CBSE Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 2 – Forest and Wildlife Resources

Flora and Fauna in India

India is one of the world’s richest countries in terms of its vast array of biological diversity. Different varieties of forest and wildlife resources are found in India. Based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), we can classify different categories of existing plants and animal species as follows:

1. Normal Species: Species whose population levels are considered to be normal for their survival, such as cattle, sal, pine, rodents, etc.
2. Endangered Species: These species are in danger of extinction. For examples, species are black buck, crocodile, Indian wild ass, Indian rhino, lion tailed macaque, sangai (brow anter deer in Manipur), etc.
3. Vulnerable Species: These are species whose population has declined to levels that it is likely to move into the endangered category in the near future if it continues to decline in the same manner. Eg: Blue sheep, Asiatic elephant, Gangetic dolphin, etc.
4. Rare Species: Species with a small population may move into the endangered or vulnerable category if the negative factors affecting them continue to operate. The examples of such species are the Himalayan brown bear, wild Asiatic buffalo, desert fox and hornbill, etc.
5. Endemic Species: These are species which are only found in some particular areas usually isolated by natural or geographical barriers. Examples of such species are the Andaman teal, Nicobar pigeon, Andaman wild pig, Mithun in Arunachal Pradesh.
6. Extinct Species: These species may be extinct from a local area, region, country, continent or the entire earth. Eg: Asiatic cheetah, pink head duck.

What are the negative factors that cause such fearful depletion of the flora and fauna?

1. Excessive consumption of natural resources for fulfilling human needs such as wood, barks, leaves, rubber, medicines, dyes, food, fuel, fodder, manure, etc.
2. The expansion of the railways, agriculture, commercial and scientific forestry and mining activities.
3. Large-scale development of projects and mining activities.
4. Unequal access, inequitable consumption of resources and differential sharing of responsibility for environmental well-being.

Conservation of Forest and Wildlife in India

Conservation preserves the ecological diversity and preserves the genetic diversity of plants and animals.

1. The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act was implemented in 1972, for protecting habitats and an all India list of protected species was published.
2. The central government also announced several projects for protecting specific animals. Under the Wildlife Act of 1980 and 1986, several hundred butterflies, moths, beetles, and one dragonfly have been added to the list of protected species.
3. In 1991, for the first time plants were also added to the list, starting with six species.

Types and Distribution of Forest and Wildlife Resources

In India, forest and wildlife resources are owned and managed by the government through the Forest Department or other government departments. These are classified under the following categories.

Reserved Forests: More than half of the total forest land in India has been declared reserved forests.

Protected Forests: Forest Department has declared one-third of the total forest area as protected forest.

Unclassed Forests: These are the forests and wastelands which belong to both government and private individuals and communities. North-eastern states and parts of Gujarat have a very high percentage of their forests as unclassed forests.

Reserved and protected forests are also referred to as permanent forests, which are maintained for the purpose of producing timber and other forest produce, and for protective reasons. Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under permanent forests.

Community and Conservation

Conservation of the forest and wildlife resources is very important. Here are a few steps were taken by common people:

1. In Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, villagers have fought against mining by citing the Wildlife Protection Act.
2. The inhabitants of five villages in the Alwar district of Rajasthan have declared 1,200 hectares of forest as the Bhairodev Dakav ‘Sonchuri’. Villages came up with their own set of rules and regulations which do not allow hunting. They are also protecting the wildlife against any outside encroachments.
3. The famous Chipko movement in the Himalayas was one successful attempt to resist deforestation in several areas. The movement has also resulted in community afforestation.
4. Farmers and citizen’s groups like the Beej Bachao Andolan in Tehri and Navdanya have shown that adequate levels of diversified crop production without the use of synthetic chemicals are possible and economically viable.
5. India joint forest management (JFM) programme furnishes a good example for involving local communities in the management and restoration of degraded forests.

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CBSE Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 3 – Water Resources

Water

Three-fourth of the earth’s surface is covered with water but only a small proportion of it accounts for freshwater, that can be put to use. Water is a renewable resource.

Water Scarcity and the Need for Water Conservation and Management

The availability of water resources varies over space and time.

• Water scarcity is caused by over-exploitation, excessive use and unequal access to water among different social groups.
• Water resources are being over-exploited to expand irrigated areas for dry-season agriculture.
• In some areas, water is sufficiently available to meet the needs of the people. But, those areas still suffer from water scarcity due to bad quality of water.

