Chapter 1 — Resources And Development

The definition and its three conditions

Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs is called a resource, provided it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable.

Read the three conditions carefully, because they are what turns a substance into a resource. Coal buried under the sea is not a resource if no technology can reach it, or if reaching it costs more than the coal is worth, or if the society will not permit the mining. A resource is therefore a relationship between nature, technology and institutions — not a thing.

Resources are a function of human activity

The process of transformation of things available in our environment involves an interactive relationship between nature, technology and institutions. Human beings interact with nature through technology and create institutions to accelerate their economic development.

Resources are a function of human activities. Human beings themselves are essential components of resources. They transform material available in our environment into resources and use them.

On the basis of origin

• Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere and have life, such as human beings, flora and fauna, fisheries, livestock etc.
• Abiotic resources are composed of non-living things, such as rocks and metals.

On the basis of exhaustibility

• Renewable resources can be renewed or reproduced by physical, chemical or mechanical processes - solar and wind energy, water, forests and wildlife. They may be further divided into continuous or flow resources and biological resources.
• Non-renewable resources occur over a very long geological time. Minerals and fossil fuels are examples. These resources take millions of years in their formation. Some like metals are recyclable and some like fossil fuels cannot be recycled and get exhausted with their use.

On the basis of ownership

• Individual resources are owned privately by individuals - plots, houses, wells, ponds in villages, plantations, pastures.
• Community owned resources are accessible to all members of the community - village commons (grazing grounds, burial grounds, village ponds), public parks, picnic spots and playgrounds in urban areas.
• National resources belong to the nation. All the minerals, water resources, forests, wildlife, land within the political boundaries and oceanic area up to 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from the coast, termed as territorial water, belong to the nation.
• International resources are regulated by international institutions. The oceanic resources beyond 200 nautical miles of the Exclusive Economic Zone belong to open ocean and no individual country can utilise these without the concurrence of international institutions.

On the basis of the status of development

• Potential resources are found in a region but have not been utilised - for example the solar and wind energy in Rajasthan and Gujarat which is not developed properly.
• Developed resources are surveyed and their quality and quantity determined for utilisation. The development of resources depends on technology and the level of their feasibility.
• Stock is materials in the environment which have the potential to satisfy human needs but human beings do not have the appropriate technology to access these. Water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, which could be used as a rich source of energy, but we do not have the technical know-how to use them for this purpose.
• Reserves are the subset of the stock which can be put into use with the help of existing technical know-how but their use has not been started. Water in dams, forests etc. is a reserve which can be used in the future.

The three problems of indiscriminate use

Resources are vital for human survival as well as for maintaining the quality of life. It was believed that resources are free gifts of nature. As a result, human beings used them indiscriminately and this has led to the following major problems.

1. Depletion of resources for satisfying the greed of a few individuals.
2. Accumulation of resources in few hands, which, in turn, divided the society into two segments - haves and have nots, or rich and poor.
3. Indiscriminate exploitation of resources has led to global ecological crises such as global warming, ozone layer depletion, environmental pollution and land degradation.

Sustainable development

An equitable distribution of resources has become essential for a sustained quality of life and global peace. Therefore, sustainable existence is a component of sustainable development.

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

The Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992

In June 1992, more than 100 heads of states met in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the first International Earth Summit. The Summit was convened for addressing urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development at the global level.

The assembled leaders signed the Declaration on Global Climatic Change and Biological Diversity. The Rio Convention endorsed the global Forest Principles and adopted Agenda 21 for achieving Sustainable Development in the 21st century.

Agenda 21

It is the declaration signed by world leaders in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). It aims at achieving global sustainable development. It is an agenda to combat environmental damage, poverty, disease through global co-operation on common interests, mutual needs and shared responsibilities. One major objective of the Agenda 21 is that every local government should draw its own local Agenda 21.

Why planning is necessary

Resource planning is the widely accepted strategy for judicious use of resources. It has importance in a country like India, which has enormous diversity in the availability of resources.

There are regions which are rich in certain types of resources but are deficient in some other resources. There are some regions which can be considered self-sufficient in terms of the availability of resources and there are some regions which have acute shortage of some vital resources.

Examples of the imbalance

• The states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are rich in minerals and coal deposits.
• Arunachal Pradesh has abundance of water resources but lacks in infrastructural development.
• The state of Rajasthan is very well endowed with solar and wind energy but lacks in water resources.
• The cold desert of Ladakh is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. It has very rich cultural heritage but it is deficient in water, infrastructure and some vital minerals.

