Resources and Development
Definition and Interactive Relationship of Resources
Definition of a Resource: Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs, provided it meets three specific criteria:
Technological Accessibility: It must be possible to extract or use the material with existing technology.
Economic Feasibility: The cost of extraction and use must be practical and justifiable.
Cultural Acceptability: The society must be willing to accept the use of the material.
The Transformation Process: The transformation of things available in the environment involves an interactive relationship between three components:
Nature: The physical environment providing the raw material.
Technology: The tools and techniques used to access and transform material.
Institutions: The structures created by humans to manage and accelerate economic development.
The Human Role: Human beings are essential components of resources. They do not merely use resources; they interact with nature through technology and create institutions. They transform materials available in the environment into resources and use them. Resources are a function of human activities.
Classification of Resources
Resources are classified based on several criteria to understand their nature and management requirements:
On the Basis of Origin:
Biotic Resources: Obtained from the biosphere and have life (e.g., human beings, flora, fauna, fisheries, livestock).
Abiotic Resources: Composed of non-living things (e.g., rocks and metals).
On the Basis of Exhaustibility:
Renewable Resources: Can be renewed or reproduced by physical, chemical, or mechanical processes (e.g., solar energy, wind energy, water, forests, wildlife). These may be further divided into continuous or flow (e.g., wind).
Non-Renewable Resources: Occur over very long geological time. These include minerals and fossil fuels. Some, like metals, are recyclable, while others, like fossil fuels, cannot be recycled and get exhausted with use.
On the Basis of Ownership:
Individual Resources: Owned privately by individuals (e.g., farmers owning land, urban people owning houses, plots, plantations, pasture lands, ponds, water in wells).
Community Owned Resources: Accessible to all members of the community (e.g., grazing grounds, burial grounds, village ponds, public parks, picnic spots, playgrounds).
National Resources: Technically, all resources within a nation belong to the nation. The government has legal powers to acquire private property for public good. All minerals, water resources, forests, wildlife, and land within political boundaries and oceanic areas up to nautical miles () from the coast (territorial water) are national resources.
International Resources: Regulated by international institutions. Oceanic resources beyond nautical miles of the Exclusive Economic Zone belong to open ocean; no individual country can utilize these without the concurrence of international institutions.
On the Basis of Status of Development:
Potential Resources: Found in a region but have not been utilized (e.g., solar and wind energy potential in Rajasthan and Gujarat which has not yet been properly developed).
Developed Resources: Surveyed and their quality and quantity have been determined for utilization. Development depends on technology and level of feasibility.
Stock: Materials in the environment that have the potential to satisfy human needs, but humans do not have the appropriate technology to access them (e.g., Water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, both of which are rich sources of energy, but we lack the technical 'know-how' to use them for this purpose).
Reserves: A subset of 'stock' which can be put into use with the help of existing technical 'know-how', but their use has not been started yet. These are kept for meeting future requirements (e.g., water in dams, forests).
Problems Caused by Indiscriminate Resource Use
Resources are vital for human survival and quality of life. The false belief that resources are free gifts of nature led to their indiscriminate use, resulting in three major problems:
Depletion for Greed: Resources are being depleted to satisfy the greed of a few individuals.
Social Division: Resources have accumulated in a few hands, dividing society into 'haves' and 'have-nots' (rich and poor).
Ecological Crisis: Global ecological crises have emerged, including global warming, ozone layer depletion, environmental pollution, and land degradation.
Sustainable Development and International Initiatives
Definition of Sustainable Development: Sustainable economic development means that development should take place without damaging the environment, and development in the present should not compromise with the needs of future generations.
Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992:
Context: In June 1992, more than 100 heads of states met in Brazil for the first International Earth Summit.
Purpose: To address urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development at a global level.
Outcome: Leaders signed the Declaration on Global Climatic Change and Biological Diversity. They endorsed the global Forest Principles.
