Geography Of India
1. Physical Setting:
- Space relationship of India with neighboring countries;
- Structure and relief;
- Drainage system and watersheds;
- Physiographic regions;
- Mechanism of Indian monsoons and rainfall patterns,
- Tropical cyclones and western disturbances;
- Floods and droughts;
- Climatic regions;
- Natural vegetation;
- Soil types and their distributions.
2. Resources:
- Land, surface and ground water,
- energy,
- minerals,
- biotic and marine resources;
- Forest and wild life resources and their conservation;
- Energy crisis.
3. Agriculture:
- Infrastructure: irrigation, seeds, fertilizers, power;
- Institutional factors: land holdings, land tenure and land reforms;
- Cropping pattern,
- agricultural productivity,
- agricultural intensity,
- crop combination,
- land capability;
- Agro and social-forestry;
- Green revolution and its socio- economic and ecological implications;
- Significance of dry farming;
- Livestock resources and white revolution;
- Aqua – culture;
- sericulture,
- apiculture and poultry;
- agricultural regionalisation; agro-climatic zones; agroecological regions.
4. Industry: Evolution of industries:
- Locational factors of
- cotton,
- jute,
- textile,
- iron and steel,
- aluminium,
- fertilizer,
- paper,
- chemical and pharmaceutical,
- automobile,
- cottage and agro-based industries;
- Industrial houses and complexes including public sector undertakings;
- Industrial regionalisation;
- New industrial policies;
- Multinationals and liberalization;
- Special Economic Zones;
- Tourism including eco – tourism.
5. Transport, Communication and Trade:
- Road, railway, waterway, airway and pipeline networks and their complementary roles in regional development;
- Growing importance of ports on national and foreign trade;
- Trade balance;
- Trade Policy;
- Export processing zones;
- Developments in communication and information technology and their impacts on economy and society;
- Indian space programme.
6. Cultural Setting: Historical Perspective of Indian Society:
- Racial, linguistic and ethnic diversities;
- religious minorities;
- major tribes, tribal areas and their problems;
- cultural regions;
- Growth, distribution and density of population;
- Demographic attributes: sex-ratio, age structure, literacy rate, work-force, dependency ratio, longevity;
- migration (inter-regional, intra- regional and international) and associated problems;
- Population problems and policies;
- Health indicators.
7. Settlements:
- Types, patterns and morphology of rural settlements;
- Urban developments;
- Morphology of Indian cities;
- Functional classification of Indian cities;
- Conurbations and metropolitan regions;
- urban sprawl;
- Slums and associated problems;
- town planning;
- Problems of urbanization and remedies.
8. Regional Development and Planning:
- Experience of regional planning in India; Five Year Plans;
- Integrated rural development programmes;
- Panchayati Raj and decentralised planning;
- Command area development;
- Watershed management;
- Planning for backward area, desert, drought prone, hill, tribal area development; multi-level planning;
- Regional planning and development of island territories.
9. Political Aspects:
- Geographical basis of Indian federalism;
- State reorganisation;
- Emergence of new states;
- Regional consciousness and inter state issues;
- international boundary of India and related issues;
- Cross border terrorism;
- India’s role in world affairs; Geopolitics of South Asia and Indian Ocean realm.
10. Contemporary Issues:
- Ecological issues:
- Environmental hazards:
- landslides,
- earthquakes,
- Tsunamis,
- floods and droughts,
- epidemics;
- Environmental hazards:
- Issues relating to environmental pollution;
- Changes in patterns of land use;
- Principles of environmental impact assessment and environmental management;
- Population explosion and food security;
- Environmental degradation;
- Deforestation,
- desertification and
- soil erosion;
- Problems of agrarian and industrial unrest;
- Regional disparities in economic development;
- Concept of sustainable growth and development;
- Environmental awareness;
- Linkage of rivers;
- Globalisation and Indian economy.
NOTE: Candidates will be required to answer one compulsory map question pertinent to subjects covered by this paper.