RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

Meaning: Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our
needs, provided, it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally
acceptable can be termed as Resources.

Classification of Resources

# On the basis of Origin:

o Biotic: Resources which are obtained from biospheres and have life such as human
beings, flora and fauna, fisheries etc

o Abiotic: Resources which are composed of non- living things such as rocks, minerals

# On the basis of Exhaustibility:

o Renewable: Resources which can be renewed or reproduced by physical, mechanical,

and chemical process. such as solar and wind energy, forest, water etc.

o Non- Renewable: Resources which take millions of years in their formation. They may
exhaust by excessive use such as petrol, coal, fossil fuels etc.

# On the basis of the status of Development:

° Developed: Resources which are surveyed, and their quantity and quality is
determined for utilization. eg: coal mines.

° Potential: Resources which are found yet not utilized. e.g. sun and wind energy in
deserts.

° Stock: These have potential to satisfy human needs, but humans don't have
technology to access these. Eg: Extracting H₂ and O₂ from H₂O.

° Reserve: These resources can be utilised with help of existing technology but are kept
for future requirements. E.g. water can be used to generate more hydroelectricity.

# On the basis of Ownership:

° Individual: Resources owned privately by individuals. e.g: plot, house, car, wells etc.
° Community: Resources which are accessible to all the members of the community
ego. - public parks, playgrounds, picnic spots etc.

° National: Technically, all resources available in the country are national resources of
e.g: forests, wildlife, land division and political territories or Resources which are within
the political boundary and oceanic area upto 12 nautical miles from the coast belong to
the nation

° International: Resources which are regulated by international institutions. Eg: Oceanic

resources beyond 200 nautical miles of the exclusive zone belongs to open ocean and
no individual country can utilize them without the concurrence of these international
institutions.

Development of Resources

Resources of different kinds are vital for human survival and also for maintaining the
quality of life. Earlier the resources were taken as free gifts of nature and were used
indiscriminately because of which some major problems arise:

o Depletion of resources for satisfying the greed of few individuals.

o Accumulation of resource in few hands have divided the society into two segments i.e.
haves and have nots or rich or poor.

o Indiscriminate exploitation of resources has led to global ecological crisis such as

global warming, ozone layer depletion, environmental pollution, and land degradation.

Therefore, a fair distribution of resources therefore is essential for a sustained quality of

life and global peace. This can be achieved through proper planning.

# Sustainable Development:

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

# Agenda 21: It is a declaration signed by the world leaders in 1992 at UNCED, which
took places at Rio de Janeiro. It aims at archiving global sustainable development.

# Resource Planning in India:

° Resource Planning means identification and quantification of the available resources

along with their development
° It is important in a country like India, which has an enormous diversity in availability of
resources. ° There are regions which are rich in certain types of resources but are
deficient in other resources. This calls for balanced resources planning at national,
state, regional and local levels.

° Arunachal Pradesh has abundances of water but lacks in infrastructural development.

Rajasthan is endowed with solar and wind energy but lacks in water resources. Cold
deserts of Ladakh have rich heritage but lacks in water, infrastructural development,
and other vital minerals.

# Process of Resource planning:

This is a technique or skill of proper utilization of resources. Resource planning consists

of three stages –

° Identification and inventory of resources - Involves surveying, mapping and

measurement of characteristics and properties and properties of resources.

° Evolving a planning structure endowed with appropriate - Technology, skill and

institutional set up for implementing resource development plants.

° Matching - The resources development plans with overall national development plans.

Land Resources

India's geographical area comprises:

° Plains (43%) provide facilities for agriculture and industries.

° Mountains (30%) ensure perennial flow of rivers. It provides facilities for tourism and
ecological aspects.

° Plateau (27%) possesses rich reserves of minerals, fossil fuels and forests.

# Land Utilisation:

land resources are used for the following purposes:

(i) Forest
(ii) land put to non- agricultural uses: eg buildings, roads, factories etc.
(iii) Net sown area: Area sown more than once in an agricultural year plus net
sown area is known as gross cropped area.
 (iv) fallow lands: Land left without cultivation for one or more than one
agricultural year
(v) other cultivated land: Permanent pastures and grazing land, land under
miscellaneous tree crops groves (not included in net sown area), Culturable
waste land (left uncultivated for more than 5 agricultural years).

