CLASS 10 LIFELINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY (GEOGRAPHY-7)

LIFELINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

NECESSITY OF TRANSPORT

•      Goods and Services need to be moved to their demand location from the supply location.

•      This necessitates the need of transport.

•      The pace of development of a country depends on the production of goods and services as well as their movement over space.

•      Efficient means of transport are pre-requisites for fast development.

MEANS OF TRANSPORT

Relationship – Trade, Transport & Communication

•      With the development in science & technology, the areas of influence of trade & transport expanded far & wide.

•      Today, the world has been converted to a global village with the help of efficient and fast moving transport, and equally developed communication system.

•      Therefore, transport, communication and trade are complementary to each other.

TRANSPORT – ROADWAYS

•      India has one of the largest road networks in the world, aggregating to about 2.3 million km at present.

•      Advantages:

•      Construction cost is much lower.

•      Roads can transverse comparatively much more dissected and undulating topography.

•      Roads can transverse higher gradients of slopes and as such can transverse mountains such as Himalayas.

•      Road transport is economical in transportation of few persons and relatively small amounts of goods over short distances.

•      Provides door to door services, thus the cost of loading and unloading is lower.

•      Acts as a feeder to other modes of transport as they provide a link between railway stations, air and sea ports.

Roads According to Capacity

1. Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways

•      A major road development project launched by the Government of India connecting the four major cities of India- Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi.

•      North-South Corridor- links Sirnagar (JK) and Kanyakumari (TN)

•      East-West Corridor- connects Silcher (Assam) and Porbander (GJ)

•      Objective: Reduce the time and distance between the mega cities of India.

•      Implemented by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

2. National Highways

•      The primary road systems that link extreme parts of the country.

•      Maintained by Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

•      Sher Shah Suri Marg- Between Delhi and Amritsar (NH-1)

•      NH7 (AH43) is the longest and transverses 2369 km between Varanasi and Kanyakumari via. Jabalpur, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Madurai.

•      NH8 -  Between Delhi & Mumbai

•      NH4 – Between Mumbai & Chennai

•      NH5 -  Between Chennai & Kolkata

•      NH2 – Between Delhi & Kolkata

•      NH15- Covers most of Rajasthan

3. State Highways

•      Roads linking a state capital with different district headquarters are known as State Highways.

•      Maintained by State Public Works Department (SPWD).

4. District Roads

•      District roads connect the district headquarters with other places of the district.

•      Maintained by Zilla Parishad.

5. Other Roads

•      Rural roads, which link rural areas with towns.

•      Received special impetus under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana.

•      Under this, special provisions are made so that every village in a country is linked to a major town by an all season motorable road.

6. Border Roads

•      Roads in the bordering areas of the country.

•      Maintained by Border Roads Organization, a Government of India undertaking, which was established in 1960 for the development of roads of strategic importance in the north and north-eastern border areas.

•      Improved accessibility in areas of difficult terrain and helped in the economic development of the area.

Types of Roads -  Material used

•      Metaled Roads: Made of cement, concrete or bitumen of coal.

•      All weather roads.

•      Unmetaled Roads: Go out of use in the rainy season.

•      Road Density

•      The length of road per 100 square meter km of area is known as density of roads.

•      10.04 km – Jammu and Kashmir

•      532.27 km – Uttar Pradesh

•      National Average – 125.02 km (2007-08)

Disadvantages of Road Transport

•      The road network is inadequate due to the large volume of traffic and passengers.

•      About half of the roads are unmetaled and this limits their usage during rainy season.

•      Roadways are highly congested in cities.

•      Bridges and culverts are old and narrow.

Railways

•      The principal mode of transportation for freight and passengers in India.

•      Enables business, sightseeing, pilgrimage along with transportation of goods over long distances.

•      A great integrating force of the nation.

•      Bind the economic life of the country and accelerate the development of industry and agriculture.

•      Generates employment.

•      Largest public sector undertaking in India.

•      The first train steamed off from Mumbai to Thane in 1853, covering a distance of 34 km.

•      The Indian Railway network has 7133 stations with a route length of 64,460 km with a fleet of 9213 locomotives, 53220 passenger service vehicles, 6493 other coach vehicles and 2,29,381 wagons.

•      No. of Zones-16

Distribution pattern of the railway network in the country has been largely influenced by physiographic, economic & administrative factors. Illustrate.

•      Yes.

•      The northern plains with their vast level land, high population density and rich agricultural resources provided favourable conditions for the growth of the railway.

•      A large number of rivers needed the construction of bridges, which posed some obstacles.

•      The hilly terrains of the peninsular region pose a problem and railway tracts are laid through low hills, gaps or tunnels.

