RBSE SS Geography flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Possibilism

School of thought holding that environment offers possibilities and humans choose among them; associated with Vidal de la Blache and opposed to environmental determinism.

Areal differentiation

Core theme of human geography: describing and explaining differences between regions in the distribution of human activities and their interaction with physical surroundings.

Nomothetic approach

Approach that seeks general laws and universal principles through theory building and statistical testing, characteristic of the quantitative revolution in geography.

Idiographic approach

Approach that studies each region or place as unique, emphasising description of its particular characteristics rather than deriving general laws.

Demographic transition model

Model describing a society's shift from high birth and死亡 rates to low ones across four stages; stage 2 shows rapid growth, stage 3 slowing growth, stage 4 low growth.

Sex ratio

Number of females per 1000 males in a population; Census 2011 records 943 for India and 928 for Rajasthan.

Doubling time

Approximate number of years needed for a population to double, obtained by dividing 70 by the annual growth rate in per cent.

Human Development Index

UNDP composite index combining life expectancy, mean and expected years of schooling and GNI per capita as a geometric mean to rank countries.

Material index

Weight of raw material divided by weight of finished product; above one the industry is weight-losing and sits near raw materials, below one near the market.

Footloose industry

Industry whose location is not tied to raw materials or markets because inputs are light and transport costs are small, for example electronics and garments.

Quaternary activities

Tertiary-sector work involving knowledge, information and research, such as education, software, consultancy and data processing, often called white-collar work.

Von Thünen model

Model of concentric land-use rings around a market in which transport cost and perishability decide which crop is grown at each distance.

Balance of trade

Difference between the value of a country's exports and imports of goods; exports greater gives a surplus, imports greater gives a deficit.

Golden Quadrilateral

National highway network of 5,846 km linking Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, forming India's main high-density transport corridor.

Unigauge project

Indian Railways policy of converting metre and narrow gauge lines to broad gauge of 1.676 m to standardise track and speed up movement.

Trade bloc

Group of countries agreeing to reduce or remove tariffs among themselves, such as the EU, ASEAN, USMCA or SAFTA.

Census town

Census of India definition: a settlement with 5,000 or more people, density above 400 per sq km and 75 per cent of male workers in non-agricultural work.

Primate city

Largest city of a country or region that is disproportionately bigger than the second city, concentrating population and functions in one centre.

Central place theory

Christaller's model in which settlements act as hexagonal service centres of different order, determined by the range and threshold of goods.

Conurbation

Continuous urban area formed when several expanding towns merge physically while remaining separate administrative units, such as the Ruhr or Mumbai region.

Sustainable development

Development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs, popularised by the Brundtland Report of 1987.

Carrying capacity

Maximum population or load that an ecosystem or area can support indefinitely with available resources without irreversible degradation.

Ecological footprint

Area of land and water needed to supply a population's resources and absorb its wastes, expressed in global hectares.

Agenda 21

Action plan adopted at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit for global sustainable development, covering poverty, health, environment and local participation.

Kharif season

Monsoon crop season from June to October, when rice, cotton, maize, groundnut and bajra are sown with the arrival of the southwest monsoon.

Green Revolution

Strategy of the 1960s and 1970s using high-yielding wheat and rice varieties, fertiliser and irrigation, which sharply raised output in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

Break in monsoon

Short dry spell of a week or more during the rainy season caused by the monsoon trough shifting, which can damage standing kharif crops.

Special Category States

States given concessional central assistance because of hilly terrain, low population and difficult border conditions, including north-eastern and Himalayan states.

Guru Shikhar

Highest peak of the Aravalli range at 1,722 metres, located on Mount Abu in Sirohi district of Rajasthan.

Indira Gandhi Canal

Canal starting at the Harike barrage in Punjab that carries Sutlej–Beas water into western Rajasthan, extending irrigation into the Thar.

Luni River

Ephemeral river of Rajasthan rising near Ajmer, flowing southwest along the desert edge and ending in the Rann of Kachchh.

Sambhar Lake

Largest inland saline lake in India, in Nagaur district of Rajasthan, a major source of salt and a Ramsar wetland.