Note: The land use pattern in India is determined by both physical factors such as
topography, climate, soil types as well as human factors such as population density,
technological capability, culture and traditions etc.

# land Degradation

The decrease in the quality of land due to human and natural activities which makes it
unfit for cultivation is known as land degradation.

# Causes of land degradation:

o Overgrazing in States like Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, etc.

o Over irrigation in States like Punjab, Haryana and UP due to water logging leading to
increase in salinity and alkalinity in the soil.

o Mining sites are unused after excavation work is complete leaving deep scars and
traces of over burdening.

o Mineral processing like grinding of limestone for cement industry and calcite &
soapstone for ceramic industry generate huge amount of dust in atmosphere. It retards
the process of infiltration of water into soil after it settles down on land.

o Industrial effluents as waste has become major source of land and water pollution.

# Measures for Land conservation /Solutions:

° Afforestation and proper management of grazing can help to some extent.

° Control on overgrazing.

° Control on mining activities.

° Planting of shelter belts.

° Proper discharge and disposal of industrial effluents.

Soil as a Resource

A most important renewable natural resource but takes millions of years to form soil
upto a few centimetres in depth. Types of soil:

# Alluvial soil:

° This soil type is most important and widely spread. The entire northern plains are
made of alluvial soil. (e.g.: Parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan etc)

° On the basis of age, alluvial soil can be classified into:

(a)Bangar: old alluvial, more concentration of Kanker nodules and is less fertile.

(b) Khadar: New alluvial, less concentration of Kanker nodules and is more fertile.

° Alluvial soil consists of potash, phosphoric and lime.

° Ideal for sugarcane, paddy, wheat and other cereal and pulse crops.

# Black soil (Reg or soil):

° Black in colour and ideal for growing cotton. So also called black cotton soil.

° covers the north -western Deccan Plateau, plateau of Maharashtra, Saurashtra,

Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

° It is rich in soil nutrients such as calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime.

° It is made up of extremely fine clayey material and is known for their capacity to hold
moisture.

# Red and Yellow soil:

° Develops on crystalline igneous rocks in areas of low rainfall.

° It covers southern and eastern part of Deccan plateau, parts of Chhattisgarh and
Odisha and piedmont zone of western ghats.

° soil develops a red colour on diffusion with iron in crystalline and metamorphic rocks.
Yellow in hydrated form.

# laterite soil:

° In the areas of heavy rainfall and high temperature

° Humus content is low as bacteria die in high temperature.

° Suitable for cultivation with adequate doses of manures and fertilizers.

° found in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and hilly areas of Odisha and
Assam.

° After adopting appropriate soil conservation techniques in hilly areas of Karnataka,

Kerala, and Tamil Nadu this soil is very useful for growing Tea and coffee. Red laterite
soil in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh is suitable for growing cashew nut.

# Arid soil:

° Ranges from red to brown in colour. Sandy in texture and saline in nature

° Due to dry climate and high temperature, soil lacks in humus and moisture content.
After proper irrigation facilities it is cultivable.

o lies in the western part of Rajasthan.

# Forest soil:

° found in hilly and mountainous areas where sufficient rain forests are available.

° The soil texture varies according to mountain environment where they are formed.
They are loamy and silty in valley sides and coarse grained in the upper slopes.

° In the snow- covered areas, soil experience denudation and are acidic with low humus
content. Soil found in the lower parts of the valleys on river terraces and alluvial fans are
fertile.

Soil Erosion: causes and solutions

The denudation of the soil cover and subsequent washing down is called soil Erosion.
Caused due to:

° Deforestation & Overgrazing

° Construction & mining

° Water flows as a sheet over large areas down the slope. This causes washing away of
top. This is called sheet erosion.

° Wind blows loose soil off flat or sloping land. This is called Wind erosion.

° land unfit for cultivation is called as Bad land.

Conservation / solution:

steps can be cut out on the slopes making terraces. Terrace cultivation restricts erosion.

° Afforestation.

° Ploughing along the contour lines can decelerate the flow of water down the slopes.
This is contour ploughing.

° Planting lines of trees to create shelter belts to break the force of wind. Rows of such
trees is called shelter belts.

° large fields are divided into strips. strips of grass are left to grow between the crops.
This breaks the force of wind; this method is known as strip cropping.