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Geography part 2

Tier 2 : Indian Geography Others

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Geography part 2

Transport

People use various methods to move goods, commodities, ideas from one place to another.
Land, water, and air are the major modes of transportation.
Land transportation includes road, rail, and pipeline.

Road

With a total length of about 42.3 lakh km, India has one of the largest road networks in the world.
About 85% of passenger and 70% of freight traffic are carried by roads.
Sher Shah Suri built the Shahi (Royal) road to strengthen and consolidate his empire from the Indus Valley to the Sonar Valley in Bengal.
This road was later renamed as the Grand Trunk (GT) Road during the British period, connecting Calcutta and Peshawar.
At present, GT Road extends from Amritsar to Kolkata. It is bifurcated into 2 segments − (a) National Highway (NH)-1 from Delhi to Amritsar, and (b) NH- 2 from Delhi to Kolkata.
Roads have been classified as National Highways (NH), State Highways (SH), Major District Roads, and Rural Roads.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Surface Transport was operationalized in 1995.
The main roads connecting two or more states are constructed and maintained by the Central Government. These roads are known as the National Highways.
The NHAI is responsible for the development, maintenance, and operation of National Highways.
The National Highways constitute only 1.67 per cent of the total road length, but carry about 40 per cent of the road traffic.
Golden Quadrilateral is 5,846 km long 4/6 lane, high density traffic corridor that connects India’s four big metro cities : Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai-Kolkata.
With 4,076 km long road, North-South Corridor aims at connecting Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir with Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
With 3,640 km of road length, the East-West Corridor has been planned to connect Silchar in Assam with the port town of Porbandar in Gujarat.
State Highways are constructed and maintained by the state governments.
The State Highways join the state capitals with district headquarters and other important towns.
All State Highways collectively constitute about 4 per cent of the total road length in the country.
District roads are the roads connecting the District Headquarters and the other important nodes in the district.
District roads account about 60.83 per cent of the total road length of the country.
Further, about 80 per cent of the total road length in India come under rural roads.
Other roads include Border Roads and International Highways.
The Border Road Organization (BRO) was established in May 1960 for the acceleration of economic development and strengthening defense preparedness through rapid and coordinated improvement of strategically important roads along the northern and north-eastern boundary of the country.
BRO has constructed roads in high altitude mountainous terrain joining Chandigarh with Manali (Himachal Pradesh) and Leh (Ladakh), which runs at an average altitude of 4,270 meters above the mean sea level.
The road density is only 12.14 km in Jammu and Kashmir, whereas in Kerala it is 517.77 km.

Waterways

Water transport can be divided into two major categories − inland waterways and oceanic waterways.
India has 14,500 km of navigable waterways, contributing about 1% to the country’s transportation.
Currently, 5,685 km of major rivers is navigable by mechanized flat bottom vessels.
Inland Waterways Authority was set up in 1986 for the development, maintenance, and regulation of national waterways in the country.
Major National Waterways (NW) of India are NW 1 (Allahabad-Haldia covers 1,620 km); NW 2 (Sadiya-Dhubri covers 891 km); and NW 3 (KottapuramKollam covers 205 km).
Besides, NW 4 covers specified stretches of rivers Godavari and Krishna along with Kakinada Puducherry; the total distance is 1078 km.
NW 5 covers specified stretches of river Brahmani along with Matai river, delta channels of Mahanadi and Brahmani rivers and East Coast canals; the total distance is 588 km.
With 12 major and 185 minor ports, India has a vast coastline of approximate 7,517 km, including islands.
Roughly 95% of India’s foreign trade by volume and 70% by value moves through ocean routes.

Airways

Air transport in India marked its beginning in 1911 with the commencement of airmail over a little distance of 10 km between Allahabad and Naini.
The Airport Authority of India is accountable for providing safe, efficient air traffic, and aeronautical communication services in the Indian Air Space.
Pawan Hans is the helicopter service operating in hilly areas and is widely used by tourists in north-eastern regions.

Pipelin

Asia’s first cross country pipeline covering a distance of 1,157 km was constructed by Oil India Limited (OIL) from Naharkatiya oilfield in Assam to Barauni refinery in Bihar, which further extended up to Kanpur in 1966.
Mumbai High-Koyali and Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) are the most important pipelines in India.
1256 km long pipeline between Salaya (Gujarat) and Mathura (U.P.) has been constructed recently.