Agenda 21:
Definition: A declaration signed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).
Aims: To achieve global sustainable development, combat environmental damage, poverty, and disease through global cooperation on common interests, mutual needs, and shared responsibilities.
Local Mandate: A major objective is that every local government should draw its own local Agenda 21.
Resource Planning
Planning is the strategy for the judicious use of resources, which is essential in a country with diverse resource availability like India.
Diversity in Resource Distribution in India:
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh: Rich in minerals and coal deposits.
Arunachal Pradesh: Abundant water resources but lacks infrastructural development.
Rajasthan: Endowed with solar and wind energy but lacks water resources.
Ladakh: Rich cultural heritage but deficient in water, infrastructure, and vital minerals.
Resource Planning in India (3-Step Process):
Identification and Inventory: Surveying, mapping, and qualitative/quantitative estimation and measurement across regions.
Evolving Planning Structure: Using appropriate technology, skill, and institutional setup.
National Alignment: Matching resource development plans with overall national development goals.
Historical Context: Colonization showed that rich resources attracted invaders. The colonizers used superior technology to exploit resources. Therefore, resources only contribute to development when accompanied by technological development and institutional changes. In India, development involves resource availability, technology, quality of human resources, and historical experience.
Conservation of Resources
Irrational consumption and over-utilization lead to socio-economic and environmental problems.
Gandhian Philosophy: Gandhiji stated, "There is enough for everybody’s need and not for any body's greed." He identified greedy individuals and exploitative modern technology as the root causes of depletion and advocated for "production by the masses" instead of "mass production."
Timeline of Global Advocacy:
1968: The Club of Rome advocated resource conservation systematically for the first time.
1974: Schumacher presented Gandhian philosophy in the book Small is Beautiful.
1987: The Brundtland Commission Report introduced 'Sustainable Development', later published in Our Common Future.
1992: Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro.
Land Resources
Land is a natural resource of utmost importance as it supports natural vegetation, wildlife, human life, economic activities, transport, and communication. It is an asset of finite magnitude.
Relief Features in India:
Plains (): Provide facilities for agriculture and industry.
Mountains (): Ensure perennial flow of rivers, provide tourism facilities, and ecological support.
Plateaus (): Rich reserves of minerals, fossil fuels, and forests.
Land Utilisation Categories:
Forests
Land not available for cultivation: Includes barren/waste land and land put to non-agricultural uses (roads, factories, etc.).
Other uncultivated land: Permanent pastures, land under tree crops/groves, and culturable waste land (left uncultivated for more than agricultural years).
Fallow lands: Current fallow (left for year or less) and other than current fallow (left for to years).
Net Sown Area (NSA): Physical extent of land where crops are sown and harvested. Gross Cropped Area is the NSA plus the area sown more than once in an agricultural year.
Land Use Pattern and Degradation
Total Geographical Area: . Data is available for only due to non-reporting in North-east states (except Assam) and unsurveyed areas in Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan and China.
Forest Targets: The National Forest Policy () outlined that forest area should be of the total geographical area to maintain ecological balance; current levels are much lower.
Land Degradation Causes:
Mining: Abandoned sites leave deep scars and overburdening (Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, MP, Odisha).
Overgrazing: Leading cause in Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, and Maharashtra.
Over-irrigation: Leads to waterlogging and increased salinity/alkalinity in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh.
Mineral Processing: Grinding limestone (cement) and calcite/soapstone (ceramics) generates dust that retards water infiltration into soil.
Industrial Effluents: Recent major source of land and water pollution.
Conservation Measures: Afforestation, shelter belts, stabilizing sand dunes with thorny bushes, proper management of waste lands, and treating industrial effluents.
Soil as a Resource
Soil is a living, renewable natural resource. It takes millions of years to form soil up to a few centimeters in depth.
Formation Factors: Relief, parent rock/bed rock, climate, vegetation, other life forms, and time. Forces of nature like temperature changes, running water, wind, glaciers, and decomposers contribute to this.
