Lifelines of National Economy

Ans. Three means of land transport:

(i) Roadways: They can be laid in any type of terrain and provide door to door service.

(ii) Railways: They can carry huge loads to long distances, therefore they are of great significance in the national economy.

(iii) Pipelines: These can be used for transporting liquid, gaseous and solid material to great distances at low cost.

Ans. Six types of roads:

(i) Super Highways – Golden Quadrilateral, north-South Corridor and East-West Corridor

(ii) National Highways

(iii) State Highways

(iv) District Roads

(v) Other Rural Roads

(vi) Border Roads

Ans. Roads can be classified into two categories on the basis of material used:

• Metalled roads may be made of cement, concrete or bitumen. These are all-weather roads.
• Unmetalled roads are dusty and muddy tracks which go out of use in the rainy season.

4. State reasons for the sparse railway network in Himalayan region.

Ans. Reasons for sparse railway network in Himalayas:

• High relief and rugged terrain pose difficulty in construction.
• Sparse population
• Lack of economic opportunities because of low economic development.
• These are also thickly forested areas.

5. Where is Konkan Railway Line developed in India and what problems are faced by it?

Ans. Konkan Railway Line is developed along the western coast of India through the states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. This railway line has facilitated the movement of passengers and goods in this most important economic region of India.

Problems faced during its construction:

• Sinking of track in some stretches
• Landslides were another hindrance

Ans. Advantages of pipeline transportation:

• Pipelines can transport liquids, gases and solids (in slurry form) to any distance.
• Pipelines are 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.
• Initial cost of laying pipelines is high but subsequent running costs are minimal.

Ans. Following waterways are declared as National Waterways:

• The Ganga river between Allahabad and Haldia (1620 km) NW No 1.
• The Brahmaputra river between Sadiya and Dhubri (891 km) NW No 2.
• The West-Coast Canal in Kerala (205 km) NW No 3.

Ans. Kandla in Kuchchh was the first port developed after independence to ease the volume of trade on Mumbai port in the wake of loss of Karachi port of Pakistan after the Partition.

Ans. (i) Airways is the fastest mode of transportation.

(ii) Most comfortable while travelling.

(iii) Prestigious mode of transport.

Ans. (i) Mumbai is the biggest port.

(ii) It has spacious, natural and well-sheltered harbour.

Ans. For the transportation of commodities and services from their supply to demand locations, i.e., to connect production and consuming centres.

For the transportation of people from one location to another.

For conducting business at all levels

To transport products, resources, and other items from surplus areas to deficient areas in order to provide relief measures to areas affected by natural disasters.

For delivering raw supplies from mines and farms to factories, and so on.

Ans. District Roads:

• District Roads connect the district headquarters with other places of the district.
• These roads are maintained by the Zila Parishad.

Other Rural Roads

• Rural roads which link rural areas and villages with towns come under this category.
• These roads received special impetus under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana’. Under this scheme, special provisions are made so that every village is linked to a major town in the country by an all season motorable road.

Ans. There are three networks of pipeline transportation as given below:

• From oil field in upper Assam to Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), via Guwahati, Barauni and Allahabad. It has branches from Barauni to Haldia, via Rajbandh, Rajbandh to Maurigram and Guwahati to Siliguri.
• From Salaya in Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab, via Viramgam, Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat. It has branches to connect Koyali (near Vadodara, Gujarat) Chakshu and other places.
• Gas pipeline from Hazira in Gujarat connects Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh, via Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. It has branches to Kota in Rajasthan, Shahjahanpur, Babrala and other places in Uttar Pradesh.

Ans. Distribution of roads is not uniform in India due to different types of geographical features.

Moreover, the volume of traffic as well as passengers also affects road networking in India. Roads are highly congested in cities. Most of the bridges and culverts have become narrow, old and broken.

Some roads are metalled, that is well built with brick and cement and about half of the roads are Unmetalled especially in rural areas which makes them inaccessible during rainy seasons.

The regions with rugged terrain have steep roads with lots of hairpin bends.

