RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT NOTES

What is a resource?
A resource is everything available in our environment that can be used to satisfy our needs
provided that it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable.

Interdependent relationship between nature, technology, and institutions

● The process of transformation of things available in our environment involves an

interactive relationship between nature, technology and institutions.
● Human beings interact with nature through technology to create institutions to accelerate
their economic growth

★ Resources are a function of human activities, human beings themselves are essential
components of resources. They transform material available into resources.

Classification of natural resources

1. On the basis of origin- biotic and abiotic
2. On the basis of exhaustibility- renewable and non renewable
3. On the basis of ownership- individual community, national and international
4. On the basis of status of development- potential, developed stock and reserves.

Classification of resources

Development of resources:

Resources are vital for:

a. Human survival
b. Maintaining the quality of life

People thought of resources as free gifts of nature. As a result, human beings used them
indiscriminately and this has led to the following problems:
 ● Depletion of resources for satisfying the greed of a few individuals.
● Accumulation of resources in few hands. Which in turn divided the society into two
segments (poor and rich)
● Indiscriminate exploitation of resources has led to global ecological crises such as
1. Global warming
2. Ozone layer depletion
3. Environmental pollution
4. Land degradation

★ An equitable distribution of resources has become essential for:

1. Sustained quality of life
2. Global peace

Why is resource planning essential?

It is essential for the sustainable existence of all forms of life. Sustainable existence is a
component of sustainable development

What is sustainable development?

Sustainable economic development means that development should take place
a. Without damaging the environment
b. And it should not compromise with the needs of the future generation

Rio de janeiro earth summit, 1992

● In 1992 the first international earth summit was held where more than 100 heads of
states met in Rio de Janeiro in brazil.
● It was convened for addressing urgent problems of environmental protection and socio
economic development at the global level.
● The leaders signed the declaration on global climatic change and biological diversity.
● The rio convention endorsed the global forest principles and adopted agenda 21 for
achieving sustainable development.

Agenda 21
● Declaration signed by world leaders in 1992 at the United Nations conference on
environment and development. (UNCED)
● It aims at achieving global sustainable development .
● Agenda to combat environmental damage, poverty, disease through global cooperation
on common interest.
● One major objective is that every local government should draw its own local agenda 21

Resource planning

What is resource planning?

Ans. Widely accepted strategy for judicious use of resources.
 Why does it have importance in a country like india?
Ans. It has importance in india because india has enormous diversity in the availability of
resources

Jharkhand, chhattisgarh, madhya pradesh Rich in minerals and coal deposits.

Arunachal pradesh Abundance of water, lack of infrastructural

development.

Rajasthan Has a lot of solar and wind energy but lacks

in water resources.

Ladakh (desert) Rich cultural heritage but is deficient in water,

infrastructure and some vital minerals

★ This calls for balanced resource planning at national, state, regional and local levels

Resource planning in india

Complex process which involves:

1. identification and inventory of resources across the regions of the country. This
involves surveying, mapping and qualitative and quantitative measurement of the
resources.
2. Evolving a planning structure endowed with appropriate technology, skill and
institutional setup for implementing resource development plans.
3. Matching the plans with overall national development plans.

❖ India has been making efforts for achieving these goals since the first five year
plan launched.

What will happen if changes are not made according to the availability of resources?
Ans. Availability of resources in the absence of corresponding changes in technology and
institutions will hinder development

❖ There are regions which are rich in resources but are economically backwards. Similarly,
There are regions which have a poor resource base but are economically developed

Example: Orissa and Jharkhand are rich in resources but are economically backwards.
Haryana and Punjab are poor in resources but economically developed.

What does the history of colonization reveal?

1. That the main attraction for the foreign invaders were the rich resources.
2. The higher level of technological development of the colonizing countries helped
them exploit our resources and establish their supremacy.
 ❖ resources can contribute to development only when they are accompanied by
appropriate technological development and institutional changes.

❖ In india development does not only involve the availability of resources but also the
technology, quality of human resources and the historical experiences

Conservation of resources
Resources are vital for any developmental activity.

What may lead to socio economic and environmental problems?

a. Irrational consumption of resources
b. Over utilization of resources

What did gandhi ji say?

“There is enough for everybody's need but not for anybody's greed”:
● Gandhi Ji said that this was the root cause for resource depletion at the global
level.
1. Greedy and selfish individuals
2. Exploitative nature of modern technology
● He was against mass production and wanted to replace it with the production by
the masses.

