NCERT Class 10 Geography

7/29/2019 NCERT Class 10 Geography

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ContentsContentsContentsContentsContents



Can you identify and name the various itemsused in making life comfortable in our

villages and towns. List the items and namethe material used in their making.



2 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Do you know that India has got the right tomine manganese nodules from the bed of the Indian Ocean from that area which liesbeyond the exclusive economic zone. Identify some other resources which are international

in nature.

Identify at least two resources from eachcategory.



3R ESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

Prepare a list of stock and reserve, resourcesthat you are familiar with from your local area.

1. Imagine, if the oil supply gets exhaustedone day, how would this affect our life style?

2. Plan a survey in your colony/village toinvestigate people’s attitude towards

recycling of the domestic/agricultural wastes. Ask questions about :(a) What do they think about resources

they use?(b) What is their opinion about the

wastes, and its utilisation?(c) Collage your results.

Sustainable development

Sustainable economic development means‘development should take place withoutdamaging the environment, and developmentin the present should not compromise with theneeds of the future generations.’

Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992In June 1992, more than 100 heads of statesmet in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the firstInternational Earth Summit. The Summit wasconvened for addressing urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development at the global level.The assembled leaders signed theDeclaration on Global Climatic Change andBiological Diversity. The Rio Conventionendorsed the global Forest Principles andadopted Agenda 21 for achieving

Sustainable Development in the 21st

century.

Agenda 21

It is the declaration signed by world leadersin 1992 at the United Nations Conferenceon Environment and Development (UNCED),

which took place at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Itaims at achieving global sustainabledevelopment. It is an agenda to combatenvironmental damage, poverty, diseasethrough global co-operation on commoninterests, mutual needs and sharedresponsibilities. One major objective of the

Agenda 21 is that every local governmentshould draw its own local Agenda 21.




Prepare a list of resources found in your stateand also identify the resources that areimportant but deficit in your state.

What resources are being developed in your surroundings by the community/villagepanchayats/ward level communities with thehelp of community participation?




At the international level, the Club of Romeadvocated resource conservation for the firsttime in a more systematic way in 1968.Subsequently, in 1974, Gandhian philosophy

was once again presented by Schumacher in his book Small is Beautiful. The seminalcontribution with respect to resourceconservation at the global level was madeby the Brundtland Commission Report, 1987.This report introduced the concept of ‘Sustainable Development’ and advocatedit as a means for resource conservation,

which was subsequently published in a book entitled Our Common Future. Another significant contribution was made at the EarthSummit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.

Try to do a comparison between the two piecharts (Fig. 1.4 ) given for land use and findout why the net sown area and the landunder forests have changed from 1960-61to 2002-03 very marginally.




Find out reasons for the low proportion of net sown area in these states.




State of India’s Environment

• The village of Sukhomajri and the district of Jhabua have shown that it is possibleto reverse land degradation. Tree density in Sukhomajri increased from 13 per hectare in 1976 to 1,272 per hectare in 1992;

• Regeneration of the environment leads to economic well-being, as a resultof greater resource availability, improved agriculture and animal care, and




consequently, increased incomes. Average annual household income inSukhomajri ranged from Rs 10,000-15,000 between 1979 and 1984;

• People’s management is essential for ecological restoration. With peoplebeing made the decision-makers by the Madhya Pradesh government, 2.9million hectares or about 1 per cent of India’s land area, are being greenedacross the state through watershed management.

E XERCISES E XERCISES E XERCISES E XERCISES E XERCISES




PROJECT/A CTIVITY



Narak! My Lord, you are the creator of musicin the world of Lepchas

Oh Narak! My Lord, let me dedicatemyself to you

Let me gather your music from thesprings, the rivers, the mountains, the forests,the insects and the animals

Let me gather your music from the sweet

breeze and offer it to you

Biodiversity or Biological Diversity isimmensely rich in wildlife and cultivatedspecies, diverse in form and function butclosely integrated in a system throughmultiple network of interdependencies.

Find out stories prevalent in your region which are about the harmonious relationshipbetween human beings and nature.