Foreign Trade

In 1950-51, India’s external trade was worth Rs.1, 214 crores, which rose to Rs. 22, 09,270 crores in 2009-10.
Though an increase has been registered in floricultural products, fresh fruits, marine products, and sugar, there has been a great decline in the exports of traditional items such as coffee, spices, tea, pulses, etc.
Engineering goods, gems, and jewelry contribute to a larger extent to India’s foreign trade.
With the Green Revolution in 1970s, the import of food grains declined, but it was replaced by fertilizers and petroleum.
Other major items of India’s import include pearls and semi-precious stones, gold and silver, metalliferous ores and metal scrap, non-ferrous metals, electronic goods, etc.

Trading Partners

The share of Asia and ASEAN in total trade (with India) is increased from 33.3 per cent in 2000-01 to 57.3 per cent in the first half of 2011-12, while that of Europe and America fell from 42.5 per cent to 30.8 per cent respectively.
The USA, which was in first position in 2003-04 has been relegated to third position in 2010-11.
The UAE is becoming India’s largest trading partner, followed by China (2010-11).
Sea route is the major trading route for the Indian trade.

Sea-Ports

At present, India has 12 major ports and 185 minor or intermediate ports.
The 12 major ports handled about 71 per cent of the country’s oceanic traffic in the year 2008-09.
The capacity of Indian ports increased from 20 million tons of cargo handling in 1951 to more than 586 million tons in 2008-09.
Kandla Port located in the Gulf of Kachchh, on the west coast of Gujarat has been developed as a major port.
Kandla port is specially designed to receive large quantities of petroleum and petroleum products and fertilizer.
Mumbai has a natural harbor and it is the biggest seaport of the country.
Mumbai port is situated closer to the general routes from the countries of Middle East, Mediterranean countries, North Africa, Europe, and North America where the major share of country’s overseas trade is carried out.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port at Nhava Sheva, Maharashtra was developed as a satellite port to relieve the pressure on the Mumbai port.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port is the largest container port in India.
Marmagao Port, situated at the entrance of the Zuari estuary, is a natural harbor port in Goa.
New Mangalore Port is located in the state of Karnataka; it caters to the export of iron-ore and iron-concentrates along with fertilizers, petroleum products, edible oils, coffee, tea, wood pulp, yarn, granite stone, molasses, etc.
Kochchi Port, situated at the head of Vembanad Kayal is a natural harbor port; it is popularly known as the “Queen of the Arabian Sea.”
Kolkata Port is a riverine port located on the Hugli River; it is 128 km inland from the Bay of Bengal.
Haldia Port is located 105 km downstream from Kolkata.
Haldia Port has been constructed to reduce the congestion at Kolkata port.
Haldia Port handles bulk cargo like iron ore, coal, petroleum, petroleum products and fertilizers, jute, jute products, cotton and cotton yarn, etc.
Paradip Port is situated on the Mahanadi delta, about 100 km from Cuttack, Odisha.
Paradip Port has the deepest harbor especially suited to handle very large vessels.
Paradip Port handles large-scale export of iron-ore.
Located in Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam Port is a land-locked harbor, connected to the sea by a channel cut through solid rock and sand.
Visakhapatnam Port handles iron-ore, petroleum, and general cargo.
Chennai Port is one of the oldest ports on the eastern coast of India.
Ennore is a newly developed port in Tamil Nadu. It has been constructed 25 km north of Chennai to relieve the pressure on Chennai port.
Tuticorin Port is also an important port located in Tamil Nadu. It handles the movement of coal, salt, food grains, edible oils, sugar, chemicals, and petroleum products.
There were 19 international airports functioning in the country (February 2013); however, currently, it is 20.
Airways have the advantage of taking the least time for carriage and handling high value or perishable goods over long distances; however, it is expensive and hence not suitable for the heavy and other machinery products.

The People

Throughout the country, India has a highly uneven pattern of the population distribution.
Uttar Pradesh has the highest population followed by Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal.
Terrain, climate, and availability of water largely determine the pattern of the population distribution. However, socio-economic and historical factors also affect the pattern of population distribution.
As per the 2011 census, urban population of India was 31.16% (the details of major urban center is illustrated in the following map)

Population Density

The density of population is expressed as the number of persons per unit area.
The density of population in India as per 2011 census is 382 persons per square km.
Bihar with 1102 people per square km is the most densely populated state of India followed by West Bengal (1029) and Uttar Pradesh (828).
Physiological density refers to the total population divided by the net cultivated area.
Agricultural density refers to the total agricultural population divided by the net cultivable area.
Agricultural population includes cultivators and agricultural laborers and their family members.

