Resources and Development is Chapter 1 of Class 10 Geography, from the NCERT book Contemporary India II. The chapter explains what a resource is, how resources are classified, why resource planning is needed, land use and land degradation in India, and the different types of soil. These notes give you the full chapter in simple English, with a soil table you can revise in five minutes.
Chapter at a glance
- Anything in our environment that can satisfy our needs, and is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable, is a resource.
- Resources are classified by origin, exhaustibility, ownership and status of development.
- Sustainable development means using resources without harming the environment and without compromising the needs of future generations.
- India has six main soil types: alluvial, black, red and yellow, laterite, arid and forest soils.
What is a resource?
Everything available in our environment that can be used to satisfy our needs is a resource, provided it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable. Resources are not only gifts of nature. Human beings are an essential part of resources: they change material in the environment into resources and use them. So nature, technology and institutions work together.
Classification of resources
On the basis of origin
- Biotic: obtained from the biosphere and have life: human beings, flora and fauna, fisheries, livestock.
- Abiotic: non-living things: rocks and metals.
On the basis of exhaustibility
- Renewable: can be renewed by physical, chemical or mechanical processes: solar and wind energy, water, forests, wildlife.
- Non-renewable: take millions of years to form: minerals and fossil fuels. Some, like metals, can be recycled; others, like fossil fuels, cannot.
On the basis of ownership
- Individual: owned privately: farmland, houses, plots.
- Community: accessible to all members of a community: village grazing grounds, burial grounds, ponds, public parks.
- National: technically, all resources belong to the nation: roads, canals, railways, minerals, wildlife, and the ocean area up to 12 nautical miles (about 22 km) from the coast.
- International: oceanic resources beyond 200 nautical miles of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) belong to no country; they can be used only with the permission of international institutions.
On the basis of status of development
- Potential: found in a region but not yet used: wind and solar energy in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
- Developed: surveyed, with quality and quantity known, and in use.
- Stock: materials that could satisfy needs, but we do not have the technology to use them: hydrogen from water as a fuel.
- Reserves: the part of the stock that can be used with present technology but is kept for the future: water in dams, forests.
Development of resources and sustainable development
Careless use of resources has caused three problems: depletion of resources to satisfy the greed of a few; accumulation of resources in a few hands, dividing society into rich and poor; and global ecological crises like global warming, ozone layer depletion, pollution and land degradation.
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The solution is sustainable economic development: development that takes place without damaging the environment, and does not compromise the needs of future generations. The Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit of 1992, the first International Earth Summit, attended by more than 100 heads of state, adopted Agenda 21 for global sustainable development. Its major objective was that every local government should draw up its own local Agenda 21.
Resource planning
Planning is needed because resources are unevenly distributed. Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are rich in minerals and coal; Arunachal Pradesh has plenty of water but poor infrastructure; Rajasthan has solar and wind energy but lacks water; Ladakh has a rich cultural heritage but lacks water and infrastructure. Resource planning in India has three stages:
- Identification and inventory of resources: surveying, mapping, and measuring quality and quantity.
- Evolving a planning structure with appropriate technology, skill and institutions.
- Matching resource development plans with the overall national development plans.
Resources alone do not bring development. Colonial exploitation of resource-rich regions shows that technology and institutions matter too. Conservation of resources is important at all levels. Gandhiji said: “There is enough for everybody’s need and not for anybody’s greed.”
Land resources and land use in India
India has varied relief: about 43% plains (for agriculture and industry), 30% mountains (rivers, forests, tourism) and 27% plateau (minerals, fossil fuels, forests). Land use is decided by physical factors (topography, climate, soil) and human factors (population density, technology, culture and traditions).
Land use categories in India: forests; land not available for cultivation (barren land, and land put to non-agricultural uses like buildings and roads); other uncultivated land (permanent pastures, land under tree crops, and culturable waste land left uncultivated for more than 5 years); fallow land (current fallow, left for one year, and other than current fallow, left for 1 to 5 years); and net sown area. Net sown area plus the area sown more than once in a year is the gross cropped area.
