NCERT Solutions For Class 10 Geography Chapter 1 Resources And Development Long Questions And Answers
Question 1. What are the steps involved in the complex process of resource planning? Why is resource
planning important in the context of a country like India?
Answer:
Resource planning is a complex process which involves:
- Identification of resources across the country through surveying, mapping, and preparation of an inventory of resources through their quantitative and qualitative estimation and measurement.
- Developing a planning structure for resource development taking into account technology, skill, and infrastructure available for implementing the plans.
- Matching the resource development plans with overall national development plans.
- This involves systematic planning of the exploitation of resources. Resource planning is important in a country like India, which has enormous diversity in the availability of resources.
- While some regions are rich in certain types of resources, they may be deficient in some other types of resources.
- For example, a mineral-rich region may be poor in infrastructure or may be socio-culturally backward and included in economically backward regions.
- Some regions are self-sufficient in terms of availability of resources, while, on the other hand, there are regions that face an acute shortage of resources.
- Thus, for proper development, distribution, sharing, and utilization of resources, taking into consideration the technology, quality of human resources, and historical experiences of the people, resource planning is essential for development.
- India has made concerted efforts to achieve the goals of resource planning right from the First Five-Year Plan launched after Independence.
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Question 2. What are the main types of soil found in India? Which type of soil is the most widespread and important soil of India? Describe in detail about this soil type.
Answer:
The main types of soil found in various parts of India are as follows:
- Alluvial soil
- Black soil
- Red and Yellow soil
- Laterite soil
- Arid or Desert soil
- Forest and Mountainous soil
Alluvial soil is the most fertile, widespread, and important soil of India. It is a riverine soil transported and deposited by the three great river systems the Indus, the Ganga, and the Brahmaputra – which have formed the entire Northern Plains.
It is also found in the deltas of the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna, and the Kaveri rivers along the Eastern Coastal plains. It also extends in a narrow corridor to Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The fertility of the alluvial soil has made the Northern Plains and the Eastern Coastal Plain the most productive agricultural regions of India with a high-density population.
The alluvial soil contains an adequate proportion of potash, phosphoric acid, and lime which are ideal for the cultivation of paddy, wheat, other cereals and pulses, and sugarcane. The alluvial soil consists of various proportions of sand, silt, and clay.
The soil near the floodplain is more or less fine and in the deltas, it is the finest. This soil is coarse in the upper reaches of the river valley, especially near breaks of slope and in pediment plains like Duars, Chos, and Terai.
Alluvial soil is renewed every year during annual floods. The new, fertile, light-colored, and fine alluvial soil deposited near the river is called khadar.
The old alluvial soil deposited earlier is found at about 30 meters above the flood level of the rivers. It is clayey, dark in color, coarse with kanker nodules, and less fertile.
Question 3. What is soil erosion? How do human activities and natural forces cause soil erosion? Suggest measures of soil conservation in hilly, and mountainous areas and in desert areas.
Answer:
The denudation or destruction of the soil cover and their subsequent natural removal is termed soil erosion. Human activities as well as natural forces cause denudation of the topsoil.
The soil nutrients are subsequently washed away by running water or blown away by wind. Human activities like deforestation, overgrazing, construction, and mining as well as faulty methods of farming lead to soil erosion.
Natural forces like wind, water, and glaciers can cause soil erosion. Surface runoff leads to the formation of gullies, badlands, and ravines by cutting out channels in the soil.
Entire topsoil may be washed off under the impact of sheet erosion caused by large water flows down a slope.
Loose soil may be blown away by wind easily. In hilly and mountainous areas, the following measures can help to control soil erosion :
- Contour plowing or plowing along the contour lines of a highland can decelerate the flow of water down the slopes.
- Terrace cultivation or cutting of steps around the slopes to provide land for agriculture also checks the downhill flow of water and controls soil erosion, for example., as in the Western and Central Himalayan regions.
