwar are examples of such ports in India.

Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area

• Indira Gandhi Canal, previously known as the Rajasthan Canal, is one of the largest canal systems in India.
• Conceived by Kanwar Sain in 1948, the canal project was launched on 31 March, 1958.
• The canal originates at Harike barrage in Punjab and runs parallel to Pakistan border at an average distance of 40 km in Thar Desert (Marusthali) of Rajasthan.
• The total planned length of the system is 9,060 km catering to the irrigation needs of a total culturable command area of 19.63 lakh hectares.
• Out of the total command area, about 70 per cent was envisaged to be irrigated by flow system and the rest by lift system.
• The construction work of the canal system has been carried out through two stages.
• The command area of Stage-1 lies in Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and northern part of Bikaner districts. It has a gently undulating topography and its culturable command area is 5.53 lakh hectares.
• The command area of Stage-11 is spread over Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Banner, Jodhpur, Nagaur and Churu districts covering culturable command area of 14.10 lakh ha.
• In the lift canal, the water is lifted up to make it to flow against the slope of the land.
• All the lift canals of Indira Gandhi Canal system originate at the left bank of main canal while all the canals on the right bank of main canal are flow channels.

Some Important Facts

• The name of the part of the chewing gum after the flavour is gone is called Chicle – it is made from the milky juice of zapota tree.
• Movement in search of pastures is undertaken either over vast horizontal distances or vertically from one elevation to another in the mountainous regions.
• The process of migration from plain areas to pastures on mountains during summers and again from mountain pastures to plain areas during winters is known as transhumance.
• In mountain regions, such as Himalayas, Gujjars, Bakarwals, Gaddis and Bhotiyas migrate from plains to the mountains in summers and to the plains from the high altitude pastures in winters.
• It is prevalent in tropical region in different names, e.g. Jhuming in North eastern states of India, Milpa in central America and Mexico and Ladang in Indonesia and Malaysia.  
• Some coffee fazendas (large plantations) in Brazil are still managed by Europeans.
• The Ruhr region is responsible for 80 per cent of Germany's total steel production.
• The iron and steel industry forms the base of all other industries and, therefore, it is called a basic industry.
• Utility or usability is what makes an object or substance a resource.
• Value means worth. Some resources have economic value, some do not.
• Patent means the exclusive right over any idea or invention.                      
• 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 direction i.e., downwind, form where the wind direction is constant and moderate and where the original surface over which sand is moving is almost uniform.
• 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.
• This happens when there is shift in wind conditions.
• The lone wings of seifs can grow very long and high.
• 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 is and is an elongated feature at right angles to the wind direction.
• They may be very long and low in height. When sand is plenty, quite often, the regular shaped dunes coalesce and lose their individual characteristics.
• Most of the dunes in the deserts shift and a few of them will get stabilised especially near human habitations.