chapter 27: the dynamics of regions: india

Chapter 27: The Dynamics of Regions: India

SECTION (3): CONTINENTAL/SUB CONTINENTAL REGION

INDIA


PHYSICAL PROCESSES Climate

Mid-June to September a hot wet season • Low pressure • Rain-bearing clouds from the south-west over the

Indian Ocean • Heavy rainfall and flooding • Tropical cyclones • Southwest monsoon



October to February a cool dry season• High pressure • Dry wind from the north-east • Retreating monsoon



March to Mid-June a hot dry season • 45ºC• India depends on the water from the monsoon rains

for crop growth • Monsoon is too low – drought• Monsoon is too heavy – flooding • Thar Desert located in north-west of India


PHYSICAL PROCESSES Soils

• Tropical red soils also called laterite soils • Soils have been heavily leached except for iron

which gives the soil its reddish appearance • Eastern and Western Ghats • Black soils are common in the Deccan Plateau • Volcanic• High clay content and hold moisture


PHYSICAL PROCESSES Relief and drainage

The Himalayas • Alpine fold mountains • Landslides and earthquakes are common



Ganges Valleys • Low-lying fertile floodplain of the Ganges and

Brahmaputra rivers • Deep layer of alluvial soils • Most densely populated area of India



Deccan Lava Plateau• It is a triangular piece of land covering most of the

peninsula of India • Plateaus are called Ghats • Consists of weathered basalt rock • Volcanic eruptions • The soils hold moisture and are suitable for

irrigation


PRIMARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESAgriculture

• Cereal production with most of the region’s produce being sold locally

• India’s farm output ranks second in the world • Land in India is farmed intensively but it is of a

subsistence nature • Farms are small, e.g. under two hectares • Rural villages have high population densities• Rice is the most commonly grown crop


PRIMARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESAgriculture (continued)

• Rice makes up 90 per cent of the local diet • Highest output of food per unit of land than any

other crop • Paddy fields need intensive manual labour • Wheat and millet are grown in drier regions • Double cropping is also practised in the region:

one crop e.g. rice, is grown during the wet season and another, e.g. wheat, during the drier season


PRIMARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESAgriculture (continued)

• Plantation farming of cash crops such as cotton, tea • Region’s farms are a major supplier to the world • India has more cattle per capita than any other

country • Cattle as sacred animals • Monoculture occurs in the region • Calcification and salination


Agriculture and the Green Revolution• The Green Revolution was set up and funded by

governments to improve farming practices in developing countries: Help them achieve self-sufficiency The Green Revolution began in India in the 1970s Population increasing at 1.5 per cent per annum Brought with it irrigation schemes, genetically

modified foods, farmers education, fertilisers/pesticides and high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat

Crop production per hectare increased Green Revolution has only benefited the states that

can afford its new technology


Problems Overproduction of crops

• Market value price fell• Mechanisation has caused loss of jobs and

outward migration • The use of fertilisers on the land lead to pollution

of ground water • The answer to agricultural problems in India is land

reform • In the 1990s a quarter of the best farmland in India

was owned by 5 per cent of the region’s farming families


SECONDARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESManufacturing activities

• In 1947 India became independent from Britain • Industry was underdeveloped • 2 per cent of the population were employed in

manufacturing • India was involved in food processing, e.g. tea

production • Some light manufacturing, e.g. cotton production • The main industries are located in the large urban

centres of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (Madras)


SECONDARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESManufacturing activities (continued)

• Hoped to bring industry into the more rural parts of the country by investing in more labour-intensive local craft industries, e.g. weaving

• Heavy industries were encouraged in India as it has a rich supply of natural resources, e.g. Kolkata’s iron and steel manufacturing

• India contains one of the largest iron and steel companies in the world: Tata Iron and Steel Company

• India is the tenth largest steel producer in the world and the lowest consumer per capita

• Expanded into ICT technologies



• Are attracted to the region as it has good energy supplies

• Locally extracted coal is used to generate 60 per cent of the region’s electricity and the rest is powered by hydro-electric power (HEP)

• India also has large reserves of minerals, e.g. bauxite and copper

• Large, well-educated, low-cost labour force • India invested in education • India produces more university graduates than Canada

and USA combined and 40 per cent of these graduates have science or engineering degrees



• Salaries of well-educated graduates in the region can be as little as one-tenth that of American graduates

• Bangalore is the main location for software companies – often referred to as India’s Silicon Valley