Phases of Population Growth

India’s population can be analyzed in four phases −

Phase I, the period between 1901 and 1921 − This period is known as stagnancy period, as the birth rate and death rate both were high and the population growth rate was very slow.
Phase II, the period between 1921 and 1951 − It was the period of steady population growth.
Phase III, the period between 1951 and 1981 − It was the period of population explosion in India.
Phase IV, from 1981 to till date − Population growth rate though still high, but reflecting a decreasing trend.

Population Composition

As per census 2011, 68.8 per cent of the total population lives in village and 31.2 per cent of the population lives in urban areas.
Considering the economic status, population can be divided into categories such as main workers, marginal workers, and non-workers.
As per the census 2011, main workers and marginal workers collectively constitute only about 39.8 percent of total population; rest are non-workers.
About 54.6 per cent of the total working population are cultivators and agricultural laborers
About 41.6 % are other workers, such as non-household industries, trade, commerce, construction, repair, and other services.
The number of female workers is relatively high in the primary sector.
The proportion of workers in agricultural sector in India has shown a declining trend over the last few decades; in 2001, it was 58.2%, whereas, in 2011, it was 54.6%.

Literacy

As per the 2011 census, literacy rate of India was 74.04% (the details of literacy rate is illustrated in the following map − state-wise).

Sex Ratio

As per the 2011 census, sex ratio of India was 940 females per 1000 males (the details of sex ratio is illustrated in the following map − state-wise).

Languages

In India, there are 22 scheduled languages and hundreds of non-scheduled languages.
Among the scheduled languages, Hindi is the highest spoken language and Kashmiri and Sanskrit have the least number of speakers.

Family Sub-Family Spoken Region

Austric (Nishada)

1.38%

Austro-Asiatic

Austro-Nesian

Meghalaya, Nicobar Islands, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra

Dravidian (Dravida)

20%

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, M.P., Odisha, Maharashtra, Bihar

Sino-Tibetan

(Kirata), 0.85%

Tibeto–Myanmari

Siamese-Chinese

Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya

Indo–European (Aryan)

73%

Indo-Aryan Jammu & Kashmir, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, U.P., Rajasthan, Haryana, M.P., Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa.

Religions

Religion is one of the most integral parts of the population composition of India.
More than 80 percent of the population comprises of Hindus followed by Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains.

Migration

During colonial period (i.e. British period) millions of the indentured laborers were sent to Mauritius, Caribbean islands (Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana), Fiji, and South Africa by British Government largely from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
All such migrations were covered under time-bound contracts known as Girmit Act (Indian Emigration Act).
The recent wave of migrants consists of professionals including software engineers, doctors, engineers, management consultants, financial experts, and media persons to countries like USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, etc.

Migration Facts

The first major modification was done in 1961 Census, as two additional components i.e. place of birth (village or town) and duration of residence (if born elsewhere) were added.
Further, in 1971, another component added i.e. on place of last residence and duration of stay at the place of enumeration.
In 1981, Information on reasons for migration were incorporated.
According to 2001 census, out of total 1,029 million population, 307 million (30 per cent) were reported as migrants in terms of place of birth.
Under the intra-state migration, numbers of female migrants are more than male (marriage related migration).
As per the census 2001, India has recorded that more than 5 million persons have migrated to India from other countries; largely, from the neighboring countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.
As per the census 2001, there are about 20 million people of Indian Diaspora, spread across the 110 countries of the world.
In terms of in-migration, Maharashtra occupied the first place (2.3 million net in-migrants), followed by Delhi, Gujarat, and Haryana.
On the other hand, in terms of out-migration, Uttar Pradesh (-2.6 million) and Bihar (-1.7 million) were the top states.
In terms of the urban agglomeration (UA), Greater Mumbai had received the maximum number of in-migrants.