Vanishing Forests

The dimensions of deforestation in India arestaggering. The forest cover in the country isestimated at 637,293 sq km, which is 19.39per cent of the total geographical area.(dense forest 11.48 per cent; open forest 7.76per cent; and mangrove 0.15 per cent).

According to the State of Forest Report(1999), the dense forest cover has increased

by 10,098 sq km since 1997. However, thisapparent increase in the forest cover is dueto plantation by different agencies. The Stateof Forest Report does not differentiatebetween natural forests and plantations.Therefore, these reports fail to deliver

accurate information about actual loss of natural forests.

15FOREST AND WILDLIFE R ESOURCES




Asiatic Cheetah: where did they go?

The world’s fastest land mammal, thecheetah (Acinonyx jubantus), is a unique andspecialised member of the cat family andcan move at the speed of 112 km./hr. The

cheetah is often mistaken for a leopard. Itsdistinguishing marks are the long teardrop-shaped lines on each side of the nose fromthe corner of its eyes to its mouth. Prior tothe 20th century, cheetahs were widely distributed throughout Africa and Asia.Today, the Asian cheetah is nearly extinctdue to a decline of available habitat andprey. The species was declared extinct inIndia long back in 1952.

Are colonial forest policiesto be blamed?

Some of our environmental activists say thatthe promotion of a few favoured species, inmany parts of India, has been carriedthrough the ironically-termed “enrichmentplantation”, in which a single commercially

valuable species was extensively plantedand other species eliminated. For instance,




teak monoculture has damaged the naturalforest in South India and Chir Pine (Pinusroxburghii) plantations in the Himalayashave replaced the Himalayan oak (Querciusspp.) and Rhododendron forests.

The Himalayan Yew in trouble

The Himalayan Yew (Taxus wallachiana) is amedicinal plant found in various parts of Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.

A chemical compound called ‘taxol’ isextracted from the bark, needles, twigs androots of this tree, and it has been successfully

used to treat some cancers – the drug is now the biggest selling anti-cancer drug in the

world. The species is under great threat dueto over-exploitation. In the last one decade,thousands of yew trees have dried up in

various parts of Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.




Have you noticed any activity which leadsto the loss of biodiversity around you? Writea note on it and suggest some measures toprevent it.




Project Tiger

Tiger is one of the key wildlife species inthe faunal web. In 1973, the authoritiesrealised that the tiger population haddwindled to 1,827 from an estimated55,000 at the turn of the century. The major

threats to tiger population are numerous,such as poaching for trade, shrinkinghabitat, depletion of prey base species,growing human population, etc. The tradeof tiger skins and the use of their bones intraditional medicines, especially in the

Asian countries left the tiger population onthe verge of extinction. Since India andNepal provide habitat to about two-thirdsof the surviving tiger population in the

world, these two nations became primetargets for poaching and illegal trading.

“Project Tiger”, one of the well-publicised wildlife campaigns in the world,

was launched in 1973. Initially, it showedsuccess as the tiger population went up to4,002 in 1985 and 4,334 in 1989. But in1993, the population of the tiger had

dropped to 3,600. There are 27 tiger reserves in India covering an area of 37,761 sq km Tiger conservation has been

viewed not only as an effort to save an

endangered species, but with equalimportance as a means of preservingbiotypes of sizeable magnitude. CorbettNational Park in Uttaranchal, SunderbansNational Park in West Bengal, BandhavgarhNational Park in Madhya Pradesh, Sariska

Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan, ManasTiger Reserve in Assam and Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala are some of the tiger reserves of India.

Collect more information on the wildlifesanctuaries and national parks of India andcite their locations on the map of India.




Sacred groves - a wealth of diverseand rare species

Nature worship is an age old tribal belief based on the premise that all creations of nature have to be protected. Such beliefshave preserved several virgin forests inpristine form called Sacred Groves (theforests of God and Goddesses). Thesepatches of forest or parts of large forests have

been left untouched by the local people andany interference with them is banned.

Certain societies revere a particular tree which they have preserved from timeimmemorial. The Mundas and the Santhal of Chhota Nagpur region worship mahua (Bassialatifolia) and kadamba ( Anthocaphaluscadamba) trees, and the tribals of Orissa andBihar worship the tamarind (Tamarindusindica) and mango (Mangifera indica) treesduring weddings. To many of us, peepal andbanyan trees are considered sacred.