• IBM located there• In 2002, 30 British companies have outsourced

teleservice jobs to India, e.g. Aviva • Mumbai is the main port in the region



• The government has also introduced a policy of industrialisation

• Established software parks, improved infrastructure and special economic zones that offered tax breaks

• India is considered a newly industrialising country (NIC)


TERTIARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESTourism

• Fastest growing economic sector in India with 3 million people visiting the region last year, an increase of 18 per cent

• Tourist industry in India is worth almost $4 billion and 23 per cent of the workforce is involved directly in this sector

• Close proximity to the Himalayan Mountains • Historic buildings, e.g. Taj Mahal• Beach holidays, e.g. Goa • Bollywood is a growing sector of the region’s

economy earning over €2 billion per year


TERTIARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESTourism (continued)

• International tourism is still limited – put off by the visible poverty

• Government has tried to overcome this by introducing standards of cleanliness and hospitality

• Internal tourism is growing • ‘Monsoon holidays’ • Niche holidays• Adventure holidays


TERTIARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESTransport

• India has a low gross domestic product (GDP). • Public transport across the region is not uniformly

accessible • Transport system in rural areas is very

underdeveloped• Over half of the rural villages in India have no

tarred roads• Traffic moves very slowly • Second largest rail network in the world


TERTIARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESTransport (continued)

• Rail system is out of date and uses steam engines • Improvements in India’s transport sector were

boosted in 1989 when Kolkata’s underground railway was introduced

• Government dominates air transport in India• Air India • Internal airline Indian Airlines


HUMAN PROCESSESPopulation Dynamics

• Population of over 1 billion (17 per cent of the world’s population)

• Second most populous country in the world • High birth rate and inward migration • Growing at a rate of 1.6 per cent per year and is

predicted to reach over 2 billion by 2040 • Population spread in the region is uneven • India is in the late expanding stage of the

demographic transition model


HUMAN PROCESSESPopulation Dynamics (continued)

• With improvements in healthcare the death rate has declined

• Regarded as a developing world country • In the 1970s the government introduced incentives

for families to try to reduce the birth rate • Family planning is difficult to introduce • It is hoped that as India becomes increasingly

urbanised the birth rate will naturally decline


HUMAN PROCESSESLanguage

Hindi is the official language of India• No common language • 200 million people speak Dravidian languages • Most people working in business and politics can

speak English • 1,600 different languages spoken in India • 18 of these are official languages • Language can be a cause of tension


HUMAN PROCESSESReligion

The major religion in India is Hindu• Islam is the major religion in the states of Punjab and

Kashmir – over 80 per cent of the population are followers

• Sikhism, Buddhism and Christianity are also recognised religions in India

• Hindu religion has also introduced the Caste system • The Caste system is in decline especially in the cities • People from the lower levels of Hindu society are

attracted to converting to Islam


HUMAN PROCESSESReligion (continued)

• Islam was introduced to India by the Muslim traders from the Middle East

• 1947: after British colonial rule ended in India the region was separated along religious lines, creating the Muslim state of Pakistan in the north and the Hindu dominated India in the south

• 12 million people moved to join the area of their faith

• Tensions still exist • Rioting in 2002


HUMAN PROCESSESReligion (continued)

• Tensions still run high between the two areas over the Muslim state of Kashmir

• The cow is a sacred animal • 200 million cows are found in the region, nearly

one-fifth of the world’s cow population • Cows are viewed by some as hindering the

development of the region


THE GROWTH OF MUMBAI• Mumbai developed as a trading port for the East

India Trading Company in the seventeenth century with a population of approximately 60,000. Place of religious freedom Muslims and Hindus people fled to Mumbai for

security reasons Swelled the numbers living in Mumbai Supplied workers for the newly developing cotton

and weaving industries


THE GROWTH OF MUMBAI (continued) Important trading centre for the British textile

industry Largest port in India handling 25% of the

region’s trade Financial capital and home to the famous Bollywood

film industry Most populous city in India and the second most

populous city in the world Richest city in India with the highest GDP per

capita


Problems • Pollution • Smog • Overcrowding, in 2001 density was 2,200 people

per km² • Growth of shanty towns • Poor hygiene standards


Shanty towns – ‘bustees’• Dharavi – largest bustee in Mumbai and Asia• Home to nearly 10 million people• Government of the region plans to demolish

Dharavi • €800 million development • Build business parks, a university and hotels in

the area• They hope to re-house the inhabitants of the area

into apartments elsewhere in the city

chapter 27: the dynamics of regions: india

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