Soil Profile Layers:
Top soil (the upper soil layer).
Subsoil (weathered rocks, sand, silt, clay).
Substratum (weathered parent rock material).
Unweathered parent bed rock.
Classification of Soils in India
Alluvial Soils:
Covers entire Northern Plains; deposited by Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra.
Found in the eastern coastal plains (deltas of Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri).
Consists of sand, silt, and clay. Classified by age: Bangar (old alluvial, high kankar nodules) and Khadar (new alluvial, fine particles, more fertile).
Rich in potash, phosphoric acid, and lime; ideal for sugarcane, paddy, wheat, and pulses.
Black Soil (Regur/Black Cotton Soil):
Typical of Deccan trap (Basalt) region; made of lava flows.
Found in Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, MP, and Chhattisgarh.
Clayey material, holds moisture well, rich in calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash, and lime, but poor in phosphoric content.
Develops deep cracks in hot weather for aeration; becomes sticky when wet.
Red and Yellow Soils:
Develops on crystalline igneous rocks in low rainfall areas of eastern and southern Deccan plateau.
Found in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, middle Ganga plain, and Western Ghats.
Red due to iron diffusion; yellow when hydrated.
Laterite Soil:
From Latin 'later' (brick); forms in tropical/subtropical climates with alternate wet/dry seasons.
Result of intense leaching from heavy rain; acidic (pH < 6.0).
Humus rich in deciduous forests; humus poor in semi-arid areas. Suitable for tea, coffee, and cashew nuts (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala).
Arid Soils:
Red to brown, sandy texture, saline nature.
High calcium content (Kankar) in lower horizons restricts water infiltration.
Cultivable with proper irrigation (Western Rajasthan).
Forest Soils:
Found in hilly/mountainous regions. Loamy and silty in valleys; coarse in upper slopes.
Denudation-prone and acidic with low humus in snow-covered Himalayas.
Fertile on river terraces and alluvial fans.
Soil Erosion and Conservation
Types of Erosion:
Gully Erosion: Running water cuts deep channels in clayey soil, making 'bad land' or ravines (e.g., Chambal basin).
Sheet Erosion: Top soil washed away by water flowing as a sheet over large areas.
Wind Erosion: Wind blows loose soil off flat or sloping land.
Conservation Techniques:
Contour Ploughing: Ploughing along contour lines to decelerate water flow.
Terrace Cultivation: Cutting steps on slopes (Western and Central Himalayas).
Strip Cropping: Leaving strips of grass between crops to break wind force.
Shelter Belts: Planting lines of trees to stabilize sand dunes and deserts.
Questions & Discussion
Multiple Choice Questions:
(i) Main cause of land degradation in Punjab? Answer: Over irrigation.
(ii) Where is terrace cultivation practiced? Answer: Uttarakhand.
(iii) Where is black soil predominantly found? Answer: Maharashtra.
Short Answer Discussion:
Identify three states with black soil (e.g., Maharashtra, MP, Gujarat) and the crop grown (Cotton).
Soil in river deltas (Alluvial) and their features (Fertility, rich in potash/lime, age-based classification).
Control of erosion in hilly areas (Contour ploughing, terrace farming, afforestation).
Inquiry and Survey Prompts:
How would life change if the oil supply was exhausted?
Conduct a survey on recycling domestic/agricultural wastes.
Discuss how technical and economic development has led to increased resource consumption.
Local Inventory Activity:
Preparation of lists for stock and reserve resources in local areas.
Identification of resources developed by village panchayats through community participation.
Resource Crossword/Puzzle Key:
(i) Natural endowments: Resources.
(ii) Non-renewable resource: Minerals.
(iii) High water retaining capacity: Black soil.
(iv) Intensively leached soil: Laterite.
(v) Plantation to check erosion: Afforestation.
(vi) Soils of Great Plains: Alluvial.