Indian society comprises severalcultures, each with its own set of traditionalmethods of conserving nature and itscreations. Sacred qualities are oftenascribed to springs, mountain peaks, plantsand animals which are closely protected. You

will find troops of macaques and langursaround many temples. They are fed daily

and treated as a part of temple devotees. Inand around Bishnoi villages in Rajasthan,herds of blackbuck, (chinkara), nilgai andpeacocks can be seen as an integral part of the community and nobody harms them.

Write a short essay on any practices whichyou may have observed and practised inyour everyday lives that conserve and protectthe environment around you.




“The tree is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence andmakes no demand for its sustenance, and extends generously the products of itslife activity. It affords protection to all beings, offering shade even to the axemen

who destroy it”.

Gautama Buddha (487 B.C.)




Water: Some facts and figures

• 96.5 per cent of the total volume of world’s water is estimated to exist as oceans andonly 2.5 per cent as freshwater. Nearly 70 per cent of this freshwater occurs asice sheets and glaciers in Antarctica,Greenland and the mountainous regionsof the world, while a little less than 30per cent is stored as groundwater in the

world’s aquifers.• India receives nearly 4 per cent of the

global precipitation and ranks 133 in the world in terms of water availability per person per annum.

• The total renewable water resources of Indiaare estimated at 1,897 sq km per annum.




• By 2025, it is predicted that large parts of India will join countries or regions havingabsolute water scarcity.



25 W ATER R ESOURCES

According to Falken Mark, a Swedish expert, water stress occurs when water availability is less than 1,000 cubic metre per personper day.

India’s rivers, especially the smaller ones,have all turned into toxic streams. And eventhe big ones like the Ganga and Yamunaare far from being pure. The assault onIndia’s rivers – from population growth,agricultural modernisation, urbanisation andindustrialisation – is enormous and growing

by the day….. This entire life standsthreatened.

From your everyday experiences, write a shortproposal on how you can conserve water.




Hydraulic Structures in Ancient India

• In the first century B.C., Sringaverapuranear Allahabad had sophisticated water harvesting system channelling the flood

water of the river Ganga.

• During the time of Chandragupta Maurya,dams, lakes and irrigation systems wereextensively built.

• Evidences of sophisticated irrigation workshave also been found in Kalinga, (Orissa),Nagarjunakonda (Andhra Pradesh),Bennur (Karnataka), Kolhapur (Maharashtra), etc.

• In the 11th Century, Bhopal Lake, one of thelargest artificial lakes of its time was built.

• In the 14th Century, the tank in Hauz Khas,

Delhi was constructed by Iltutmish for supplying water to Siri Fort area.

A dam is a barrier across flowing water thatobstructs, directs or retards the flow, oftencreating a reservoir, lake or impoundment.“Dam” refers to the reservoir rather than thestructure. Most dams have a section called aspillway or weir over which or through whichit is intended that water will flow either intermittently or continuously. Dams areclassified according to structure, intendedpurpose or height. Based on structure andthe materials used, dams are classified astimber dams, embankment dams or masonry dams, with several subtypes. According tothe height, dams can be categorised as largedams and major dams or alternatively as low dams, medium height dams and high dams.




Find out more about any one traditionalmethod of building dams and irrigation works.

We have sown the crops in Asar

We will bring Bhadu in BhadraFloods have swollen the Damodar

The sailing boats cannot sail

Oh! Damodar, we fall at your feet

Reduce the floods a little

Bhadu will come a year later

Let the boats sail on your surface

Narmada Bachao Andolan or SaveNarmada Movement is a NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO) thatmobilised tribal people, farmers,environmentalists and human rightsactivists against the Sardar Sarovar Dambeing built across the Narmada river inGujarat. It originally focused on theenvironmental issues related to trees that

would be submerged under the dam water. Recent ly it has re -focused theaim to enable poor citizens, especially the oustees (displaced people) to getfull rehabilitation facilit ies fromthe government.

