Resources and Development · Class 10 Geography: 122 flashcards
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1. Define a resource.
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Anything in the environment that can satisfy a human need, once it is reachable with available technology, worth its cost, and acceptable to the society that would use it.
2. Name the three conditions in the definition of a resource.
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Technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable.
3. Are resources free gifts of nature?
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No. They are a function of human activities, and human beings themselves are essential components of resources.
4. What do human beings do to material available in the environment?
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They transform it into resources and use them.
5. What three things are in an interactive relationship when resources are created?
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Nature, technology and institutions.
6. How do human beings interact with nature, and why do they create institutions?
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By acting on nature with technology, and by setting up institutions that make development move faster.
7. Name the four bases on which resources are classified.
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Origin, exhaustibility, ownership, and status of development.
8. What are the categories on the basis of origin?
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Biotic and abiotic.
9. What are the categories on the basis of exhaustibility?
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Renewable and non-renewable.
10. What are the categories on the basis of ownership?
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Individual, community, national and international.
11. What are the categories on the basis of status of development?
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Potential, developed, stock and reserves.
12. Into which two branches does the classification tree first divide resources?
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Natural and human.
13. What are the two kinds of renewable resource in the tree?
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Continuous or flow, such as wind and water, and biological, which divides into natural vegetation (forests) and wildlife.
14. What are the two kinds of non-renewable resource in the tree?
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Recyclable, such as metals, and non-recyclable, such as fossil fuels.
15. Are recyclable resources renewable?
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No. Recyclable resources such as metals sit under non-renewable. Recycling lets the same material be used again but does not create any more of it.
16. How do human resources appear in the classification tree?
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As structures and institutions, and as quantity and quality.
17. Why can the same substance be a resource in one place and not in another?
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Because it is a resource only if it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable there, and those conditions differ from place to place and over time.
18. Give an example of something that fails the condition of economic feasibility.
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A deposit that could be mined but only at a cost far above what the mineral would sell for.
19. Why does the definition of a resource matter for the rest of the chapter?
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Because resources are a function of human activities, so both the benefit and the damage belong to us, which is why resource planning and conservation are necessary.
20. Which examples does the tree give for continuous or flow resources?
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Wind and water.
21. What belief led human beings to use resources indiscriminately?
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The belief that resources are free gifts of nature.
22. Name the three major problems caused by the indiscriminate use of resources.
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Resources drained to feed the greed of a few. Resources piling up in a small number of hands, so that society splits into those who have and those who do not. And exploitation without restraint, which has produced ecological crises worldwide — global warming, the thinning of the ozone layer, pollution and the degradati…
23. Why has an equitable distribution of resources become essential?
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Because a lasting standard of living and peace between nations both depend on it. If a few people and countries carry on draining resources at this rate, the planet itself is at risk.
24. Define sustainable development.
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It means growth that does not damage the environment, and that does not use up what people in the future will need.
25. What is sustainable existence said to be a component of?
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Sustainable development. Resource planning is essential for the sustainable existence of all forms of life.
26. When and where was the first International Earth Summit held, and who attended?
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In June 1992 at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, attended by more than 100 heads of states.
27. Why was the Earth Summit convened?
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To tackle, at world level, the pressing questions of protecting the environment and of social and economic development.
28. What did the leaders sign, and what did the Rio Convention endorse and adopt?
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They put their names to the Declaration on Global Climatic Change and Biological Diversity. Then the Rio Convention went on to back the global Forest Principles and to take up Agenda 21 as the route to sustainable development in the 21st century.
29. What is Agenda 21?
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The declaration world leaders signed at the 1992 session of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at Rio de Janeiro, aiming at achieving global sustainable development.
30. What does Agenda 21 aim to combat, and how?
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Damage to the environment, poverty and disease — fought by nations acting together where interests coincide, needs are mutual and responsibility is shared.
31. What is one major objective of Agenda 21 concerning local government?
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That every local government should draw its own local Agenda 21.
32. Why is resource planning especially important in India?
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Because India has enormous diversity in the availability of resources: some regions are rich in certain resources and deficient in others, some are self-sufficient, and some have an acute shortage of vital resources.
33. Which states are given as rich in minerals and coal deposits?
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Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
34. What is Arunachal Pradesh rich in, and what does it lack?
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It has an abundance of water resources but lacks infrastructural development.