Causes of Migration

Causes of migration are categorized as ‘push factor’ and ‘pull factor’.
Push factors force people to migrate; for example, unemployment, lack of infrastructure (such as hospital, education institutions, etc.), natural disasters (such as flood, drought, earthquake, cyclone, etc.), local conflicts, war, etc.
Pull factors attract people from different places; for example, better opportunities for education and employment; better health facilities; and various sources of entertainment, etc.

Normally, the reason behind female migration throughout India is largely marriage related; however, Meghalaya has a reverse scenario.
Remittances from the international migrants are one of the major sources of foreign exchange.
For thousands of the poor villages of states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, etc. remittance acts as life blood for their subsistence.

Impacts of Migration

Development of slums in industrially developed states, such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and metropolitan areas, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, etc. is a negative consequence of unregulated migration within the country.
One of the major negative impacts of migration is imbalances in age and sex composition at both the places − sending region (out-migration) and receiving region (in-migration).
Migration intermixes people of diverse cultural backgrounds
Because of unbalanced migration, the receiving regions (especially urban areas) are facing many environmental problems, such as pollution, depletion of ground water, solid waste management problems, etc.

Regional DevelopmentRegional Development

India has centralized planning and the task of planning in India has been entrusted to the Planning Commission of India.
Planning Commission of India is a statutory body headed by the Prime Minister and has a Deputy Chairman and other members.
However, the Planning Commission of India is recently is now “National Institution for Transforming India” or simply NITI Aayog.
The planning in the country is largely carried out through the array of Five Year Plans.
At present, the Twelfth Five Year Plan is running, which was initiated in 2012 with a focus on ‘Faster, More Inclusive and Sustainable Growth’.

Approaches of Planning

Normally, there are two approaches of planning. They are −
--> Sectoral planning
--> Regional planning.

Sectoral Planning

Sectoral planning means formulation and implementation of the sets of schemes or programs aimed at development of various sectors of the economy such as agriculture, irrigation, manufacturing, power, construction, transport, communication, social infrastructure, and services.

Regional Planning

Since all the regions of India have not developed on the same lines, therefore, to reduce the regional imbalances, regional planning was introduced.

Target Area Planning

In order to reduce the regional and social disparities, the Planning Commission introduced the ‘target area’ and ‘target group’ approaches to planning.
Some of the examples of target area planning directed towards the development of target areas are −
Command Area Development Program;

Drought Prone Area Development Program;

Desert Development Program; and

Hill Area Development Program.
The examples of target area planning are − the Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA) and Marginal Farmers Development Agency (MFDA).
Hill Area Development Programs were initiated during the Fifth Five Year Plan. The plan covers 15 districts comprising all the hilly districts of Uttarakhand, Mikir Hill and North Cachar hills of Assam, Darjeeling district of West Bengal and Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu.
Major aims of Hill Area Development Program were harnessing the indigenous resources of the hilly areas through the development of horticulture, plantation agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry, forestry, and small-scale and village industry.
Drought Prone Area Program was initiated during the Fourth Five-Year Plan with the objectives of providing employment to the people in droughtprone areas and creating productive assets.
The drought prone area in India largely covers semi-arid and arid tract of Rajasthan; Gujarat; Western Madhya Pradesh; Marathwada region of Maharashtra; Rayalseema and Telangana plateaus of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana; Karnataka plateau; and highlands and interior parts of Tamil Nadu.

Planning Facts

In 1967, the Planning Commission of India identified 67 districts (entire or partly) of the country prone to drought.
In 1972, the Irrigation Commission introduced the criterion of 30% irrigated area and demarcated the drought prone areas.
In 1970s, the phrases such as redistribution with growth and growth and equity were incorporated in the definition of development.
Over period of time, the meaning of ‘Development’ did not remain restricted to ‘economic growth’ rather it also includes the issues such as improving the wellbeing and living standard of the people; availing the health facilities; education; equality of opportunity; and ensuring political and civil rights.
The concept of sustainable development emerged in the wake of general rise in the awareness of environmental issues in the late 1960s in the Western World.
The publication of ‘The Population Bomb’ by Ehrlich in 1968 and ‘The Limits to Growth’ by Meadows at al in 1972 further raised the environmental concerns.
The United Nations established a World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) headed by the Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. This is the reason that its report submitted in 1987 with the name ‘Our Common Future,’ is also known as Brundtland Report.
In this report, sustainable development is defined as − “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Likewise, Sustainable development takes care of ecological, social, and economic aspects of the development during the present times and pleads for conservation of resources to enable the future generations to use these resources.