People felt that their suffering would notbe in vain… accepted the trauma of displacement believing in the promise of irrigated fields and plentiful harvests. So,often the survivors of Rihand told us that they accepted their sufferings as sacrifice for thesake of their nation. But now, after thirty bitter years of being adrift, their livelihood havingeven being more precarious, they keepasking: “Are we the only ones chosen tomake sacrifices for the nation?”




Make a list of inter-state water disputes.




Find out other rainwater harvesting systemsexisting in and around your locality.





1. Collect information on how industries are polluting our water resources.2. Enact with your classmates a scene of water dispute in your locality.



Jhumming: The ‘slash and burn’ agricultureis known as ‘Milpa’ in Mexico and Central

America, ‘Conuco’ in Venzuela, ‘Roca’ inBrazil, ‘Masole’ in Central Africa, ‘Ladang’in Indonesia, ‘Ray’ in Vietnam.

In India, this primitive form of cultivationis called ‘Bewar’ or ‘Dahiya’ in MadhyaPradesh, ‘Podu’ or ‘Penda’ in Andhra Pradesh,

‘Pama Dabi’ or ‘Koman’ or Bringa’ in Orissa,‘Kumari’ in Western Ghats, ‘Valre’ or ‘Waltre’in South-eastern Rajasthan, ‘Khil’ in theHimalayan belt, ‘Kuruwa’ in Jharkhand, and‘Jhumming’ in the North-eastern region.



Rinjha lived with her family in a small villageat the outskirts of Diphu in Assam. She enjoys

watching her family members clearing,slashing and burning a patch of land for cultivation. She often helps them in irrigatingthe fields with water running through a

bamboo canal from the nearby spring. Sheloves the surroundings and wants to stay here as long as she can, but this little girlhas no idea about the declining fertility of the soil and her family’s search for fresh apatch of land in the next season.

35 A GRICULTURE



37 A GRICULTURE



39 A GRICULTURE



41 A GRICULTURE




List the items which are made of rubber andare used by us.



43 A GRICULTURE

Bhoodan – Gramdan

Mahatma Gandhi declared Vinoba Bhave ashis spiritual heir. He also participated inSatyagraha as one of the foremostsatyagrahis. He was one of the votaries of Gandhi’s concept of gram swarajya. After Gandhiji’s martyrdom, Vinobha Bhave

undertook padyatra to spread Gandhiji’smessage covered almost the entire country.Once, when he was delivering a lecture atPochampalli in Andhra Pradesh, some poor landless villagers demanded some land for their economic well-being. Vinoba Bhavecould not promise it to them immediately but assured them to talk to the Governmentof India regarding provision of land for themif they undertook cooperative farming.Suddenly, Shri Ram Chandra Reddy stoodup and offered 80 acres of land to bedistributed among 80 land-less villagers.This act was known as ‘Bhoodan’. Later hetravelled and introduced his ideas widely allover India. Some zamindars, owners of many villages offered to distribute some

villages among the landless. It was knownas Gramdan. However, many land-ownerschose to provide some part of their land to




Find out why an Indian farmer does not wanthis son to become a farmer.

When farmers have been facing so many problems and land under agriculture isdecreasing, can we think of alternativeemployment opportunities in the agriculturesector?

the poor farmers due to the fear of landceiling act. This Bhoodan-Gramdanmovement initiated by Vinobha Bhave is alsoknown as the Blood-less Revolution.



45 A GRICULTURE




Organise a debate on food security of India, its need and efforts



47 A GRICULTURE

Genetic engineering is recognised as apowerful supplement in inventing new hybrid varieties of seeds.

Change in cropping pattern for example from cereals to high-value crops willmean that India will have to import food. During 1960’s this would have beenseen as a disaster. But if India imports cereals while exporting high-valuecommodities, it will be following successful economies like Italy, Israel and Chile.These countries exports farm products (fruits, olives, speciality seeds and wine)and import cereals. Are we ready to take this risk? Debate the issue.





PROJECT WORK



49 A GRICULTURE

A CTIVITY



Haban comes to Guwahati with his father from a remote village.