The three stages

Resource planning in India involves:

1. Identification and inventory of resources across the regions of the country. This involves surveying, mapping and qualitative and quantitative estimation and measurement of the resources.
2. Evolving a planning structure endowed with appropriate technology, skill and institutional set up for implementing resource development plans.
3. Matching the resource development plans with overall national development plans.

Resources alone are not enough

The availability of resources is a necessary condition for the development of any region, but mere availability of resources in the absence of corresponding changes in technology and institutions may hinder development. There are many regions in our country that are rich in resources but these are included in economically backward regions. On the contrary there are some regions which have a poor resource base but they are economically developed.

Colonisation is the historical proof: the colonisation of India was primarily guided by the rich resource base of the country, and the resources were developed for the benefit of the coloniser rather than the region.

Why land is the basic resource

Land is a natural resource of utmost importance. It supports natural vegetation, wildlife, human life, economic activities, transport and communication systems. However, land is an asset of a finite magnitude, therefore, it is important to use the available land for various purposes with careful planning.

The relief of India

India has land under a variety of relief features:

• Plains: about 43 per cent of the land area, which provide facilities for agriculture and industry.
• Mountains: about 30 per cent of the total surface area of the country, which ensure perennial flow of some rivers, provide facilities for tourism and ecological aspects.
• Plateaus: about 27 per cent of the country, which possess rich reserves of minerals, fossil fuels and forests.

The land use pattern

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

Total geographical area of India is 3.28 million sq km. Land use data, however, is available only for about 93 per cent of the total area because the land use reporting for most of the north-east states except Assam has not been done fully. Moreover some areas of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan and China have also not been surveyed.

The forest shortfall

The land under permanent pasture has also decreased. Most of the other than the current fallow lands are either of poor quality or the cost of cultivation of such land is very high. Hence, these lands are cultivated once or twice in about two to three years.

The forest area in the country is far lower than the desired 33 per cent of geographical area, as it was outlined in the National Forest Policy (1952). It was considered essential for maintenance of the ecological balance.

A part of the land is termed as waste land and land put to other non-agricultural uses. Waste land includes rocky, arid and desert areas, and land put to other non-agricultural uses includes settlements, roads, railways, industry etc.

The scale of the problem

The continuous use of land over a long period of time without taking appropriate measures to conserve and manage it has resulted in land degradation. This, in turn, has serious repercussions on society and the environment.

At present, there are about 130 million hectares of degraded land in India. Approximately 28 per cent of it belongs to the category of forest degraded area, 56 per cent of it is water eroded area and the rest is affected by saline and alkaline deposits.

The human causes, state by state

• Deforestation due to mining has caused severe land degradation in states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. Mining sites are abandoned after excavation work is complete leaving deep scars and traces of overburdening.
• Overgrazing is one of the main reasons for land degradation in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
• In states like Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, over-irrigation is responsible for land degradation due to water logging leading to increase in salinity and alkalinity in the soil.
• The mineral processing like grinding of limestone for cement industry and calcite and soapstone for ceramic industry generate huge quantity of dust in the atmosphere. It retards the process of infiltration of water into the soil after it settles down on the land.
• In recent years, industrial effluents as waste have become a major source of land and water pollution in many parts of the country.

Conservation measures

There are many ways to solve the problems of land degradation.

• Afforestation and proper management of grazing can help to some extent.
• Planting of shelter belts of plants, control on over grazing, stabilisation of sand dunes by growing thorny bushes are some of the methods to check land degradation in arid areas.
• Proper management of waste lands, control of mining activities, proper discharge and disposal of industrial effluents and wastes after treatment can reduce land and water degradation in industrial and suburban areas.

Soil is a living resource

Soil is the most important renewable natural resource. It is the medium of plant growth and supports different types of living organisms on the earth. It is a living system. It takes millions of years to form soil up to a few cm in depth.

Relief, parent rock or bed rock, climate, vegetation and other forms of life and time are important factors in the formation of soil. Various forces of nature such as change in temperature, actions of running water, wind and glaciers, activities of decomposers etc. contribute to the formation of soil. Chemical and organic changes which take place in the soil are equally important.

Alluvial soils

This is the most widely spread and important soil. The entire northern plains are made of alluvial soil, deposited by the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra. They extend in Rajasthan and Gujarat through a narrow corridor, and are also found in the eastern coastal plains, particularly in the deltas of the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri rivers.