The need of the hour is to conserve and manage our water resources:

• To safeguard ourselves from health hazards.
• To ensure food security, continuation of our livelihoods and productive activities.
• To prevent degradation of our natural ecosystems.

Multi-Purpose River Projects and Integrated Water Resources Management

In ancient times, we used to conserve water by constructing sophisticated hydraulic structures like dams built of stone rubble, reservoirs or lakes, embankments and canals for irrigation. We have continued this tradition in modern India by building dams in most of our river basins.

Dams

A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment. “Dam” refers to the reservoir rather than the structure.

Uses of Dam:

Dams are built:

• To impound rivers and rainwater that can be used later to irrigate agricultural fields.
• For electricity generation.
• Water supply for domestic and industrial uses.
• Flood control.
• Recreation, inland navigation and fish breeding.

Side effects of Creating Dams

• Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow.
• Poorer the habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life.
• Fragment rivers make it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate.
• Dams created on the floodplains submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its decomposition over a period of time.
• Creating of large dams has been the cause of many new environmental movements like the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’ etc.
• Many times local people had to give up their land, livelihood and their control over resources for the construction of the dam.

Most of the objections to the projects arose due to their failure to achieve the purposes for which they were built. Most of the dams were constructed to control floods but, these dams have triggered floods. Dams have also caused extensive soil erosion. Excessive use of water has resulted in earthquakes, caused water-borne diseases and pests and pollution.

Have a look at the India Major Rivers and Dams in the map below:

Rain Water Harvesting

Rainwater harvesting is a simple method by which rainfall is collected for future usage. The collected rainwater may be stored, utilised in different ways or directly used for recharge purposes.

Different methods have been adopted in different areas for Rain Water Harvesting.

1. In hill and mountainous regions, people have built diversion channels like the ‘guls’ or ‘kuls’ of the Western Himalayas for agriculture.
2. “Rooftop rainwater harvesting” is commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly in Rajasthan.
3. In the flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields.
4. In arid and semi-arid regions, agricultural fields were converted into rain-fed storage structures that allowed the water to stand and moisten the soil such as ‘khadins’ in Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’ in other parts of Rajasthan.
5. The tankas are part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system and are built inside the main house or the courtyard. This is mainly practised in Rajasthan, particularly in Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer areas for saving the rainwater. Many houses have constructed underground rooms adjoining the ‘tanka’ to beat the summer heat as it would keep the room cool.

Tamil Nadu is the first state in India which has made rooftop rainwater harvesting structure compulsory to all the houses across the state. There are legal provisions to punish the defaulters.

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CBSE Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 5 – Minerals and Energy Resources

What is a Mineral?

Mineral is defined as a “homogenous, naturally occurring substance with a definable internal structure.” Minerals are found in varied forms in nature, ranging from the hardest diamond to the softest talc. Rocks are combinations of homogeneous substances called minerals.

Mode of Occurrence of Minerals

Minerals are usually found in “ores”. The term ore is used to describe an accumulation of any mineral mixed with other elements. Minerals generally occur in the following forms:

• In igneous and metamorphic rocks, minerals may occur in the cracks, crevices, faults or joints.
• In sedimentary rocks, a number of minerals occur in beds or layers.
• The decomposition of surface rocks and the removal of soluble constituents also forms the minerals.
• Minerals also occur as alluvial deposits in sands of valley floors and the base of hills.
• The ocean waters contain vast quantities of minerals.

Classification of Minerals

Ferrous Minerals

Ferrous minerals account for about three-fourths of the total value of the production of metallic minerals.

Iron Ore

1. India is endowed with fairly abundant resources of iron ore.
2. Magnetite is the finest iron ore with a very high content of iron, up to 70%. It has excellent magnetic qualities.
3. Hematite ore is the most important industrial iron ore. It contains 50 to 60% iron.

The major iron ore belts in India are:

• Odisha-Jharkhand belt
• Durg-Bastar-Chandrapur belt
• Ballari-Chitradurga-Chikkamagaluru-Tumakuru belt
• Maharashtra-Goa belt

Manganese

1. It is mainly used in the manufacturing of steel and ferro-manganese alloy.
2. Nearly 10 kg of manganese is required to manufacture 1 tonne of steel.
3. It is also used in manufacturing bleaching powder, insecticides and paints.