Ans. Factors that affect the distribution pattern of railway network in India:

• Physical factors: The nature of terrain and the number of rivers running through the region will determine the density of railway network in that region. For eg, mountains, marshy, sandy and forested areas have sparse network whereas plain areas have dense network of the railways.
• Economic facts: Regions which have rich resources and are economically more developed have denser network of railways in comparison to the regions with low economic development.
• Administrative factors: The administrative and political decisions also affect the distribution of railway network in a region.

Ans. Trade between countries is known as international trade.

• International trade has undergone a vast change in the last fifteen years. Exchange of goods and commodities have been superseded by the exchange of information and knowledge.
• For example: India has emerged as a software giant at the international level, and it is earning large foreign exchange through the export of information technology.
• International trade also depends on the relationship between the countries and other external facts like duties and tariffs on the transportation of goods. In the last fifteen years, different trade blocs have emerged which have changed how international trade was conducted previously.

Ans. Efficient means of transport are prerequisites for fast development because:

• The movement of goods and services from the supply location to demand locations necessities the need for transport. It widens the market for goods.
• It allows distant and remote areas to be linked with urban and developed, regions.
• The development and improvement of transport have made the delivery of goods faster across long distances and thus reduced cost.
• Immediate relief during the war, natural calamity, famine or flood can be easily accessed through efficient means of transport.

Ans. Problems faced by road transportation:

• The road network is inadequate in proportion to the volume of traffic and passengers.
• About half of the roads are Unmetalled which makes them useless during rainy season.
• The National Highways are inadequate and lack roadside amenities.
• The roadways are highly congested in cities.
• Most of the bridges and culverts are old and narrow.

Ans. India’s telecom network is one of the largest networks in Asia.

All urban places and two-thirds of the villages have Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) telephone facility. Special provisions have been made to extend twenty-four hours STD facility to all villages.’

There is a uniform STD rate in the country. It has been made possible by integrating the development in space technology with communication technology.

Ans. Border roads run along the land frontiers of our country in the northern and north-eastern border areas.

The Border Road Organisation (BRO) – a department of the Central Government was established in 1960 for the development of border roads.

Their construction and maintenance is the responsibility of the Central Government.

Importance of Border Roads:

1. These roads are of strategic importance.

2. They have increased the accessibility in areas of difficult terrain and have helped in the economic development of these areas.

3. They are the supply lines for our jawans (soldiers) who guard our land frontiers.

Ans. India is well linked with the rest of the world despite its vast size and diversities because of efficient means of transport and communication. They are rightly called the lifelines or arteries of a nation because:

• Economic development of a country depends on the well-developed and efficient means of transport and communication.
• They are indispensable for movement of people, goods and service from one place to another.
• They have contributed to socio-economic progress in many ways by connecting far flung areas of the country.
• They have enriched all aspects of our lives – social, cultural, individual and economic.
• They promote trade, tourism and business thus adding value to the economy.
• Transport and communication have made possible international trade which is essential for every economy as no country is self-sufficient in all resources.

Ans. (i) Transport and communication establish links between producing centres and consuming centres. Trade or the exchange of such commodities relies on transportation and communication.

(ii) Transport provides the network of links and carriers through which trade takes place.

(iii) Dense network of roads, railways and airways connect the remote areas of the country hence help in production and distribution of goods and services.

(iv) Advancement in communication system has accelerated trade by carrying information all over the world quickly.

(v) Good transport helps in quick carrying of raw material from remote areas to the production centre and allows distribution of goods efficiently.

(vi) With expansion of rail, ocean and air transport, better means of refrigeration and preservation, trade has experienced spatial expansion.

Ans. Roadways score over railways:

• Construction of roads is easier and cheaper as compared to railways.
• Roads provide door to door service, thus the cost of loading and unloading is much lower as compared to railways which generally leave the people and goods at the destined railway stations.
• Roads can negotiate higher gradients of slope and, as such, can traverse through mountainous terrain. But railways cannot negotiate steep gradients.
• Road transport is economical in transportation of few persons and relatively smaller amount of goods over short distances.
• Road transport is also used as a feeder to other modes of transport. They provide links between railway stations, airports and seaports.
• They link agricultural farms with markets and industries, thus linking rural and urban areas.