- Afforestation can help in soil conservation in hilly areas. In dry desert areas, planting rows of trees known as shelter belts to check the velocity of wind can control soil erosion.
- These shelter belts have contributed significantly to the stabilization of sand dunes and checking the spread of desert in Western India.
Question 4. What is the need for ‘conservation of resources”? Elucidate in the light of Gandhiji’s view.
Answer:
Irrational consumption and over-exploitation of resources without consideration for future generations have led to grave socio-economic and environmental problems.
Social and economic distinctions on the basis of haves and have-nots and global ecological problems like global warming, ozone layer depletion, environmental pollution, and land degradation are all consequences of uncontrolled exploitation of resources.
To overcome these problems and to preserve resources for future generations as well, the conservation of resources is essential.
Gandhiji expressed his concern about resource conservation through these words, “There is enough for everybody’s need but not for anybody’s greed.”
According to Gandhiji, greedy and selfish individuals and the exploitative nature of modern technology are the root causes of resource depletion at the global level.
He advocated production by the masses and was against mass production which leads to uncontrolled exploitation of resources.
Accumulation of resources in a few hands due to indiscriminate exploitation of resources has divided society into rich and poor.
An equitable distribution of resources has become essential for sustained quality of life and global peace.
This can reduce tension between countries and lead to planned and judicious use of resources. Similarly, the conservation of resources can also help tackle the ecological crisis at the global level.
Question 5. What does the term land degradation’ mean? Which human activities have contributed significantly to land degradation? Suggest measures to solve the problems of land degradation.
Answer:
Continuous use of land over a prolonged period of time, without taking necessary steps to conserve and manage it, has resulted in land degradation, i.e., qualitative degradation of land. The quality of the land becomes poorer due to the gradual loss of fertility due to unplanned use. Unplanned use and overexploitation by humans have led to the degradation of land and have also aggravated the pace of natural forces to cause damage to land. Human activities such as deforestation, overgrazing, mining, and quarrying have contributed significantly to land degradation. Faulty methods of cultivation and over-irrigation have also caused land degradation in some areas. Mineral processing like grinding of limestone for the cement industry, industrial effluents, and wastes causes pollution and leads to land degradation.
The problem of land degradation may be tackled by adopting certain measures to conserve land.
- Afforestation or large-scale plantation of trees and proper management of grazing.
- Planting of shelter belts of plants and stabilization of sand dunes by growing thorny bushes in windy, arid areas like the desert of Rajasthan.
- Proper management of wasteland and control of mining activities.
- Proper discharge and disposal of industrial effluents and waste after treatment in industrial and suburban areas.
Question 6. What is resource planning? Why is resource planning essential? Explain with three
reasons.
Answer:
Resource planning is a widely accepted strategy for judicious use of resources. It is a complex process which involves :
- Identification and inventory of resources across the regions of the country through surveying, mapping, and qualitative and quantitative estimation and measurement of resources.
- Evolving a planning structure endowed with appropriate technology, skill, and institutional set-up for implementing resource development plans.
- Matching the resource development plans with overall national development plans. Resource Planning is essential mainly for the following reasons.
Resources are not equally distributed throughout the world. Within a country also some regions may be rich in resources and self-sufficient in terms of availability of resources while some other regions may have acute shortages of some vital resources.
There are regions that are rich in certain types of resources but are deficient in some other resources.
Some regions in the country that are rich in natural resources may be included among economically backward regions. On the other hand, there are some regions which have a poor resource base but are economically developed.
Technology, the quality of human resources, and the historical experiences of the people influence resource development. In a country like India which has an enormous diversity in the availability of resources, resource planning is indispensable.
Question 7. Explain human activities that are responsible for land degradation of soil in India.
Answer:
Continuous use of land over a prolonged period of time without taking necessary steps to conserve and manage it has resulted in land degradation. Four human activities responsible for land degradation in India are as follows:
- In states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha, deforestation due to mining has caused severe land degradation.