The National Forest Policy (1952) said 33% of the geographical area should be under forest, but the actual forest cover is much less. The pattern of net sown area varies: over 80% in Punjab and Haryana, and under 10% in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Land degradation and conservation
About 130 million hectares of land in India is degraded. Causes: mining (Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha: deep scars and overburden left behind); overgrazing (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra); over-irrigation causing waterlogging and salinity (Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh); mineral processing like grinding limestone for cement and calcite and soapstone for ceramics (dust settles on the land); and industrial effluents.
Conservation measures: afforestation, proper management of grazing, planting shelter belts of trees, control of overgrazing, stabilisation of sand dunes with thorny bushes, proper management of wasteland, control of mining, and proper discharge and disposal of industrial effluents and waste after treatment.
Soils of India
| Soil | Where found | Main features | Crops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alluvial | Northern plains; deltas of the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri | Deposited by rivers; mix of sand, silt and clay. Old alluvium is bangar (has kankar nodules); new alluvium is khadar (more fertile). Rich in potash, phosphoric acid and lime. | Sugarcane, paddy, wheat, cereals, pulses |
| Black (regur) | Deccan trap: Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh; Godavari and Krishna valleys | Made of lava; clayey, holds moisture; rich in calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime; poor in phosphorus. Develops cracks in summer (self-ploughing). Sticky when wet. | Cotton (so it is called black cotton soil) |
| Red and yellow | Eastern and southern Deccan plateau, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, southern Ganga plain, Western Ghats | Develops on crystalline igneous rocks in low-rainfall areas. Red because of iron; yellow when hydrated. | Varies |
| Laterite | Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, hilly areas of Odisha and Assam | Forms under high temperature and heavy rain; intense leaching; low humus; acidic. Needs manure and fertilisers. | Tea, coffee, cashew nut |
| Arid | Western Rajasthan | Red to brown; sandy and saline; low humus and moisture; a kankar layer at depth restricts water infiltration. | Cultivable with irrigation |
| Forest | Hilly and mountainous areas | Loamy and silty in valleys, coarse on slopes; acidic and low in humus in snow-covered Himalayan areas; fertile in the lower valleys. | Varies |
Soil erosion and conservation
Soil erosion is the removal of the soil cover. Running water cuts gullies in clayey soils and makes land unfit for cultivation; this is bad land, called ravines in the Chambal basin. When water flows as a sheet over a large area and washes off the top soil, it is sheet erosion. Wind blows loose soil off flat or sloping land; this is wind erosion. Human causes: deforestation, overgrazing, construction, mining, and defective farming such as ploughing up and down a slope.
Conservation: contour ploughing (ploughing along contour lines, which slows the flow of water down the slope), terrace farming (steps on slopes, as in the Western and central Himalayas), strip cropping (strips of grass between crops to break the force of wind), and shelter belts (rows of trees, which have stabilised sand dunes in western India).
Important questions
- Classify resources on the basis of exhaustibility, ownership and status of development, with examples. (5 marks)
- What is sustainable development? Why is it needed? (3 marks)
- Explain the three stages of resource planning in India. (3 marks)
- Describe the main causes of land degradation in India and suggest measures to control it. (5 marks)
- Compare alluvial soil and black soil. (3 marks)
- How is soil eroded? Explain the methods of soil conservation. (5 marks)
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FAQs
What is the difference between bangar and khadar?
Both are alluvial soils. Bangar is old alluvium, higher up and away from the river, with kankar nodules. Khadar is new alluvium deposited every year in the flood plains; it is finer and more fertile.
Why is black soil called self-ploughing soil?
It develops deep cracks in summer, which lets air enter the soil. This does the work of ploughing naturally.
What was Agenda 21?
A declaration signed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 to achieve global sustainable development. It aims to combat environmental damage, poverty and disease through global cooperation.
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