Alluvial soil consists of various proportions of sand, silt and clay. According to their age alluvial soils can be classified as old alluvial (Bangar) and new alluvial (Khadar). The Bangar soil has higher concentration of kanker nodules than the Khadar. Khadar has more fine particles and is more fertile.

Alluvial soils as a whole are very fertile and are ideal for the growth of paddy, wheat and other cereal and pulse crops.

Black soil

These soils are black in colour and are also known as regur soils. Black soil is ideal for growing cotton and is also known as black cotton soil. Climatic condition along with the parent rock material are the important factors for the formation of black soil. This type of soil is typical of the Deccan trap (Basalt) region spread over northwest Deccan plateau and is made up of lava flows. They cover the plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and extend in the south east direction along the Godavari and the Krishna valleys.

The black soils are made up of extremely fine i.e. clayey material. They are well known for their capacity to hold moisture. In addition, they are rich in soil nutrients, such as calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime. These soils are generally poor in phosphoric contents. They develop deep cracks during hot weather, which helps in the proper aeration of the soil.

Red and yellow soils

Red soil develops on crystalline igneous rocks in areas of low rainfall in the eastern and southern parts of the Deccan plateau. Yellow and red soils are also found in parts of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, southern parts of the middle Ganga plain and along the piedmont zone of the Western Ghats. These soils develop a reddish colour due to diffusion of iron in crystalline and metamorphic rocks. It looks yellow when it occurs in a hydrated form.

Laterite soil

Laterite has been derived from the Latin word 'later' which means brick. The laterite soil develops in areas with high temperature and heavy rainfall. This is the result of intense leaching due to heavy rain. Humus content of the soil is low because most of the micro organisms, particularly the decomposers, like bacteria, get destroyed due to high temperature.

Laterite soils are suitable for cultivation with adequate doses of manures and fertilizers. These soils are mainly found in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and the hilly areas of Odisha and Assam. After adopting appropriate soil conservation techniques particularly in the hilly areas of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, this soil is very useful for growing tea and coffee. Red laterite soils in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala are more suitable for crops like cashew nut.

Arid soils

Arid soils range from red to brown in colour. They are generally sandy in texture and saline in nature. In some areas the salt content is very high and common salt is obtained by evaporating the water. Due to the dry climate, high temperature, evaporation is faster and the soil lacks humus and moisture. The lower horizons of the soil are occupied by kankar because of the increasing calcium content downwards. The kankar layer formations in the bottom horizons restrict the infiltration of water.

Forest soils

These soils are found in the hilly and mountainous areas where sufficient rain forests are available. The soils texture varies according to the mountain environment where they are formed. They are loamy and silty in valley sides and coarse grained in the upper slopes. In the snow covered areas of Himalayas, these soils experience denudation and are acidic with low humus content. The soils found in the lower parts of the valleys particularly on the river terraces and alluvial fans are fertile.

What soil erosion is

The denudation of the soil cover and subsequent washing down is described as soil erosion. The processes of soil formation and erosion, go on simultaneously and generally there is a balance between the two. Sometimes this balance is disturbed due to human activities like deforestation, over-grazing, construction and mining etc., while natural forces like wind, glacier and water lead to soil erosion.

Types of erosion

• The running water cuts through the clayey soils and makes deep channels as gullies. The land becomes unfit for cultivation and is known as bad land. In the Chambal basin such lands are called ravines.
• Sometimes water flows as a sheet over large areas down a slope. In such cases the top soil is washed away. This is known as sheet erosion.
• Wind blows loose soil off flat or sloping land known as wind erosion.
• Soil erosion is also caused due to defective methods of farming. Ploughing in a wrong way i.e. up and down the slope form channels for the quick flow of water leading to soil erosion.

Conservation methods

• Contour ploughing: Ploughing along the contour lines can decelerate the flow of water down the slopes.
• Terrace farming: Steps can be cut out on the slopes making terraces. Terrace cultivation restricts erosion. Western and central Himalayas have well developed terrace farming.
• Strip cropping: Large fields can be divided into strips. Strips of grass are left to grow between the crops. This breaks up the force of the wind.
• Shelter belts: Planting lines of trees to create shelter also works in a similar way. Rows of such trees are called shelter belts. These shelter belts have contributed significantly to the stabilisation of sand dunes and in stabilising the desert in western India.