Resources and Development

1. Define Resources
Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs,
provided, it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable
is called ‘Resource’.
2. Which factors are involved with human interaction during the process of
transformation of resources?
Nature, technology and institutions.
3. Why is resource planning essential?
OR
What is the impact of indiscriminate use of resources?
1. Indiscriminate use of resources leads to depletion of resources due to greed of a few
individuals.
2. Accumulation of resources in few hands divides the society into two segments i.e. haves
and have nots or rich and poor.
3. It has also led to the global ecological crises such as, global warming, ozone layer
depletion, environmental pollution and land degradation.
4. Thus, resource planning is essential for equitable distribution of resources and
sustainable development.

4. Define sustainable development

Sustainable development means development should take place without damaging the
environment, and development in the present should not compromise with the needs of
the future generations.

5. Short note on Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit.

1. It was the first International Earth Summit organised at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June
1992.
2. 100 countries participated in it
3. It was organised to address urgent problems of environmental protection and
socioeconomic development at the global level.
4. The member countries signed the Declaration on Global Climatic Change and Biological
Diversity.
5. They adopted the global Forest Principles and Agenda 21 for achieving Sustainable
Development in the 21st century.

6. What is Agenda 21?

1. Agenda 21 is the declaration signed by world leaders in 1992 at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2. It aims at achieving global sustainable development.
3. It is an agenda to combat environmental damage, poverty, disease through global
co-operation on common interests, mutual needs and shared responsibilities.
4. One major objective of the Agenda 21 is that every local government should draw its
own local Agenda 21.
7. What is resource planning?
1. Identification and inventory of resources across the regions of the country by surveying,
mapping and qualitative and quantitative estimation and measurement of the resources.
2. Evolving a planning structure equipped with appropriate technology, skill and institutional
set up for implementing resource development plans.
3. Matching the resource development plans with overall national development plans.

8. “There is enough for everybody’s need and not for any body’s greed.” who said it?
Gandhiji
9. Book by Schumacher - Small is Beautiful
10. Land is a resource. Explain
1. We live on land, we perform our economic activities on land.
2. It supports natural vegetation, wild life, human life, economic activities, transport and
communication systems.

11. Total land area in India - 3. 28 million sq kms

● Relief features of land in India - mountains, plateaus, plains and islands
● Plains - 43%
● Mountains - 30%
● Plateau - 27%

12. Short note on Land Utilisation in India

Land resources are used for the following purposes:
1. Forests
2. Land not available for cultivation
(a) Barren and waste land
(b) Land put to non-agricultural uses, e.g. buildings, roads, factories, etc.
3. Other uncultivated land
(a) Permanent pastures and grazing land,
(b) Land under miscellaneous tree crops groves (not included in net sown area),
(c) Cultruable waste land (left uncultivated for more than 5 agricultural years).
4. Fallow lands
(a) Current fallow-left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year
(b) Other than current fallow-left uncultivated for the past 1 to 5 agricultural years.
5. Net sown area - Area sown onpy once in an agricultural year.
Gross cropped area
Area sown more than once in an agricultural year plus net sown area is known as gross
cropped area.

13. Name the factors that determine the land use.

Natural factors - Topography, climate, soil types
Human factors - population density, technological capability and culture and traditions
14. How has land use pattern changed from 1960-61 to 2014-15?
1. The land under permanent pasture has decreased. It will be difficult to feed our huge
cattle population.
2. Land under forest cover has increased negligibly.
3. Fallow and unculturable land has decreased.
4. Net sown area has decreased marginally.
5. Land under non -agricultural use has almost doubled due to industrialisation,
urbanisation etc.

15. The pattern of net sown area varies greatly from one state to another. Explain
1. It is over 80% of the total area in Punjab and Haryana
2. It is less than 10% in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Andaman Nicobar
Islands.
16. Waste land includes rocky, arid and desert areas
17. Land put to other non-agricultural uses includes settlements, roads, railways, industry
18. What is the main reason for land degradation in the following regions?
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha - deforestation due to mining.

Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra - overgrazing

Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh - over irrigation

19. Mining results into land degradation. Explain

1. Mining leads to large scale deforestation.
2. Mining sites are abandoned after excavation work is complete leaving deep scars and
traces of over-burdening.
3. The mineral processing like grinding of limestone for cement industry and calcite and
soapstone for ceramic industry generate huge quantity of dust in the atmosphere. It
retards the process of infiltration of water into the soil after it settles down on the land.

20. What are the factors of land degradation?

1. Mining
2. Deforestation
3. Overgrazing
4. Over irrigation make land saline.
5. Industrial effluents dumped into the land.