Ans. Air travel is more popular in the north-eastern states of India because of the following reasons:

• North-eastern part of the country is marked with the presence of big rivers where other means of transport cannot be laid.
• It is marked with dissected relief that makes it impossible to access the area through other means of transport other than air.
• The entire area is covered with dense forest that resists land movement.
• This area is often hit by frequent floods. Air travel is thus required.
• It has a long international frontier that requires a quick response which is possible only through air transport.

Ans. (i) Kandla in Kuchchh (Gujarat): Kandla is a tidal port. It caters to the needs of handling of exports and imports of highly productive granary and industrial belt stretching across the states of Jammu and Kasmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

(ii) Mumbai port (Maharashtra): It is the biggest port with natural and well-sheltered harbour. Jawaharlal Nehru port was planned with a view to decongest the Mumbai port and serve as a support for this region.

(iii) Marmagao port (Goa): It is the premier iron ore exporting port. This port accounts for about 50% of India’s iron ore export.

(iv) New Mangalore port (Karnataka): It exports iron ore from Kudremukh mines.

(v) Kochchi port: It is the extreme south-western port which is located at the entrance of a lagoon with a natural harbour.

Ans. Radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books and films are the main means of mass communication.

The importance of ‘Radio’ and ‘Television’ as an effective means of communication in India is due to the factors as mentioned below:

• Radio and television provide entertainment to the people.
• These create awareness among people about various national programmes and policies as debates are conducted on television and radio.
• Programmes are broadcasted in different languages for all types of people.
• Doordarshan, the national television channel of India and one of the largest terrestrial networks in the world, broadcasts various types of programmes from entertainment, educational to sports etc., for different age groups.

Ans. Under pipeline transportation now pipelines are used to transport crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas from oil and natural gas fields to oil refineries, fertiliser factories and big thermal power plants.

Advantages:

• Crude oil and other petroleum products can be transported to far away inland locations like Barauni and Panipat.
• Pipelines have proved beneficial for gas based fertiliser plants.
• Solids can also be transported through a pipeline when converted into slurry.
• Running cost of pipelines is minimal but initial cost of laying pipelines is high.
• There are no trans-shipment losses or delays.

Ans. The tourism as a trade has flourished in India as mentioned below:

• There has been increase of 23.5 percent during the year 2004 as against the year 2003 and contributed 21,828 crore of foreign exchange.
• Over 2.6 million foreign tourists visit India every year.
• Over 15 million people are directly employed in the tourism industry in the country.
• It promotes national integration because people from India also go from one place to another place.
• It helps in the development of international understanding. Foreign tourists are attracted by Indian culture and traditions.
• It supports local handicrafts and cultural pursuits because tourists purchase many products during their visits.
• Foreign tourists visit India for visiting places of heritage or to have adventure in hilly region or to have business with India.
• Rajasthan, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and temple town of south India have attracted many tourists from all over the world.

Ans. the distribution of railway network depends upon physiographic, economic and administrative factors. The following are the conditions responsible for uneven distribution pattern of the railway network in India.

• The northern plains have dense network of railways due to extensive level land, agriculturally and industrially productive region and support high density of population which is favourable for the development of railways. However, the presence of large number of rivers requires the construction of bridges across the rivers which poses some difficulties.
• In the hilly regions of the north and the peninsular plateau regions, railways are constructed through narrow gaps, or tunnels.
• The Himalayas region has less network of railways due to rugged terrain, sparse population and lack of economic opportunities.
• In the sandy plans of western Rajasthan, swampy regions of Gujarat, thickly forested regions of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, construction of railways is difficult and expensive.
• Recently, the development of Konkan railway along the western coast has contributed to the movement of goods and passengers through the passes and gaps along the Western Ghats to link the most economic region of India.

Ans. Road transport is economical in transportation of few people and smaller amount of goods. It reduces cost.

Road transport do not need a station or a port (sea port and airport). It can cover short distances easily and quickly.

There are a large variety of vehicles on the roads, carrying one, two or more than sixty persons. They can negotiate traffic jams.

They provide door to door service.

Road transport like rickshaws, bicycles, autos and scooters can negotiate the narrow and congested lanes and bylanes and carry people and goods.