(SKIPPED THE BOX READ FROM BOOK PAGE 4)

Land Resources
● We live on land and perform our economic activities on land.
● Thus, Land is a natural resource of utmost importance
● It supports natural vegetation, wild life, human life, economic activities, transport and
communication systems. (remember two or three examples)
● Land is an asset of finite magnitude hence use it with care and planning.
● India has land under variety of relief features:
1. Mountains (30 percent of tsa of country) - ensure perennial flow of some rivers,
help with tourism and ecological aspects.
2. Plains (43 percent of land) - provides facilities for agriculture and industries.
3. Plateaus (27 percent of the area of the country) - Possesses rich reserves of
minerals, fossil fuels and forests
4. Islands

Land Utilization
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 (excluding fallow land)
(a) Permanent pastures and grazing land,
(b) Land under miscellaneous tree crops groves (not included in net sown area),
(c) Culturable 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 the physical extent of land on which crops are sown harvested is known as
net sown area.
Area sown more than once in an agricultural year plus net sown area is known as gross
cropped area

Net sown area- Area sown at least once in an agricultural year.

Land use pattern in India

● Use of land is determined by various factors like
Physical factors:
1. Topography
2. Climate
3. Soil type
Human factors:
1. Population density
2. Technological capability
3. Culture and traditions

● Total geographical area of india- 3.28 million sq km

● Land use is only available for 93 percent of the total geo area. This is because:
a. Land use reports for north east states except assam have not been done
b. Some areas of J&K have been occupied by Pakistan and China have also not
been surveyed.
● Land under permanent pasture has been decreased.
● Most of the “other than the current fallow lands” are either of poor quality or the cost of
cultivation is very high.
● Hence these lands are only cultivated once or twice in about two to three years.
● If these are included in nsa then the percentage will come to 54 percent (not imp. Read
from book once)
● The pattern of net sown area varies greatly from one state to another. It is over 80 per
cent of the total area in Punjab and Haryana and less than 10 per cent in Arunachal
Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Andaman Nicobar Islands.
● Forest area in the country is far lower than the desired 33 per cent of geographical area,
as it was outlined in the National Forest Policy (1952)
● It was essential for :
1. Maintenance of ecological balance.
2. LIvelihood of people who live on the fringes of these forest depend upon it.
● Part of land is termed as
a. Waste land ( rocky, arid and desert areas )
b. Land put to non agricultural uses ( settlements, roads, railways, industry )

Land Degradation and Conservation Measures

● Continuous use of land without taking appropriate measures to conserve and manage it
has led to degradation of land.
● Our basic needs for food and shelter and clothing are obtained from land; human
activities have also aggravated the pace of natural forces to cause damage to land.
● Some human activities such as deforestation, over grazing, mining and quarrying too
have contributed significantly in land degradation.

1. MINING SITES:
❖ They are abandoned after excavation work is complete.
❖ This leaves deep scars and traces of over burdening
❖ Example in: jharkhand, chhattisgarh, madhya pradesh, odisha. Deforestation due
to mining is common.
2. OVERGRAZING:
❖ In states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra overgrazing
is one of the main reasons for land degradation
3. OVER IRRIGATION:
❖ In the states of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, over irrigation is the
main cause
❖ Due to waterlogging the salinity and alkalinity of the soil increases.
4. INDUSTRIAL:
❖ The mineral processing like grinding of limestone for cement industry and calcite
and soapstone for ceramic industry generate huge quantities of dust in the
atmosphere. It retards the process of infiltration of water into the soil after it
settles down on the land
❖ In recent years, industrial effluents as waste have become a major source of land
and water pollution in many parts of the country

Solutions to this:
1. Afforestation: afforestation and proper management of grazing can help.
2. Shelterbelts: Planting of shelterbelts of plants, control on overgrazing of plants.
3. Thorny bushes: stabilization of sand dunes by growing thorny bushes are some
of the methods to check land degradation in arid areas.
4. Disposal of industrial effluents: Proper management of waste lands, control of
mining activities, proper discharge and disposal of industrial effluents and wastes
after treatment can reduce land and water degradation in industrial and suburban
areas.
 Soil as a resource
● Most important renewable natural resource.
● Medium of plant growth
● Important factors in formation of soil:
1. Relief
2. Parent rock/ bed rock
3. Climate
4. Vegetation
5. Time
● Forces of nature that contribute to formation of soil
1. Change in temp.
2. Actions of running water
3. Wind
4. Glaciers
5. Activities of decomposers
● Soil consists of organic (humus) and inorganic materials.

Classification of soils
● Varied relief features, landforms, climatic realms and vegetation types contribute
to development of various soils.

Alluvial Soil:
1. Most widely spread and imp soil
2. Place: entire northern plains made from this. They also extend in Rajasthan and Gujarat
through a narrow corridor. They are found in eastern coastal plains(deltas of: Mahanadi,
godavari,krishna and kaveri)
3. Deposited by three imp himalayan river systems
a. Indus
b. Ganga
c. Brahmaputra
4. Consists of various proportions of
a. Sand
b. Silt
c. clay
5. When we move inlands towards the river valley, soil particles appear bigger in size
6. Upper reaches of the river valley, near the place of the break of slope the soils are coarse.
7.Such soils are more common in piedmont plains
a. Duars
b. Chos
c. Terai
8. Classified according to age:
a. Old alluvial soil- Bangar ~ higher concentration of kanker nodules, more fine particles,
more fertile
b. New alluvial- Khadar ~ lower concentration of Kanker, less fine particles, less fertile
 9. Alluvial soils in general are very fertile
10. Contain adequate proportion of
a. Potash
b. Phosphoric acid
c. Lime
❖ These are ideal for growth of:
a. Sugarcane
b. Paddy
c. Wheat
d. Other cereal
e. Pulse crops
11. Due to its high fertility, regions of alluvial soils are intensively cultivated and densely
populated.
12. Soils in drier areas are more alkaline and can be productive after proper treatment and
irrigation.

