Resource and Development

• A resource is anything in the environment that can satisfy needs and is technologically accessible, economically feasible, and culturally acceptable.

Classification of Resources

• Resources can be classified based on origin, exhaustibility, ownership, and status of development.
• Biotic resources are living resources obtained from the biosphere, such as humans and forests.
• Abiotic resources are non-living things, like rocks and minerals.
• Renewable resources can be reproduced or replenished through physical, chemical, or mechanical processes, such as water and solar energy.
• Non-renewable resources cannot be remade once exhausted, taking millions of years to form, like minerals and fossil fuels.
• Individual resources are owned privately, such as land and houses.
• Community-owned resources are accessible to all community members, like parks and playgrounds.
• National resources belong to the nation, such as roads and railways.
• International resources cannot be utilized by any single country, such as oceanic waters beyond 200 km.
• Potential resources are found in a region but are not currently in use, such as solar energy in Rajasthan.
• Stock resources are available but lack the appropriate technology for access, like using hydrogen and oxygen as an energy source.
• Reserve resources are a subset of stock that can be used for future needs, such as water in dams and forest resources.
• Sustainable economic development occurs without damaging the environment, ensuring that present development does not compromise future generations' needs.

Land Use in India

• Plains constitute 43% of the land.
• Mountains account for 30% of the land.
• Plateaus make up 27% of the land.
• Land degradation results from the continuous use of land without proper conservation and management measures.
• Addressing land degradation involves afforestation, proper grazing management, planting shelter belts, stabilizing sand dunes, controlling mining activities, and avoiding over-irrigation and overuse of fertilizers and pesticides.
• Soil erosion is the denudation of the soil cover and its subsequent washing away.

Causes of Soil Erosion

• Soil erosion is caused by human activities like deforestation, overgrazing, construction, and mining.
• Natural forces such as wind, glaciers, and water flow also contribute to soil erosion.
• Gully erosion occurs when running water cuts through clayey soils, creating deep channels called gullies, leading to badland topography. In the Chambal basin, such land is known as ravines.

Types of Soil Erosion

• Sheet erosion happens when topsoil is washed away over a large area.
• Soil erosion in hilly areas can be prevented by ploughing along contour lines (contour ploughing), terrace cultivation, strip farming, and shelter belts.

Soil Types

• Alluvial soils, found in the northern and eastern coastal plains, are fertile and ideal for agriculture.
• Alluvial soils are rich in potash, phosphoric acid, and lime, which support the growth of sugarcane, paddy, wheat, and other cereal and pulse crops.
• Black soils, also known as regur soils, are ideal for growing cotton and are found in the plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, as well as along the Godavari and Krishna valleys.
• Black soils are made of fine, clayey material and known for their moisture-holding capacity, and are rich in calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash, and lime.
• Red and yellow soils are found in low rainfall areas in the eastern and southern Deccan plateau, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, the southern parts of the middle Ganga plain, and along the piedmont zone of the Western Ghats.
• These soils develop a reddish color due to the diffusion of iron in crystalline and metamorphic rocks.
• Laterite soils develop in areas with high temperatures and heavy rainfall, such as Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and the hilly areas of Odisha and Assam.
• With adequate fertilizers and manures, laterite soils are suitable for cultivation.
• They have low humus content because high temperatures destroy decomposers like bacteria.
• Arid soils are found in western Rajasthan and can become cultivable with proper irrigation.
• Due to dry climates and high temperatures, these soils lack humus and moisture, resulting in high salt content and the extraction of common salt through water evaporation.
• Forest soils are found in hilly and mountainous areas with sufficient rain forests, with feature varying by location.
• These soils are loamy and silty in valley sides and coarse-grained in the upper slopes.
• Fertile Sil is located in the lower parts of valleys, particularly on river terraces and alluvial fans.