Non-Ferrous Minerals

Non-ferrous minerals include copper, bauxite, lead, zinc and gold. These minerals play a vital role in a number of metallurgical, engineering and electrical industries.

Copper

1. Malleable, ductile and good conductor of heat and electricity.
2. Mainly used in electrical cables, electronics and chemical industries.
3. The Balaghat mines in Madhya Pradesh, Khetri mines in Rajasthan and Singhbhum district of Jharkhand are leading producers of copper.

Bauxite

1. Bauxite deposits are formed by the decomposition of a wide variety of rocks rich in aluminium silicates.
2. Aluminium is obtained from bauxite. Aluminium has good conductivity and great malleability.
3. Deposits are mainly found in the Amarkantak plateau, Maikal hills and the plateau region of Bilaspur-Katni.

Non-Metallic Minerals

1. Mica is a mineral made up of a series of plates or leaves. It can be clear, black, green, red, yellow or brown.
2. Mica is the most indispensable minerals used in electric and electronic industries.
3. It has excellent di-electric strength, low power loss factor, insulating properties and resistance to high voltage.
4. Mica deposits are found in the northern edge of the Chota Nagpur plateau.

Rock Minerals

1. Limestone is found in rocks composed of calcium carbonates or calcium and magnesium carbonates.
2. It is the basic raw material for the cement industry and essential for smelting iron ore in the blast furnace.

Conservation of Minerals

Minerals are a non-renewable resource. It takes thousands of years for the formation and concentration of minerals. Continued extraction of ores leads to the depletion of minerals. So, it’s important to take the necessary steps so that mineral resources can be used in a planned and sustainable manner.

Energy Resources

Energy resources can be classified as

1. Conventional Sources: It includes firewood, cattle dung cake, coal, petroleum, natural gas and electricity.
2. Non-Conventional Sources: It includes solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, biogas and atomic energy

Let us discuss each of them in detail.

Conventional Sources of Energy

Coal:

1. It is the most abundantly available fossil fuel.
2. It is used for power generation, to supply energy to the industry as well as for domestic needs.
3. Lignite is a low grade brown coal, which is soft with high moisture content.
4. Coal that has been buried deep and subjected to increased temperatures is bituminous coal.
5. Anthracite is the highest quality of hard coal.
6. Jharia, Raniganj, Bokaro are important coalfields.

Petroleum

1. It provides fuel for heat and lighting, lubricants for machinery and raw materials for a number of manufacturing industries.
2. Petroleum refineries act as a “nodal industry” for synthetic textile, fertiliser and numerous chemical industries.
3. Mumbai High, Gujarat and Assam are major petroleum production areas in India.

Natural Gas

1. Natural gas is an important clean energy resource. It is considered an environment-friendly fuel.
2. The power and fertilizer industries are the key users of natural gas.
3. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG ) is used in vehicles to replace liquid fuels.
4. Large reserves of natural gas have been discovered in the Krishna-Godavari basin

Electricity

Electricity is generated mainly in 2 ways:

1. By running water which drives hydro turbines to generate Hydro Electricity. It is a renewable resource of energy. India has a number of multi-purpose projects like the Bhakra Nangal, Damodar Valley Corporation, the Kopili Hydel Project.
2. By burning other fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas to drive turbines to produce Thermal Power. It uses non-renewable fossil fuels for generating electricity.

Non-Conventional Sources of Energy

The renewable energy sources like solar energy, wind, tide, biomass and energy from waste material are called Non-Conventional Energy Sources. Let’s discuss them one by one.

Nuclear or Atomic Energy

Nuclear Energy is obtained by altering the structure of atoms. Uranium and Thorium are used for generating atomic or nuclear power.

Solar Energy

Solar energy is produced by the Sun’s light. Photovoltaic technology converts sunlight directly into electricity.

Wind Power

Wind Energy or Power is the use of wind to generate electricity. Wind turbines are used for this purpose. The largest wind farm cluster is located in Tamil Nadu from Nagarcoil to Madurai.

Biogas

Biogas is a type of biofuel that is naturally produced from the decomposition of organic waste. Biogas is the most efficient use of cattle dung. It improves the quality of manure.

Tidal Energy

Tidal energy is the form of hydropower that converts the energy obtained from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity. In India, the Gulf of Khambhat, the Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat on the western coast and Gangetic delta in Sunderban regions of West Bengal provide ideal conditions for utilising tidal energy.