21. What are the ways to solve problems of land degradation?

1. Afforestation and proper management of grazing.
2. Planting of shelter belts of plants,
3. Stabilisation of sand dunes by growing thorny bushes.
4. Proper management of waste lands.
5. Control of mining activities.
6. Proper discharge and disposal of industrial effluents and wastes after treatment.
22. The soil is a living system. Explain
1. Soil is the medium of plant growth.
2. It supports different types of living organisms on the earth.

23. Soil is a renewable natural resource.

23. What are the important factors in the formation of soil?

Relief, parent rock, climate, vegetation and other forms of life and time.

24. What are the agents of soil formation?

Temperature, actions of running water, wind and glaciers, activities of decomposers.

25. What are the layers of soil profile?

1. Top soil
2. Subsoil -. Contains weatherd rocks, sand silt, clay
3. Weathered parent rock
4. Unweathered parent rock

26. On which factors is soil classified?

On the basis of the factors responsible for soil formation, colour, thickness, texture,
age, chemical and physical properties, the soils are classified in different types.

● Classification of soil

Soil Type Parent Rock Content Crop Regions Remarks

Alluvial very fertile, sugarcane, northern old alluvial

potash, paddy, wheat plains, deltas (Bangar) and
phosphoric and other of the new alluvial
acid and lime cereal and Mahanadi, (Khadar),
pulse crops. the Godavari,
the Krishna Intensively
and the cultivated
Kaveri rivers, and densely
Rajasthan populated
and Gujarat
in drier areas
are more
alkaline

Black soil Basalt made up of cotton Deccan trap black in

lava flows, Maharashtra, colour
extremely Saurashtra,
fine i.e. Malwa, also known
clayey Madhya as regur soils
 material. Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh Very good
calcium capacity to
carbonate, hold
magnesium, moisture.
potash and
lime. develop deep
cracks during
But poor in hot weather,
phosphoric which helps
contents in the proper
aeration of
the soil.

sticky when
wet so
difficult to till
during rainy
season
therefore
tilled before
rainy season
starts

Red and igneous tea and in areas of develop a

Yellow soil rocks coffee low rainfall - reddish
Cashew nuts eastern and colour due to
southern diffusion of
parts of iron in
Deccan crystalline
plateau, and
Odisha, metamorphic
Chhattisgarh, rocks.

looks yellow
when occurs
in hydrated
form.

Laterite soil acidic, southern Formed by

states, intense
deficient in Western leaching due
plant Ghats region to heavy rain
nutrients of
Maharashtra,
generally Odisha,
humus poor some parts of
West Bengal
and
North-east
 regions

Arid soil soil lacks Rajasthan red to brown,

humus and
moisture. After proper
irrigation
sandy in these soils
texture, become
saline cultivable

lower layers
have Kankar
because of
the
increasing
calcium
content
downwards.
This layer
restricts
infiltration

Forest soil loamy and hilly and

silty in valley mountainous
sides and areas where
coarse sufficient rain
grained in the forests
upper slopes,

acidic with
low humus
content in
snow
covered
Himalayan
region

28. Difference between Bangar and Khadar

Bangar Khadar

It is old alluvial soil. It is new alluvial

 It has more kankar content It has more fine particles and more fertile.

29. What is soil erosion?

The denudation of the soil cover and subsequent washing down is soil erosion.
30. What are the factors of soil erosion?
1. Human factors - deforestation, over-grazing, construction and mining, defective
methods of farming etc.
2. Natural forces - wind, glacier and water.
31. What is gully erosion?
The running water cuts through the clayey soils and makes deep channels as gullies. It
is known as gully erosion.
32. What is ravine?
The running water cuts through the clayey soils and makes deep channels as gullies.
The land becomes unfit for cultivation and is known as bad land. In the Chambal basin
such lands are called ravines.
33. What is sheet erosion?
Water flows as a sheet over large areas down a slope. In such cases the top soil is
washed away. This is known as sheet erosion.
34. What is wind erosion?
Wind blows loose soil off flat or sloping land known as wind erosion.
35. What are the ways to prevent soil erosion?
1. Contour ploughing- Ploughing along the contour lines can decelerate the flow of water
down the slopes.
2. Terrace farming - Steps can be cut out on the slopes making terraces. Terrace
cultivation restricts erosion.
3. Strip cropping - Large fields can be divided into strips. Strips of grass are left to grow
between the crops. This breaks up the force of the wind.
4. Shelter belts- Planting lines of trees to create shelter belts. This also reduces force of
wind.

36. Terrace farming is effectively preventing soil erosion in western and central Himalayas.

37. Shelter belts have contributed significantly to the stabilisation of sand dunes and in
stabilising the desert in western India.

38. Madhya Pradesh government has greened 2.9 million hectares or about 1 per cent of
India’s land area across the state through watershed management.