- Mining sites are dug, drilled quarried, and abandoned after excavation work is over, leaving the landowner burdened and in a highly degraded state.
- Mineral processing like the grinding of limestone for the cement industry and calcite and soapstone for the ceramic industry generates a huge quality of mineral dust in the atmosphere which ultimately settles down on the land.
- It retards the process of infiltration of water into the soil, thus, degrading the land. The discharge of industrial effluents and wastes causes pollution and land degradation in industrial regions.
- In states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, overgrazing is one of the main reasons for land degradation.
- In Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh, over-irrigation is responsible for land degradation. It leads to water logging which in turn increases salinity and alkalinity in the soil and reduces its fertility.
Question 8. Explain any three factors responsible for soil formation.
Answer:
Soil is the medium of plant growth and supports different types of living organisms, including animals and human beings, by providing them with food for their survival.
Human existence and settlement are determined by soil fertility as it determines the agricultural productivity of an area.
Soil determines the natural vegetation and type of crop production of an area. It also influences the land use of an area. Areas of fertile soil are agriculturally productive and densely populated.
It is one of the most important renewable natural resources. Relief, the nature of the parent rock or bedrock, climate, vegetation, and other forms of life (especially decomposers), and time are important factors in the formation of soil.
The three most important factors of soil formation are:
- Nature of parent rock. It influences the color and texture of the soil. The mineral content of the soil also depends on the parent rock from which it is formed.
- Climate influences the rate and types of weathering and erosion of the rocks. Weathering of the parent rocks due to climatic factors and natural forces leads to the disintegration of rocks which leads to the formation of soil.
- Time determines the maturity of the soil. The soil is a living system. It takes millions of years to form soil upto a few centimeters in depth.
Question 9. Classify resources on the basis of ownership into four categories. Mention the main
features of each.
Or
How will you classify resources on the basis of their ownership? Explain.
Answer:
On the basis of ownership, resources can be classified into the following categories:
- Individual Resources: Individual resources are owned privately by individuals or groups of individuals.
- Plots of lands owned by farmers, pasture lands, ponds, orchards, and water in wells, are examples of resources owned by individuals in the villages.
- Plots of land, houses, cars, and other properties are some examples of individual resources in urban areas. Plantations are also individual resources.
- A plot of land, management, revenue, products, and profits are under individual ownership.
- Community-Owned Resources: Community-owned resources are accessible to all members of the community.
- These resources can be used by all people living in the area.
- Picnic spots, maidans, village ponds, grazing grounds, burial grounds, etc., in the villages; playgrounds, public parks, markets, etc., in the urban areas, are examples of community-owned resources.
- National Resources: National Resources mean all resources owned by a nation.
- All the forests, wildlife, minerals, water resources, and land within the political! boundaries of a nation and oceanic area upto 12 nautical miles, i.e., 19.2 km.
- From the coast termed territorial water, resources therein belong to the nation and are termed as national resources.
- International Resources: International Resources are under the jurisdiction and regulation of international organizations.
- The oceanic resources beyond 200 km of the Exclusive Economic Zone belong to open oceans and no individual country can utilize these without the concurrence of international institutions, for example., manganese nodules in the bed of the Indian Ocean.
Question 10. Why is there a need for resource planning?
Answer:
- Most of the resources are limited in supply.
- Most of the resources are unevenly distributed over the country.
- Overutilization of resources may lead to pollution of the environment.
- Underutilization of resources will lead to the underdevelopment of the economy.
- There is a need to plan human resources because only then we would be able to develop our natural resources.
Question 11. How does industry cause land degradation
Answer:
- The industrialisation process requires minerals and the extraction of minerals generates heavy amounts of dust and smoke in the atmosphere.
- During the processing of minerals, industries release many harmful chemicals which have a negative impact on the fertility of the soil.
- The sources of energy in the industries like coal, petroleum, etc., also release harmful gases into the atmosphere.
- The dumping of waste from factories and waste chemicals on any land leads to the degradation of land.