Geo-Thermal Energy

When heat and electricity are produced by using the heat from the interior of the earth, it is known as Geo-Thermal Energy. In India, geothermal energy is harnessed from Parvati valley near Manikarn in Himachal Pradesh and from Puga Valley, Ladakh.

Conservation of Energy Resources

Every sector of the national economy – agriculture, industry, transport, commercial and domestic – needs inputs of energy. There is an urgent need to develop a sustainable path for energy development. Here are some ways that each one of us can contribute to save energy resources:

• Using public transport systems instead of individual vehicles
• Switching off electricity when not in use
• Using power-saving devices.
• Using non-conventional sources of energy

CBSE Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 6 – Manufacturing Industries

Importance of Manufacturing

The manufacturing sector is considered the backbone of development due to the following reasons:

1. Manufacturing industries help in modernising agriculture as it provides jobs in secondary and tertiary sectors.
2. It helps in the eradication of unemployment and poverty.
3. Export of manufactured goods expands trade and commerce, and brings in much needed foreign exchange.
4. It helps in prospering the country by giving a boost to the economy.

Contribution of Industry to National Economy

The trend of growth rate in manufacturing over the last decade has been around 7 per cent per annum.

Industrial Location

Industrial locations are influenced by the availability of:

• Raw material
• Labour
• Capital
• Power
• Market
• Government policies

Manufacturing activity tends to locate at the most appropriate place where all the factors of industrial location are either available or can be arranged at a lower cost. The figure below shows the industry market linkage.

Agro-based Industries

Cotton, jute, silk, woollen textiles, sugar and edible oil, etc. industries are based on agricultural raw materials. Let’s know about each of them, one by one.

Textile Industry

It is the only industry in India, which is self-reliant and complete in the value chain i.e., from raw material to the highest value added products. It contributes to industrial production, employment generation and foreign exchange earnings.

Cotton Textiles

This industry has close links with agriculture and provides a living to farmers, cotton boll pluckers and workers engaged in ginning, spinning, weaving, dyeing, designing, packaging, tailoring and sewing. It supports many other industries, such as, chemicals and dyes, packaging materials and engineering works.

Jute Textiles

India is the largest producer of raw jute and jute goods. Most of the mills are located in West Bengal, mainly along the banks of the Hugli river.

Sugar Industry

India stands second as a world producer of sugar but occupies the first place in the production of Gur and Khandsari. This industry is seasonal in nature.

Mineral-based Industries

Industries that use minerals and metals as raw materials are called mineral-based industries. Let’s discuss some industries that fall under this category.

Iron and Steel Industry

Iron and steel is the basic industry as all the other industries – heavy, medium and light, depend on it for their machinery. lt is considered as a heavy industry because all the raw materials, as well as finished goods, are heavy and bulky entailing heavy transportation costs.

India is an important iron and steel producing country in the world yet, we are not able to perform to our full potential largely due to:

• High costs and limited availability of coking coal
• Lower productivity of labour
• Irregular supply of energy
• Poor infrastructure.

Aluminium Smelting

Aluminium Smelting is the second most important metallurgical industry in India. It is used to manufacture aircraft, utensils and wires. Bauxite is the raw material used in the smelters.

Aluminium Smelting has gained popularity as a substitute for steel, copper, zinc and lead in a number of industries. It exhibits the following properties:

• Light in weight
• Resistant to corrosion
• A good conductor of heat
• Malleable
• Becomes strong when it is mixed with other metals

Chemical Industries

The Chemical industry comprises both large and small scale manufacturing units. Rapid

growth has been recorded in both inorganic and organic sectors.

Inorganic chemicals include sulphuric acid nitric acid, alkalies, soda ash and caustic soda.

Organic chemicals include petrochemicals, which are used for manufacturing synthetic fibers, synthetic rubber, plastics, dye-stuffs, drugs and pharmaceuticals.

Fertilizer Industry

The fertilizer industries are centred around the production of nitrogenous fertilizers (mainly urea), phosphatic fertilizers and ammonium phosphate (DAP) and complex fertilizers which have a combination of nitrogen (N), phosphate (P), and potash (K). Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Kerala contribute towards half of the fertilizer production.

Cement Industry

Cement is essential for construction activity such as building houses, factories, bridges, roads, airports, dams and for other commercial establishments. This industry requires bulky and heavy raw materials like limestone, silica and gypsum.