He sees people getting into strangehouse like objects which move along theroad. He also sees a “kitchen” dragging anumber of house along with it. He is amazedand asked his father “Why don’t our housesmove like the one we saw in Guwahati, Ba?”

Ba replies, “These are not houses, they are buses and trains. Unlike our houses theseare not made of bricks and stones, metal likeiron and alluminium are used in makingthese. They do not move on their own. They are driven by an engine which needs energy to work.”

A bright smile from toothpasteand minerals

Toothpaste cleans your teeth. Abrasiveminerals like silica, limestone, aluminiumoxide and various phosphate minerals do thecleaning. Fluoride which is used to reducecavities, comes from a mineral fluorite. Mosttoothpaste are made white with titanium

oxide, which comes from minerals calledrutile, ilmenite and anatase. The sparkle insome toothpastes comes from mica. Thetoothbrush and tube containing the paste aremade of plastics from petroleum. Find out

where these minerals are found?

Dig a little deeper and find out how many minerals are used to make a light bulb?

All living things need minerals

Life processes cannot occur without minerals. Although our mineral intake represents only about 0.3 per cent of our total intake of nutrients, they are so potent and so importantthat without them we would not be able toutilise the other 99.7 per cent of foodstuffs.

Dig a little deeper and collect “NutritionalFacts” printed on food labels.



Study of Minerals by Geographersand Geologists

Geographers study minerals as part of theearth’s crust for a better understanding of landforms. The distribution of mineralresources and associated economic activitiesare of interest to geographers. A geologist,however, is interested in the formation of minerals, their age and physical andchemical composition.

51MINERALS AND ENERGY R ESOURCES




Dig a little deeper: What is the differencebetween an open pit mine, a quarry and an

underground mine with shafts?




Dig a little deeper: Superimpose the mapsshowing distribution of iron ore, manganese,coal and iron and steel industry. Do you see

any correlation. Why?




Dig a little deeper: Locate the mines of Bauxite on the physical map of India.




Dig a little deeper: Study the maps to explain why Chota Nagpur is a storehouse of minerals.

Hazards of Mining

Have you ever wondered about the efforts the miners make in making life comfortablefor you? What are the impacts of mining onthe health of the miners and the environment?

The dust and noxious fumes inhaled by miners make them vulnerable to pulmonary diseases. The risk of collapsing mine roofs,

inundation and fires in coalmines are aconstant threat to miners.The water sources in the region get

contaminated due to mining. Dumping of wasteand slurry leads to degradation of land, soil,and increase in stream and river pollution.




Dig a little deeper: Make a list of items wheresubstitutes are being used instead of minerals. Where are these substitutes obtained from?




Name some river valley projects and writethe names of the dams built on these rivers.




Rawat Bhata




A CTIVITY



On the occassion of Diwali, Harish went toa market with his parents. They purchasedshoes and clothes for him. His mother purchased utensils, sugar, tea and diyas(earthen lamps). Harish observed that theshops in the market were flooded withitems for sale. He wondered how so many items could be made in such largequantities. His father explained that shoes,

clothes, sugar etc. are manufactured by machines in large industries, some utensilsare manufactured in small industries, whileitems like diyas are made by individualartisans in household industry.



67M ANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

Classification of Industries

List the various manufactured products youuse in your daily life such as – transistors,electric bulbs, vegetable oil, cement,glassware, petrol, matches, scooters,automobiles, medicines and so on. If weclassify the various industries based on aparticular criterion then we would be ableto understand their manufacturing better.Industries may be classified as follows:

On the basis of source of raw materialsused:

• Agro based: cotton, woollen, jute, silk textile, rubber and sugar, tea, coffee,edible oil.

• Mineral based: iron and steel, cement,

aluminium, machine tools,petrochemicals.

According to their main role:

• Basic or key industries which supply their products or raw materials to manufactureother goods e.g. iron and steel and copper smelting, aluminum smelting.

• Consumer industries that produce goodsfor direct use by consumers – sugar,toothpaste, paper, sewing machines,fans etc.

On the basis of capital investment:

• A small scale industry is defined withreference to the maximum investmentallowed on the assets of a unit. This limithas changed over a period of time. Atpresent the maximum investment allowedis rupees one crore. If investment is morethan one crore on any industry then it isknown as a large scale industry.