Black Soil:
1. Black in colour
2. Also known as regur soils.
3. Ideal for growing cotton soil is also known as black cotton soil
4. Formation of black soil:
a. Climatic condition
b. Parent rock material
5. Location: Deccan trap (basalt) region spread over northwest deccan plateau (made up of lava
flows). Cover plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
and extend in the south east direction along the Godavari and the Krishna valleys.
6. Made up of extremely fine clayey material
7. Well known for their capacity to hold moisture
8. Rich in soil nutrients, such as:
a. Calcium carbonate
b. Magnesium
c. Potash
d. Lime
9. Poor in phosphoric contents.
10. They develop deep cracks during hot weather, this helps in proper aeration of soil.
11. Sticky when wet and difficult to work on unless they are tilled after the first shower or during
pre monsoon period.

Red and yellow soils:

1. Develops on crystalline igneous rocks in areas of low rainfall in the eastern and southern
parts of the deccan plateau.
2. Location: parts of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, southern parts of the middle Ganga plain and
along the piedmont zone of the Western Ghats
3. Develop a reddish colour due to diffusion of iron in crystalline and metamorphic rocks.
 4. Looks yellow when it occurs in a hydrated form

Laterite soil:
1. Derived from latin word ‘later’ which means brick
2. Develops under tropical and subtropical climate with alternate wet and dry season.
3. Soil is the result of intense leaching due to heavy rain.
4. They are mostly deep to very deep, they are acidic (pH is less than 6)
5. Deficient in plant nutrients
6. Location: mostly in southern states, Western Ghats region of Maharashtra, Odisha,
some parts of West Bengal and North-east regions
7. Where these soils support deciduous and evergreen forests, it is hummus rich
8. Under sparse vegetation and in semi- arid environment it is generally hummus poor
9. Prone to erosion and degradation because of position on the landscape
10. After adopting appropriate soil conservation techniques particularly in the hilly areas of
Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, this soil is very useful for growing tea and coffee.
11. Red laterite soils in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala are more suitable for
crops like cashew nuts.

Arid soils:
1. Range from red to brown in colour
2. Sandy in texture
3. Saline in nature
4. Salt content in some areas is high, we can make common salt by evaporating the water
5. Why is evaporation faster and why does the soil lack hummus and moisture:
a. Dry climate
b. High temperature
6. Lower horizons occupied by- Kankar because of increase in calcium content downwards
7. Kankar layer formation: restricts infiltration of water
8. After proper irrigation they are cultivable as seen in western rajasthan

Forest soils:
1. Location: Found in hilly and mountainous areas where sufficient rain and forests are
available.
2. Soil texture varies - according to the mountain environment where they are formed
3. Loam and silty - valley sides
4. Coarse grained - upper slopes
5. Snow covered areas of himalayas - soils experience denudation and are acidic with low
humus content.
6. Lower parts of the valley (river terraces and alluvial fans) - Soils are fertile.
 Soil erosion and soil conservation

Q. What is soil erosion?

Ans. The denudation of the soil cover and subsequent washing down is described as soil
erosion.

● The processes of soil formation and erosion, go on simultaneously and generally there is
a balance between the two.
● This balance is disturbed due to human activities like:
1. Deforestation
2. Overgrazing
3. Construction
4. Mining
● Natural forces like Wind, glacier and water lead to soil erosion
● running water cuts through the clayey soils and makes deep channels as gullies
● Land becomes unfit for cultivation and is known as bad land
● Chambal basin such lands are called ravines
● Water flows as a sheet over large areas down a slope. This washes the top soil away.
This is known as Sheet erosion.
● Wind blows loose soil off flat or sloping land known as wind erosion.
● Soil erosion is also caused due to defective methods of farming. Such as:
1. Ploughing in a wrong way i.e. up and down the slope form channels for the quick
flow of water leading to soil erosion.

Steps to prevent this:

1. Contour ploughing: Ploughing along the contour lines can decelerate the flow of water
down the slopes.
2. Terrace cultivation: Steps can be cut out on the slopes making terraces. Terrace
cultivation restricts erosion.
3. Terrace Farming: Western and central Himalayas have well developed terrace farming.
4. 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. This method is known as strip
cropping.
5. Shelterbelts: Planting lines of trees to create shelter also works in a similar way. Rows
of such trees are called shelter belts. These shelter belts have contributed significantly to
the stabilisation of sand dunes and in stabilising the desert in western India.