Automobile Industry

This industry deals with the manufacturing of trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles, scooters, three-wheelers and multi-utility vehicles. These industries are located around Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur and Bengaluru.

Information Technology and Electronics Industry

The electronics industry covers a wide range of products from transistor sets to television, telephones, cellular telecom, telephone exchange, radars, computers and many other equipment required by the telecommunication industry. This industry has generated employment in India. Bengaluru is known as the electronic capital of India.

Industrial Pollution and Environmental Degradation

Industries are responsible for 4 types of pollution:

1. Air
2. Water
3. Land
4. Noise

Air pollution is caused by the presence of a high proportion of undesirable gases, such as sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Smoke is emitted by chemical and paper factories, brick kilns, refineries and smelting plants, and burning of fossil fuels leads to air pollution. It adversely affects human health, animals, plants, buildings and the atmosphere as a whole.

Water pollution is caused by organic and inorganic industrial wastes and effluents discharged into rivers. The industries which are mainly responsible for water pollution are paper, pulp, chemical, textile and dyeing, petroleum refineries, tanneries and electroplating industries.

Thermal pollution of water occurs when hot water from factories and thermal plants is drained into rivers and ponds before cooling.

Noise pollution is the propagation of noise with harmful impact on the activity of human or animal life. It results in irritation, anger, cause hearing impairment, increased heart rate and blood pressure.

Control of Environmental Degradation

Here are some ways through which industrial pollution can be reduced:

1. Minimising the use of water by reusing and recycling it.
2. Harvesting rainwater to meet water requirements.
3. Treating hot water and effluents before releasing them in rivers and ponds.
4. Particulate matter in the air can be reduced by fitting smoke stacks to factories with electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, scrubbers and inertial separators.
5. Smoke can be reduced by using oil or gas instead of coal in factories.
6. Machinery can be redesigned to increase energy efficiency and reduce noise.

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CBSE Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 7 – Lifelines of National Economy

Transport

Movement of goods and services can be over three important domains of our earth i.e. land, water and air. Based on these, transport can also be classified into the land, water and air transport. Let’s discuss them in detail:

Roadways

India has one of the largest road networks in the world, aggregating to about 54.7 lakh km. The growing importance of road transport over rail transport is mentioned below:

1. The construction cost of roads is much lower than that of railway lines.
2. Roads can cover more geographically harder locations that cannot be done by the railways.
3. Roads can negotiate higher gradients of slopes and can be easily built-in traverse mountains such as the Himalayas.
4. Road transport is economical.
5. It also provides door-to-door service
6. Road transport provides links between railway stations, air and seaports.

In India, roads are classified in the following six classes according to their capacity.

Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways

Golden Quadrilateral is a network of Highways connecting India’s four top metropolitan cities, namely Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai. These highway projects are being implemented by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

National Highways

The National highways are a network of trunk roads that are laid and maintained by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). The historical Sher-Shah Suri Marg is called National Highway No.1, between Delhi and Amritsar.

State Highways

Roads linking a state capital with different district headquarters are known as State Highways. These roads are constructed and maintained by the State Public Works Department (PWD).

District Roads

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

Other Roads

Rural roads, which link rural areas and villages with towns, are classified under this category. These roads received special impetus under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana.

Border Roads

Border Roads Organisation constructs and maintains roads in the bordering areas of the country. This organisation was established in 1960 for the development of the roads of strategic importance in the northern and north-eastern border areas.

Roads can also be classified on the basis of the type of material used for their construction such as:

• Metalled roads may be made of cement, concrete or even bitumen of coal. These are all-weather roads.
• Unmetalled roads go out of use in the rainy season.

Railways

Railways are the principal mode of transportation for carrying huge loads and bulky goods for long and short distances in India. Railways have become more important in India’s economy. However, rail transport suffers from certain problems as well, which are mentioned below:

1. Construction of bridges is required across rivers’ wide beds for laying down the railway lines.
2. In the hilly terrains of the peninsular region, railway tracks are laid through low hills, gaps or tunnels.
3. The Himalayan mountainous regions are also unfavourable for the construction of railway lines due to the highest elevation points in the surface, sparse population and lack of economic opportunities.
4. It is difficult to lay railway lines on sandy plains.