On the basis of ownership:

• Public sector, owned and operated by government agencies – BHEL, SAIL etc.

• Private sector industries owned andoperated by individuals or a group of individuals –TISCO, Bajaj Auto Ltd.,Dabur Industries.

• Joint sector industries which are jointly run

by the state and individuals or a group of individuals. Oil India Ltd. (OIL) is jointly owned by public and private sector.

• Cooperative sector industries are ownedand operated by the producers or suppliers of raw materials, workers or

both. They pool in the resources and sharethe profits or losses proportionately suchas the sugar industry in Maharashtra, thecoir industry in Kerala.

Based on the bulk and weight of raw materialand finished goods:

• Heavy industries such as iron and steel

• Light industries that use light raw materials and produce light goods suchas electrical industries.

Classify the following into two groups on thebasis of bulk and weight of raw material andfinished goods.

(i) Oil (vi) Sewing Machines

(ii) Knitting needles (vii) Shipbuilding

(iii) Brassware (viii) Electric Bulbs

(iv) Fuse wires (ix) Paint brushes

(v) Watches (x) Automobiles




• The first successful textile mill wasestablished in Mumbai in 1854.

• The two world wars were fought in Europe,India was a British colony. There was ademand for cloth in U.K. hence, they gavea boost to the development of the cottontextile industry.




Yarn is sold at Rs. 85 per kg. If it is sold as a

trouser it fetches Rs 800 per kg. Value is

added at every stage from fibre to yarn to

fabric and to garment.

The first jute mill was set up near Kolkata in1859 at Rishra. After Partition in 1947, thejute mills remained in India but three-fourth

of the jute producing area went toBangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan).




Make a list of all such goods made of steelthat you can think of.




Mini steel plants are smaller, have electricfurnaces, use steel scrap and sponge iron.They have re-rollers that use steel ingots as

well. They produce mild and alloy steel of given specifications.

An integrated steel plant is large, handleseverything in one complex – from puttingtogether raw material to steel making, rollingand shaping.




Have you read about the Kalinganagar controversy?

A factory produces aluminium saucepans withplastic handles. It obtains aluminium from asmelter and a plastic component from




Where would it be economically viable toset up the cement manufacturing units?

Find out where the plants are located in other States of India. Find their names.

another factory. All the manufacturedsaucepans are sent to a warehouse:

1. (a) Which raw material is likely to be mostexpensive to transport and why?

(b) Which raw material is likely to bethe cheapest to transport and why?

2. Do you think the cost of transporting thefinished products after packaging is likely to be cheaper or more expensive than thecost of transporting aluminium andplastic? Why?




NTPC shows the way

NTPC is a major power providing corporationin India. It has ISO certification for EMS(Environment Management System) 14001.The corporation has a pro-active approachfor preserving the natural environment andresources like water, oil and gas and fuelsin places where it is setting up power plants.This has been possible through-(a) Optimum utilisation of equipment

adopting latest techniques andupgrading existing equipment.

(b) Minimising waste generation by maximising ash utilisation.

(c) Providing green belts for nurturing ecologicalbalance and addressing the question of special purpose vehicles for afforestation.

(d) Reducing environmental pollution throughash pond management, ash water recyclingsystem and liquid waste management.

(e) Ecological monitoring, reviews and on-line database management for all itspower stations.





A CTIVITY

PROJECT W ORK

A CTIVITY



83LIFELINES OF N ATIONAL ECONOMY




The Indian Railways is the largest publicsector undertaking in the country. The firsttrain steamed off from Mumbai to Thane in1853, covering a distance of 34 km.




Find out the current Railway zones and their

headquarters. Also locate the headquartersof Railway zones on the map of India.




QUIZ DRIVE

A CTIVITY



ContentsContentsContentsContentsContents



Can you identify and name the various itemsused in making life comfortable in our

villages and towns. List the items and namethe material used in their making.




Do you know that India has got the right tomine manganese nodules from the bed of the Indian Ocean from that area which liesbeyond the exclusive economic zone. Identify some other resources which are international

in nature.