35. What is Rajasthan well endowed with, and what does it lack?
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Sun and wind it has in plenty; water it does not.
36. Describe Ladakh's resource position.
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Ladakh, a cold desert, sits cut off from much of the country. Its cultural inheritance is very rich, yet it is short of water, of infrastructure and of several minerals it needs.
37. State the three stages of resource planning in India.
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First, finding out what each region holds — surveying it, mapping it, and measuring both how much there is and how good it is. Second, building a planning set-up with the technology, the skills and the institutions to act. Third, keeping those resource plans in step with the national development plans.
38. Since when has India pursued the goals of resource planning?
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Right from the First Five Year Plan launched after Independence.
39. Why is the availability of resources not enough for development?
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Because mere availability in the absence of corresponding changes in technology and institutions may hinder development. Many resource-rich regions are economically backward, while some regions with a poor resource base are economically developed.
40. What does the history of colonisation show about resources and technology?
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That what drew the invaders was the wealth of resources the colonies held — and what let them take it was being further ahead technologically, which is also how they came to rule the places they took it from.
41. What did Gandhiji say about need and greed?
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That the earth has plenty to satisfy need, and never enough to satisfy greed.
42. Whom or what did Gandhiji blame for resource depletion, and what did he want instead of mass production?
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He blamed greedy and selfish individuals and the exploitative nature of modern technology, and he wanted to replace mass production with production by the masses.
43. What did the Club of Rome do in 1968?
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It was the first time conserving resources had been argued for in an organised way.
44. What was published in 1974, by whom, and why does it matter?
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Small is Beautiful by Schumacher, in which Gandhian philosophy was once again presented.
45. What did the Brundtland Commission Report of 1987 contribute?
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It made the seminal contribution to resource conservation at the global level, introduced the concept of sustainable development and advocated it as a means for resource conservation. It was published as a book entitled Our Common Future.
46. Name the relief features under which India has land.
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Mountains, plateaus, plains and islands.
47. What share of India's land area is plain, and what does it provide?
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About 43 per cent, providing facilities for agriculture and industry.
48. What share is mountainous, and what do mountains provide?
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30 per cent of the total surface area. They ensure the perennial flow of some rivers and provide facilities for tourism and ecological aspects.
49. What share is plateau, and what does it possess?
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About 27 per cent, possessing rich reserves of minerals, fossil fuels and forests.
50. What does land support, and what is its key limitation?
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It carries plant cover, wildlife and human life, and every economic activity, road, rail and communication link. It is an asset of finite magnitude, so it must be used with careful planning.
51. What two sub-categories fall under land not available for cultivation?
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Barren and waste land, and land put to non-agricultural uses such as buildings, roads and factories.
52. What three sub-categories fall under other uncultivated land excluding fallow?
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Permanent pastures and grazing land; land under miscellaneous tree crops groves, kept out of the net sown figure; and culturable waste land.
53. Define culturable waste land.
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Land left uncultivated for more than five agricultural years. It is listed under other uncultivated land, not under fallow.
54. Define current fallow.
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Land that has gone uncultivated for an agricultural year or less.
55. Define fallow other than current fallow.
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Land left uncultivated for the past one to five agricultural years.
56. Define net sown area.
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The ground area on which a crop is actually put in and brought in.
57. Define gross cropped area.
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The net sown area together with every field cropped more than once in the same agricultural year.
58. How is a field sown twice in one year counted in each measure?
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Once in net sown area and twice in gross cropped area.
59. Which physical factors determine the use of land?
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Topography, climate and soil types.
60. Which human factors determine the use of land?
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Population density, technological capability, and culture and traditions.
61. What is the total geographical area of India, and for how much of it is land use data available?
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3.28 million sq km, with land use data available for only 93 per cent of it.
62. Why is land use data unavailable for part of India?
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Two gaps. Most north-eastern states, Assam aside, have never reported their land use in full; and the parts of Jammu and Kashmir held by Pakistan and China have not been surveyed at all.
63. Where is net sown area over 80 per cent of the total area, and where is it under 10 per cent?
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Over 80 per cent in Punjab and Haryana; less than 10 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
64. What forest cover was desired, by which policy, and why?
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33 per cent of geographical area, outlined in the National Forest Policy of 1952, considered essential for the maintenance of ecological balance. India's forest area is far lower than this.
