Geography: Contemporary India – Resources, Land, Water, Agriculture and Minerals
Geography: Contemporary India – Resources, Land, Water, Agriculture and Minerals tests resource use, land and water systems, farming and minerals.
What the exam tests
This domain tests how resources are classified, used and degraded, and how land, water, agriculture and minerals connect. Expect data interpretation, cause–effect reasoning and map-based location.
Core rules and concepts
- Resources: natural vs human-made; renewable vs non-renewable; potential, developed, stock and reserves.
- Land use: net sown area is land cultivated once in a year; gross cropped area counts all crops sown, including second crops.
- Soil: alluvial, black, red, laterite, arid, forest and mountain soils differ in parent material, climate and crop suitability.
- Water: scarcity can be physical or economic; dams support irrigation and power but cause displacement and silting.
- Agriculture: cropping intensity, subsistence vs commercial farming, and the Green Revolution's regional bias.
- Minerals: ferrous (iron ore, manganese), non-ferrous (copper, bauxite), and conventional/non-conventional energy.
Worked example
A district has net sown area 60,000 hectares and area sown more than once 20,000 hectares. Gross cropped area = 60,000 + 20,000 = 80,000 hectares. Cropping intensity = (80,000 ÷ 60,000) × 100 = 133%. The reasoning: do not divide by gross area; the base is net sown area.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing net sown area with gross cropped area.
- Calling all degraded land 'wasteland'; degradation includes salinity, waterlogging and erosion.
- Treating water scarcity as only drought.
- Assuming all mineral-rich regions are developed; transport and capital matter.