Resources and Development: Land, Soil, Water, Minerals, Agriculture, Industries and People (Class VIII Geography)

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What makes a resource

Anything that can satisfy a need and has utility is a resource, and time and technology turn things into resources: fast-flowing water became a resource when people learned to make hydroelectricity. Resources are natural, human-made (buildings, machines, technology) or human (people, whose knowledge and skills create other resources). Natural resources are renewable (sunlight, wind, forests) or non-renewable (coal, petroleum, minerals); ubiquitous (air) or localised (copper, iron ore); actual (quantity known and in use) or potential (not used now, such as the uranium found in Ladakh); and biotic or abiotic. Sustainable development means using resources so that present needs are met while future generations are also taken care of, by respecting all forms of life, conserving the earth's diversity and minimising the depletion of natural resources.

Land and soil

Land covers only about 30 per cent of the earth's surface, and its use depends on soil, climate, topography, water, population and technology. Soil forms from the weathering of parent rock and is shaped by climate, relief, flora and fauna, and time; deforestation, overgrazing and the overuse of chemical fertilisers degrade it. Conservation methods include mulching (covering bare ground with organic matter), contour barriers, rock dams that slow running water, terrace farming, intercropping, contour ploughing and shelter belts of trees. Landslides can be reduced by hazard mapping, retention walls, vegetation cover and surface drainage.

Water, vegetation and wildlife

Only about 2.7 per cent of the earth's water is fresh; nearly 70 per cent of that is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers, and only about 1 per cent of freshwater is fit for human use. Water is conserved through rainwater harvesting, lined canals, drip and sprinkler irrigation, and keeping rivers free of sewage and industrial waste. Natural vegetation depends mainly on temperature and moisture, and wildlife is threatened by habitat loss, poaching and pollution. Conservation tools include national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves, social forestry, the tree-planting festival Vanamahotsava, and CITES, an international agreement that controls trade in endangered species of wild animals and plants.

Minerals and power

A mineral is a naturally occurring substance with a definite chemical composition. Metallic minerals are ferrous (iron ore, manganese, nickel) or non-ferrous (copper, lead, gold); non-metallic minerals include limestone, mica and gypsum. Minerals are extracted by open-cast mining near the surface, shaft mining from deep layers, drilling and quarrying. Conventional sources of power are firewood and the fossil fuels, coal (called buried sunshine), petroleum (black gold) and natural gas, along with hydel power. Non-conventional sources are solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal and tidal energy and biogas; nuclear power uses uranium and thorium, and the monazite sands of Kerala are rich in thorium.

Agriculture

Economic activities are primary (agriculture, fishing, mining), secondary (manufacturing) and tertiary (services). A farm is a system of inputs (seeds, fertilisers, machinery, labour), processes (ploughing, sowing, irrigation, harvesting) and outputs (crops, wool, dairy). Subsistence farming feeds the farmer's family: intensive subsistence farming on small plots, shifting cultivation (slash and burn, called jhumming in north-east India, milpa in Mexico, roca in Brazil and ladang in Indonesia and Malaysia) and nomadic herding. Commercial farming produces for sale, as in commercial grain farming, mixed farming and plantations of tea, coffee, rubber or sugarcane. Rice needs high temperature, high humidity, rainfall and clayey alluvial soil; wheat needs moderate temperature and rainfall and well-drained loamy soil; millets grow on less fertile, sandy soils; cotton needs high temperature, light rainfall, 210 frost-free days and bright sunshine, on black and alluvial soils; and jute, the golden fibre, needs heavy rainfall and a humid climate.

Industries

Industries are classified by raw material (agro-based, mineral-based, marine-based, forest-based), by size (small-scale, large-scale) and by ownership (private, public, joint, and cooperative, owned by producers or workers, such as milk producers' unions). Location depends on raw material, land, water, labour, power, capital, transport and market. The Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) began in 1907 at Sakchi, now Jamshedpur, near the confluence of the Subarnarekha and Kharkai rivers, close to iron ore, coal and water. India's first successful cotton textile mill was set up in Mumbai in 1854; Ahmedabad is called the Manchester of India and Osaka the Manchester of Japan; and Bengaluru is a leading information technology centre. On 3 December 1984 methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory at Bhopal.

Human resources

People are the greatest resource, because their knowledge and skills turn nature into resources, and education and health make them more productive. More than 90 per cent of the world's people live on about 30 per cent of the land surface, crowded in plains and river valleys and sparse in deserts, high mountains and very cold regions. Population density is the number of people per square kilometre. Population changes through births, deaths and migration; the natural growth rate is the difference between the birth rate and the death rate. A population pyramid shows the age and sex composition, and a broad base means many children and a high birth rate. The sex ratio is the number of females per 1000 males; India's was 943 at Census 2011.

Key facts

Resources by development: actual (known and used) and potential (not used now, such as uranium in Ladakh); by distribution: ubiquitous (air) and localised (copper, iron ore).
Soil conservation: mulching, contour barriers, rock dams, terrace farming, intercropping, contour ploughing and shelter belts.
Only about 2.7 per cent of the earth's water is fresh, nearly 70 per cent of that is frozen, and only about 1 per cent of freshwater is fit for human use.
CITES: the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement controlling trade in endangered animals and plants.
Ferrous minerals: iron ore, manganese, nickel; non-ferrous: copper, lead, zinc, gold; non-metallic: limestone, mica, gypsum; coal is called buried sunshine and petroleum black gold.
Shifting cultivation is called jhumming in north-east India, milpa in Mexico, roca in Brazil and ladang in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Cotton: high temperature, light rainfall, 210 frost-free days, bright sunshine, black and alluvial soils; jute is the golden fibre; rice needs clayey alluvial soil.
TISCO, Jamshedpur, 1907 (Subarnarekha-Kharkai confluence); first successful cotton mill in Mumbai, 1854; Ahmedabad is the Manchester of India, Osaka the Manchester of Japan.
Bhopal gas tragedy, 3 December 1984: methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory.
In class: let students list the resources of their own locality (wells, shops, workshops, farms, people's skills) and classify them as natural, human-made or human before using textbook examples.

Quick revision

Resource = utility, created by time and technology; natural, human-made, human; actual and potential (uranium in Ladakh); sustainable development; land about 30 per cent of the surface; soil conservation by mulching, terraces, shelter belts; 2.7 per cent of water fresh; CITES; ferrous and non-ferrous minerals; coal buried sunshine; jhumming; cotton 210 frost-free days; TISCO 1907; Bhopal 1984; sex ratio 943 (Census 2011).

Practise this topic

All 10 lessons on Social Studies and its Pedagogy (Paper II)