Identify at least two resources from eachcategory.




Prepare a list of stock and reserve, resourcesthat you are familiar with from your local area.

1. Imagine, if the oil supply gets exhaustedone day, how would this affect our life style?

2. Plan a survey in your colony/village toinvestigate people’s attitude towards

recycling of the domestic/agricultural wastes. Ask questions about :(a) What do they think about resources

they use?(b) What is their opinion about the

wastes, and its utilisation?(c) Collage your results.

Sustainable development

Sustainable economic development means‘development should take place withoutdamaging the environment, and developmentin the present should not compromise with theneeds of the future generations.’

Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992In June 1992, more than 100 heads of statesmet in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the firstInternational Earth Summit. The Summit wasconvened for addressing urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development at the global level.The assembled leaders signed theDeclaration on Global Climatic Change andBiological Diversity. The Rio Conventionendorsed the global Forest Principles andadopted Agenda 21 for achieving

Sustainable Development in the 21st

century.

Agenda 21

It is the declaration signed by world leadersin 1992 at the United Nations Conferenceon Environment and Development (UNCED),

which took place at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Itaims at achieving global sustainabledevelopment. It is an agenda to combatenvironmental damage, poverty, diseasethrough global co-operation on commoninterests, mutual needs and sharedresponsibilities. One major objective of the

Agenda 21 is that every local governmentshould draw its own local Agenda 21.




Prepare a list of resources found in your stateand also identify the resources that areimportant but deficit in your state.

What resources are being developed in your surroundings by the community/villagepanchayats/ward level communities with thehelp of community participation?




At the international level, the Club of Romeadvocated resource conservation for the firsttime in a more systematic way in 1968.Subsequently, in 1974, Gandhian philosophy

was once again presented by Schumacher in his book Small is Beautiful. The seminalcontribution with respect to resourceconservation at the global level was madeby the Brundtland Commission Report, 1987.This report introduced the concept of ‘Sustainable Development’ and advocatedit as a means for resource conservation,

which was subsequently published in a book entitled Our Common Future. Another significant contribution was made at the EarthSummit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.

Try to do a comparison between the two piecharts (Fig. 1.4 ) given for land use and findout why the net sown area and the landunder forests have changed from 1960-61to 2002-03 very marginally.




Find out reasons for the low proportion of net sown area in these states.




State of India’s Environment

• The village of Sukhomajri and the district of Jhabua have shown that it is possibleto reverse land degradation. Tree density in Sukhomajri increased from 13 per hectare in 1976 to 1,272 per hectare in 1992;

• Regeneration of the environment leads to economic well-being, as a resultof greater resource availability, improved agriculture and animal care, and




consequently, increased incomes. Average annual household income inSukhomajri ranged from Rs 10,000-15,000 between 1979 and 1984;

• People’s management is essential for ecological restoration. With peoplebeing made the decision-makers by the Madhya Pradesh government, 2.9million hectares or about 1 per cent of India’s land area, are being greenedacross the state through watershed management.





PROJECT/A CTIVITY



Narak! My Lord, you are the creator of musicin the world of Lepchas

Oh Narak! My Lord, let me dedicatemyself to you

Let me gather your music from thesprings, the rivers, the mountains, the forests,the insects and the animals

Let me gather your music from the sweet

breeze and offer it to you

Biodiversity or Biological Diversity isimmensely rich in wildlife and cultivatedspecies, diverse in form and function butclosely integrated in a system throughmultiple network of interdependencies.

Find out stories prevalent in your region which are about the harmonious relationshipbetween human beings and nature.



Vanishing Forests

The dimensions of deforestation in India arestaggering. The forest cover in the country isestimated at 637,293 sq km, which is 19.39per cent of the total geographical area.(dense forest 11.48 per cent; open forest 7.76per cent; and mangrove 0.15 per cent).

According to the State of Forest Report(1999), the dense forest cover has increased

by 10,098 sq km since 1997. However, thisapparent increase in the forest cover is dueto plantation by different agencies. The Stateof Forest Report does not differentiatebetween natural forests and plantations.Therefore, these reports fail to deliver

accurate information about actual loss of natural forests.