Pipelines

Pipeline network uses pipes, usually underground, to transport and distribute fluids. These are used to transport water, crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas, fertilizer factories and big thermal power plants. Solids can also be transported through a pipeline when converted into slurry.

There are 3 important networks of pipeline transportation in the country.

1. From oil field in upper Assam to Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh)
2. From Salaya in Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab
3. From Hazira in Gujarat to Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh

Waterways

Waterways are the cheapest means of transport. They are most suitable for carrying heavy and bulky goods. It is a fuel-efficient and environment-friendly mode of transport.

The National Waterways in India are:

• N.W. No.1 – The Ganga river between Allahabad and Haldia (1620 km).
• N.W. No.2 – The Brahmaputra river between Sadiya and Dhubri (891 km).
• N.W. No.3 – The West-Coast Canal in Kerala (Kottapurma-Kollam, Udyogamandal and Champakkara canals-205 km).
• N.W. No.4 – Specified stretches of Godavari and Krishna rivers along with Kakinada Puducherry stretch of canals (1078 km).
• N.W. No.5 – Specified stretches of river Brahmani along with Matai river, delta channels of Mahanadi and Brahmani rivers and East Coast Canal (588 km).

Inland waterways in India are Mandavi, Zuari and Cumberjua, Sunderbans, Barak and backwaters of Kerala through which transportation takes place.

Major Sea Ports

India’s trade with foreign countries is carried from the ports. There are 2 major and 200 notified non-majors (minor/intermediate) ports in India.

Here is the list of major ports in India:

1. Kandla in Kachchh was the first port to be developed after independence. It is also known as the Deendayal Port.
2. Mumbai is the biggest port with a spacious natural and well-sheltered harbour.
3. Marmagao port (Goa) is the premier iron ore exporting port of India.
4. Mangalore port, located in Karnataka caters to the export of iron ore.
5. Kochchi is the extreme south-western port, located at the entrance of a lagoon.
6. Tuticorin port is situated at the extreme south-east.
7. Chennai is one of the oldest artificial ports of India.
8. Visakhapatnam is the deepest landlocked and well-protected port
9. Paradwip port located in Odisha, specialises in the export of iron ore.
10. Kolkata is an inland riverine port.
11. Haldia port was developed as a subsidiary port, in order to relieve growing pressure on the Kolkata port.

Airways

The airway is the fastest, most comfortable and prestigious mode of transport. Air travel has made access easier to the terrain areas like high mountains, dreary deserts, dense forests and long oceans. The air transport was nationalised in 1953. Air India provides domestic and international air services.

Pawanhans Helicopters Ltd. provides helicopter services to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in its off-shore operations, to inaccessible areas and difficult terrains. But, air travel is not within the reach of the common people.

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Communication

The major means of communication in India are television, radio, press, films, etc.

The Indian postal network is the largest in the world. It handles parcels as well as personal written communications.

• First-class mail is airlifted between stations covering both land and air.
• Second-class mail includes book packets, registered newspapers and periodicals. They are carried by surface mail, covering land and water transport.

India has one of the largest telecom networks in Asia. The Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) facilities all over India have 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 programmes and policies. It includes radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books and films.
• India Radio Channel (Akashwani) broadcasts a variety of programmes in national, regional and local languages.
• Doordarshan, the national television channel is one of the largest terrestrial networks in the world.
• India publishes a large number of newspapers in about 100 languages and dialects.

International Trade

The exchange of goods among people, states and countries is referred to as trade. Trade between two countries is called international trade. It is considered as the economic barometer for a country. Export and import are the components of trade. The balance of trade of a country is the difference between its export and import.

• When the value of export exceeds the value of imports, it is called a favourable balance of trade.
• If the value of imports exceeds the value of exports, it is termed as an unfavourable balance of trade.

The commodities exported from India to other countries include gems and jewellery, chemicals and related products, agriculture and allied products, etc.

The commodities imported to India include petroleum crude and products, gems and jewellery, chemicals and related products, base metals, electronic items, machinery, agriculture and allied products.

Tourism as a Trade

More than 15 million people are directly engaged in the tourism industry. Tourism in India:

• Promotes national integration
• Provides support to local handicrafts and cultural pursuits
• Helps in the development of international understanding about Indian culture and heritage. Foreign tourists visit India for heritage tourism, eco tourism, adventure tourism, cultural tourism, medical tourism and business tourism.

An economy is the large set of inter-related production and consumption activities that aid in determining how scarce resources are allocated.