65. Why are most other than current fallow lands cultivated only once or twice in two to three years?
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Because they are either of poor quality or the cost of cultivation of such land is very high.
66. What happens to the net sown area figure if those fallow lands are included?
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It comes to about 54 per cent of the total reporting area, against about 45 per cent on the strict definition.
67. What has happened to land under permanent pasture, and what question does the chapter raise?
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It has decreased. The chapter asks how we are able to keep our vast cattle population fed on so little pasture, and what the consequences of it are.
68. What does waste land include, and what does land put to non-agricultural uses include?
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Waste land covers rock, dry country and desert. The non-agricultural category is where people and their works sit: settlements, roads, railways and industry.
69. What has continuous use of land without conservation measures resulted in?
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Degraded land — and the damage runs on from there into society and the environment.
70. How much did land under non-agricultural uses change between 1960-61 and 2019-20?
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It rose from 4.95 per cent to 9.06 per cent — almost doubling.
71. What proportion of our basic needs is obtained from land?
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Ninety-five per cent of what we need to eat, to wear and to live in.
72. In what two ways have human activities damaged land?
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They have brought about degradation of land directly, and they have also aggravated the pace of natural forces that cause damage to land.
73. Which human activities have contributed significantly to land degradation?
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Deforestation, over grazing, mining and quarrying.
74. What do abandoned mining sites leave behind?
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Deep scars and traces of over-burdening, left after excavation work is complete.
75. In which states has deforestation due to mining caused severe land degradation?
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Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
76. In which states is overgrazing one of the main reasons for land degradation?
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Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
77. In which states is over irrigation responsible for land degradation?
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Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
78. How does over irrigation degrade land?
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It causes water logging, which leads to an increase in salinity and alkalinity in the soil.
79. Which state appears in two of the three regional lists of causes?
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Madhya Pradesh, which appears under both mining-related deforestation and overgrazing.
80. What is ground for the cement industry, and what for the ceramic industry?
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Limestone for the cement industry; calcite and soapstone for the ceramic industry.
81. How does mineral processing dust damage land?
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Once it settles on the ground it slows the rate at which water can soak into the soil.
82. Why is it wrong to say dust harms land while it is in the air?
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Because the chapter says the dust retards infiltration after it settles down on the land. Once a layer has formed, rainwater runs off instead of soaking in.
83. What have industrial effluents become in recent years?
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One of the leading causes of polluted land and water in much of India.
84. Which two general measures can help to some extent?
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Afforestation and proper management of grazing.
85. Name the three measures for checking land degradation in arid areas.
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Shelter belts of trees put in, grazing limited before it strips the ground, and sand dunes anchored with thorny bushes.
86. Name the three measures for industrial and suburban areas.
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Waste land managed properly, mining kept under control, and industrial effluent treated before it is discharged or dumped.
87. How are sand dunes stabilised?
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By growing thorny bushes on them.
88. Why must 'after treatment' be included when describing the disposal of effluents?
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Because the measure is proper discharge and disposal of industrial effluents and wastes after treatment. Disposal without treatment is the problem, not the remedy.
89. Why is there no single cure for land degradation?
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Because the dominant cause differs by region — mining in the east, overgrazing in the west, over-irrigation in the north-west — so the remedy must differ too.
90. What does the phrase 'traces of over-burdening' refer to?
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The waste rock and earth left heaped at mining sites after excavation is complete, alongside the deep scars in the land.
91. How long does soil take to form, and to what depth?
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Millions of years, to form soil up to a few centimetres in depth. The soil is a living system.
92. Name the factors important in the formation of soil.
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The relief of the land, the rock beneath it, the climate, the plants and other living things on it — and time.
93. Which forces of nature contribute to soil formation?
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Change in temperature, the actions of running water, wind and glaciers, and the activities of decomposers. Chemical and organic changes in the soil are equally important.
94. What are the organic and inorganic parts of soil called?
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The organic material is humus; the rest is inorganic material.
95. On what basis are the soils of India classified?
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By what formed them, and then by colour, depth, texture, age, and their chemical and physical properties.
96. Which rivers deposited the alluvial soil of the northern plains?
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The Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra — the three river systems that rise in the Himalayas.