•      Himalayan mountain regions are unfavourable for the construction of railway lines due to high relief, sparse population and lack of economic opportunities.

•      It was difficult to lay railway tracks in the sandy places of western Rajasthan, swamps of Gujarat, forested tracts of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Odhisa and Jharkhand.

Disadvantages

•      Sinking of tracks in some stretches, landslides.

•      Many passengers travel without tickets.

•      Thefts, damage to railway property.

•      People stop the trains by pulling the chain unnecessarily and this causes heavy damage to the railway.

•      Trains often do not run on schedule time.

Pipelines

•      A new arrival in the transportation map of India, it was initially used to transport water to cities and industries.

•      Used for transporting crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas from oil and natural gas fields to refineries, fertilizer factories and big thermal power plants.

•      Solids transported after converting to slurry.

•      The far inland locations of refineries like Barauni, Mathura, Panipat and gas based fertilizer units are possible because of pipelines.

•      Initial cost of laying pipelines are more but subsequent cost is less. It rules out Trans-shipment losses or delays.

Three Important Networks of Pipeline Tranportation

•      From oil field in Upper Assam to Kanpur (UP) via Guwahati, Barauni and Allahabad. It has branches from Barauni to Haldia via Rajbandh, Rajabandh to Maurigram and Guwahati to Siliguri.

•      From Salaya to Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab via Viramgnam, Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat. It has branches to connect Koyali(near Vadodara) Chakshu and other places.

•      Gas pipeline from Hazira in Gujarat connects Jagdishpur in UP via Vijaypur in MP. It has branches to Kota in Rajasthan, Shahjahanpur, Babrala and other places in UP.

Waterways – Advantages

•      From oil field in Upper Assam to Kanpur (UP) via Guwahati, Barauni and Allahabad. It has branches from Barauni to Haldia via Rajbandh, Rajabandh to Maurigram and Guwahati to Siliguri.

•      From Salaya to Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab via Viramgnam, Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat. It has branches to connect Koyali(near Vadodara) Chakshu and other places.

•      Gas pipeline from Hazira in Gujarat connects Jagdishpur in UP via Vijaypur in MP. It has branches to Kota in Rajasthan, Shahjahanpur, Babrala and other places in UP.

National Waterways

•      NW No.1 – The Ganga river between Allahabad and Haldia (1620 km)

•      NW No.2 – The Brahmaputra river between Sadiya and Dhubri (891 km)

•      NW No.3 – The West Coast Canal in KL (Kottapuram-Kollam-Udyogmandal and Champakkara canals (205 km)

•      NW No.4 – Specified stretches of Godavari and Krishna river along with Kakinada, Puducherry stretch of canals (1078 km)

•      NW No.5 – Specified stretches or river Bhrahmani along with Matai river, delta channels of Mahanadi and Brahmani rivers and East coast canal (588 km)

•      Inland waterways -  Mandavi, Zauri, Cumerjua, Sunderbans, Barak, Backwaters of KL and tidal stretches of some other rivers.

•      India has a long coastline of 7516.6 km has 12 major ports and 187 notified non major (minor/intermediate ports)

•      The ports handle 95% of India’s foreign exchange.

Major Sea Ports of India

•      KANDLA: Was the 1^st port to be developed soon after independence after the loss of Karachi port. Eased the volume of Mumbai port. A tidal port, and caters to the convenient handling of exports and imports of highly productive granary and industrial belt stretching across the states of J&K, HP, PJ, HR, RJ and GJ.

•      MUMBAI: Biggest port in India with a spacious natural and well sheltered harbour.

•      JAWAHARLAL NEHRU PORT(MUMBAI): To decongest the Mumbai port and serve as a hub port.

•      MARMAGOA: The premier iron ore exporting port in India (50% of India’s iron ore export).

•      NEW MANGALORE:    Caters to the export of iron ore concentrates from Kudremukh mines.

•      KOCHI: Located at the extreme south west, at the entrance of the lagoon with a natural harbour.

•      TUTICORIN: Has a natural harbour and rich hinterland, thus it has a flourishing trade handling of a large variety of cargoes to our neighbouring countries of Sri Lanka *& Maldives.

•      CHENNAI: One of the oldest artificial ports of India. Ranked 2^nd, next to Mumbai in terms of the volume and cargo.

Airways

•      Fastest, most confortable and prestigious mode of transport today.

•      Covers very difficult terrains like high mountains, dreary deserts, dense forests and also long oceanic areas with ease.

•      Has made access to remote areas easier.

•      Air transport was nationalized in 1953.

•      Indian Airlines Alliance Air (Subsidiary of Indian airlines), private scheduled airlines and non-scheduled operators provide domestic services.

•      Air India – International air services.