Indira Gandhi Canal, which previously was popular as the Rajasthan Canal, is one of the largest canal systems in India.
The idea of Indira Gandhi Canal was proposed by Kanwar Sain in 1948; however, the canal project was launched on 31 March, 1958.
The canal originates at Harike barrage in Punjab and runs parallel to Pakistan border and covers an average distance of 40 km in Thar Desert of Rajasthan.

Disasters

Disaster is an undesirable catastrophe resulting from the forces that are largely beyond human control, strikes quickly with little or no warning, and causes or threatens serious disruption of life and property. For example, earthquake, tsunami, cyclone, flood, etc.
Disasters are normally caused by nature (beyond human control); however, there are many human-induced disasters. For example, Bhopal Gas tragedy, Chernobyl nuclear disaster, wars, release of CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons), releasing greenhouse gases, etc.
Besides, some disasters are natural in occurence, but those are indirectly caused by human activities. For example, landslides in hilly regions, droughts, and floods due to deforestation and other environmental damage.
On the other hand, Natural Hazards are the elements of circumstances in the Natural environment that have the potential to harm people or property or both.
The disasters are global in nature; hence, to combat with it, the United Nations made a systematic strategy at the World Conference on Disaster Management held in May 1994 at Yokohama, Japan.
The Yokohama conference however, is popular as the “Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action for a Safer World.”

Categories of Natural Disaster

Natural Disasters are broadly categorized as −
Atmospheric Disasters
Terrestrial Disasters
Aquatic Disasters
Biological Disasters
Atmospheric disasters include blizzard, thunderstorm, lightning, tropical cyclone, tornado, drought, hailstorm, frost, heat wave, cold waves, etc.
Terrestrial disasters include earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, avalanches, subsidence, etc.
Aquatic disasters include flood, tidal waves, storm surge, tsunami, etc.
Biological disasters include fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases (e.g. bird flu, dengue, etc.).

Disasters’ Zone

Very High Damage Earthquake Risk Zone in India include the north-eastern regions, areas to the north of Darbhanga and Araria along the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar, Uttarakhand, Western Himachal Pradesh (around Dharamshala) and Kashmir Valley in the Himalayan region, and the Kachchh (Gujarat).
High Damage Earthquake Risk Zone in India are parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Northern parts of Punjab, Eastern parts of Haryana, Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, and Northern Bihar.
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions normally cause the sea-floor to move abruptly resulting in sudden displacement of ocean water in the form of high vertical waves, which are known as tsunamis (shown in the image given below).

Tsunamis can be observed frequently along the Pacific ring of fire, particularly along the coast of Alaska, Japan, Philippines, and other islands of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and India etc.

The center of the cyclone is mostly a warm and low-pressure, cloudless core known as ‘eye of the storm’ (as shown in the image below) −
The ideal location of the tropical cyclone in India is Bay of Bengal.
Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal normally develop in the months of October and November.
Rashtriya Barh Ayog (National Flood Commission) identified 40 million hectares of land as flood-prone in India.
Assam, West Bengal, and Bihar are the high flood-prone states of India.
About 30 per cent of India’s total area comes under drought prone area, which affects about 50 million people.
The western part of Rajasthan is categorized as Extreme Drought Affected Areas.
Parts of eastern Rajasthan; many parts of Madhya Pradesh; eastern parts of Maharashtra; interior parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka Plateau; northern parts of interior Tamil Nadu; southern parts of Jharkhand; and interior parts of Odisha are categorized as Severe Drought Prone Area.
Young mountainous areas of North and north-eastern India (the Himalayan regions), Andaman and Nicobar; high rainfall regions with steep slopes in the Western Ghats and Nilgiris; along with areas of frequent earthquakes, etc. are categorized as Very High Landslide Vulnerability Zone.

Disaster Management

The Disaster Management Bill, 2005, defines disaster as “a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence affecting any area, arising from natural or man-made causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, environment, and is of such nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area.”
A situation when there is a prolonged period of inadequate rainfall is known as Meteorological Drought.
When soil moisture that is necessary to support the crops, is low or insufficient to support crop cultivation, it is known as Agricultural Drought.
When the productivity of a natural ecosystem fails because of the shortage of water and as a consequence of ecological distress, damages occur in the ecosystem, it is known as Ecological Drought.