97. In which eastern deltas is alluvial soil found?
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Along the eastern coastal plains, in the deltas built by the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri.
98. Distinguish Bangar from Khadar.
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Bangar is old alluvial soil with a higher concentration of kanker nodules. Khadar is new alluvial soil with more fine particles, and it is more fertile than Bangar.
99. Which nutrients does alluvial soil contain, and which crops suit it?
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Adequate proportions of potash, phosphoric acid and lime, ideal for sugarcane, paddy, wheat and other cereal and pulse crops.
100. Why are regions of alluvial soil densely populated?
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Because of the soil's high fertility, such regions are intensively cultivated and densely populated.
101. By what other names is black soil known, and why?
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Regur soil, and black cotton soil because it is ideal for growing cotton.
102. Where is black soil found?
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It is typical of the Deccan trap or basalt region over the north-west Deccan plateau, made up of lava flows. It covers the plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and extends south-east along the Godavari and Krishna valleys.
103. What is black soil rich in, and what is it poor in?
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Rich in calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime; generally poor in phosphoric contents.
104. Why must black soil be tilled immediately after the first shower?
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Wet, it turns sticky and is very hard to work. So it has to be ploughed the moment the first shower falls, or else before the monsoon sets in.
105. Why does black soil develop deep cracks in hot weather, and what does this achieve?
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Its extremely fine clayey material shrinks in heat, and the deep cracks help in the proper aeration of the soil.
106. Where does red soil develop, and why is it red?
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Over crystalline igneous rock, in the drier eastern and southern stretches of the Deccan plateau. The red comes from iron spreading through crystalline and metamorphic rock.
107. When does red soil look yellow?
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When it occurs in a hydrated form.
108. From what word does laterite take its name, and what does it mean?
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From the Latin word later, which means brick.
109. Under what conditions does laterite soil develop?
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In tropical and subtropical country where wet and dry seasons take turns. Heavy rain leaches the soil severely, and this is what is left.
110. State three properties of laterite soil.
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It is mostly deep to very deep, acidic with a pH below 6.0, and generally deficient in plant nutrients. It is also prone to erosion and degradation because of its position on the landscape.
111. What grows on laterite soil, and under what condition?
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Where suitable soil conservation methods are used, especially in the hills of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, it is very useful for tea and coffee. Red laterite in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala is more suitable for cashew nut.
112. Describe arid soils.
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They range from red to brown, are generally sandy in texture and saline in nature, lack humus and moisture because of the dry climate and high temperature, and have kankar in the lower horizons that restricts the infiltration of water.
113. How do arid soils become cultivable?
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After proper irrigation, as has happened in western Rajasthan.
114. Describe forest soils.
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They are found in hilly and mountainous areas with sufficient rain forests. On valley sides they are loamy and silty; higher up the slopes they turn coarse. In the snowy parts of the Himalayas they experience denudation and are acidic with low humus content, while soils in the lower parts of valleys, on river terraces…
115. Define soil erosion.
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The denudation of the soil cover and its subsequent washing down.
116. What normally holds soil formation and erosion in balance, and what disturbs it?
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The two processes go on simultaneously and are generally in balance. The balance is disturbed by human activities such as deforestation, over-grazing, construction and mining, while natural forces such as wind, glacier and water lead to erosion.
117. What is gully erosion, and what is the land it leaves called?
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Running water cuts through clayey soils and makes deep channels called gullies. Such land can no longer be farmed and is termed bad land; in the Chambal basin it goes by the name ravines.
118. What is sheet erosion?
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When water flows as a sheet over large areas down a slope and the top soil is washed away.
119. How does defective farming cause erosion, and what is the remedy?
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Ploughing up and down the slope forms channels that rush water away and wear the soil down. Ploughing along the contour lines, called contour ploughing, decelerates the flow of water down the slopes.
120. What is terrace cultivation, and where is it well developed?
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Steps cut out on the slopes making terraces, which restricts erosion. The western and central Himalayas have well developed terrace farming.
121. What is strip cropping, and what does it defeat?
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Large fields are divided into strips, with strips of grass left growing between the crops, which weakens the wind.
122. What are shelter belts, and what have they achieved?
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Lines of trees planted to create shelter; rows of such trees are called shelter belts. They have contributed significantly to the stabilisation of sand dunes and to stabilising the desert in western India.
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