•      Pawanhans Helicopters Ltd. – provides helicopter services to Oil & Natural Gas Corporation in its offshore operations, to inaccessible areas and difficult terrains like the north-eastern states and the interior parts of J&K, HP and Uttarakhand.

•      Indian Airlines extend to the neighbouring countries of South and South-east Asia and the Middle East.

•      Air transport is not within the reach of common people. In the north-eastern states, provisions are made to extend this service to common people.

•      Why is air travel preferred in the north-eastern states?

•      The North-eastern part of India is marked with the presence of big rivers, dissected relief, dense forests, frequent floods and international frontiers.

•      Air transport has been able to transverse it easily. The advent of air transport has improved accessibility and economic growth. As a result, air transport is preferred in the North-eastern states.

Communication

•      Personal Communication & Mass Communication

•      Personal: One to one communication.

•      Eg: Telephone, Mobile, Post etc.

•      Mass: Communication between one person to others(mass)

•      Eg: TV, Radio, Press, Films etc.

Postal Communication

•      First Class Mail & Second Class Mail

•      First Class Mail: includes cards and envelops. Airlifted between stations covering both land and air.

•      Second Class Mail: includes book packets, periodicals, newspapers. Carried by surface mail, covering land and water transport.

•      The Indian Postal system is the largest in the world and handles parcels as well as personal written communication.

•      To facilitate quick delivery of mails in large towns and cities, six mail channels have been introduced recently.

•      They are Rajdhani, Metro, Green, Business, Bulk, Periodical channels etc.

Telecom Services

•      Two-thirds of the villages in India have already been covered with Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD).

•      India has one of the largest telecom networks in Asia.

•      In order to strengthen communication, the government has made special provision to extend 24 hrs STD facility to every village in India.

•      There is an uniform rate of STD facilities in India.

•      This has been made possible by integrating the development in space technology with communication technology.

Mass Communication

•      Provides entertainment and creates awareness among people about various national programs and policies.

•      Radio, TV, Newspapers, Books, Films etc.

•      All India Radio (Akashvani) broadcasts a variety of programs in national, regional and local languages for various categories of people spread over different parts of the country.

•      Doordarshan, the national TV channel of India is one of the largest terrestrial network in the world. It broadcasts a variety of programs from entertainment educational to sports, etc. for people of different age groups.

•      Newspapers are published in about 100 languages and dialects. The largest number of newspapers published in the country are in Hindi, followed by English and Urdu.

•      Feature Films: India is the largest producer of feature films in the world. It produces short films, video feature films and video short films.

•      Central Board of Film Certification is the authority to certify both Indian & foreign films

International Trade

•      Trade: Exchange of goods among people, states and countries.

•      Market: Place where trade takes place.

•      Trade between two countries is called International trade. It may take place through sea, air/land routes.

•      Trade between two or more states – state level trade.

•      Trade between cities, towns and villages – local trade.

•      Advancement of International trade of a country is an index to its economic prosperity and the economic barometer for a country.

•      As the resources are space bound, no country can survive without international trade.

•      Balance of trade: the difference between its export & import.

•      When value of import less than value of export, it is termed as favourable balance of trade.

•      When value of import more than the value of export, it is termed as unfavourable balance of trade.

•      India has trade relations with all major trading blocks and all geographical regions of the world.

•      Value of exports in India (2010-11)

•      Agriculture & Allied products – 9.9%

•      Ores & Minerals – 4%

•      Gems & Jewellery – 14.7%

•      Petroleum  products (including coal) – 16.8%

•      Value of imports in India (2010-11)

•      Petroleum & petroleum products – 28.6%

•      Pearls & precious stones – 9.4%

•      Chemicals – 5.2%

•      Coal, coke and Briquettes – 2.7%

•      Machinery – 6.4%

•      Fertilizers – 3.4%

•      Cereals – 14.3%

•      Edible oil – 17.4%, Newsprint – 40.3% (Bulk imports)

•      International trade has undergone a sea change in the last 15 years.

•      Exchange of goods and commodities have been superseded by exchange of information & knowledge.

•      India has emerged as a software giant at the international level and is earning large foreign exchange through the export of Information Technology.

Tourism as a Trade

•      Foreign tourist arrivals witnessed an increase of 11.8% during the year 2010 against the year 2009, contributing Rs.64,889 crore of foreign exchange in 2010.

•      5.78 million foreign tourists visited India in 2010.

•      More than 15 million people are directly engaged in the tourism industry.

•      Advantages: Brings in foreign exchange, promotes national integration, provides support to local handicrafts and cultural pursuits, helps in the dvpt of international understanding about our culture & heritage.

•      Tourism types: Heritage tourism, eco tourism, adventure tourism, cultural tourism, medical tourism and business tourism.