Categories Uncategorized

Syllabus and Study materials for Geography Paper-II

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;
  • 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.

Leave a Reply