Lifelines of National Economy Notes

 Notes for Class 10 Social 

Science Geography

 Chapter 7 Lifelines of 

National Economy 

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Need for transportation 

➡️ We use different goods and services which are not found in surroundings.

 ➡️ These things are brought from other places as goods and services do not move from supply location to demand location on their own. 

➡️ The movement of these goods and services  from their supply locations to demand locations necessitates the need for transport. 

➡️ Some people are engaged in facilitating these movements. These are known to be traders.

 ➡️ The pace of development of a country depends upon the production of goods and services as well as their movement over space. 

Therefore, efficient means of transport are pre-requisites for fast development.

Mode of Transportation

➡️ Movement of these goods and services can be over three important domains of our earth i.e. land, water and air. 

➡️ Based on these, transport can also be classified into land, water and air transport. expanded far and wide. 

➡️ Today, the world has been converted into a large village with the help of efficient and fast moving transport.

➡️ Transport has been able to achieve this with the help of equally developed communication system. Therefore, transport, communication and trade are complementary to each other.

TRANSPORTATION

1. Roadways

➡️ India has one of the largest road networks in the world, aggregating to about 2.3 million km at present. 

➡️ In India, roadways have preceded railways. 

Advantages of roadways as compared to railways :

(a) Construction cost of roads is much lower than that of railway lines

(b) Roads can be made on uneven plains.

(c) Roads can negotiate higher gradients of slopes and as such can traverse mountains such as the Himalayas, 

(d) Road transport is economical in transportation over short distances.

(e) It also provides door-to-door service and thus the cost of loading and unloading is much lower.

(f) Road transport is also used as a feeder to other modes of transport such as they provide a link between railway stations, air and sea ports.

In India, roads are classified in the following six classes according to their capacity. 

1. Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways:

➡️ The government has launched a major road development project linking Delhi-Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai and Delhi by six-lane Super Highways. 

 ➡️ The North-South corridors links Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) and Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu)

➡️ East-West Corridor connects Silcher (Assam) and Porbander (Gujarat) .

#Objective 

The major objective of these Super Highways is to :

Reduce the time and distance between the mega cities of India. 

Note -- These highway projects are being implemented by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

2. National Highways: 

➡️ National Highways link extreme parts of the country.

➡️ These are the primary road systems and are maintained by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). 

➡️ A number of major National Highways run in North-South and East-West directions. 

Note --- The historical SherShah Suri Marg is called National Highway No.1, between Delhi and Amritsar.

3. State Highways:

➡️ Roads linking a state capital with different district headquarters are known as State Highways. 

➡️ These roads are constructed and maintained by the State Public Works Department (PWD) in State and Union Territories.

4. District Roads:

➡️ These roads connect the district headquarters with other places of the district. 

➡️ These roads are maintained by the Zila Parishad.

5.  Rural roads :  

➡️ The roads which link rural areas and villages with towns.

➡️ These roads received special impetus under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana. 

6. Border Roads:

➡️  Border Roads Organisation constructs and maintains roads in the bordering areas of the country.

➡️ This organisation was established in 1960 for the development of the roads in the northern and north- eastern border areas. 

#Advantage 

➡️ Improvement in accessibility in areas of difficult terrain .

➡️ Help in the economic development of these area.

Roads can also be classified on the basis of the type of material used for their construction :

1. Metalled Roads  

➡️ These roads may be made of cement, concrete or even bitumen of coal.

➡️ These are all weather roads.

2. Unmetalled Roads

➡️ These roads may be made of mud or clay. 

➡️ They are not usable in the rainy season

# Road Density

➡️ The length of road per 100 sq. km of area is known as density of roads. 

➡️ Distribution of road is not uniform in the country.

➡️ Density of all roads varies from only 12.14 km in Jammu and Kashmir to 517.77 km in Kerala.

Problems faced by Roadways

➡️ The road network is inadequate. 

➡️ About half of the roads are unmetalled and this limits their usage during the rainy season. 

➡️ The roadways are highly congested in cities 

➡️ Most of the bridges and culverts are old and narrow. 

Railways

➡️ Railways are the principal mode of transportation for freight and passengers in India. 

➡️ Railways also make it possible to conduct multifarious activities like business, sightseeing, pilgrimage along with transportation of goods over longer distances.

➡️ Apart from an important means of transport the Indian Railways have been a great integrating force for more than 150 years.

➡️ Railways in India bind the economic life of the country as well as accelerate the development of the industry and agriculture.

Note -- The Indian Railways is the largest public sector undertaking in the country. 

The first train steamed off from Mumbai to Thane in 1853, covering a distance of 34 km.

Distribution of Railways

The distribution pattern of the Railway network in the country has been largely influenced by physiographic, economic and administrative factors. 

1. The northern plains provided the most favourable condition for their growth due to : vast level land, high population density and rich agricultural resources

2.  In the hilly terrains of the peninsular region, railway tracts are laid through low hills, gaps or tunnels. 

3. The Himalayan mountainous regions too are unfavourable for the construction of railway lines due to high relief, sparse population and lack of economic opportunities. 

4. Likewise, it was difficult to lay railway lines on the following landforms. 

➡️ Sandy plain of western Rajasthan, 

➡️ Swamps of Gujarat,

➡️ Forested tracks of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand.

Problems in Railways

 ➡️ Sinking of track in some stretches and land slides.

➡️ Many passengers travel without tickets.

➡️ Thefts and damaging of railway property 

➡️ People stop the trains, pull the chain unnecessarily and this causes heavy damage to the railway. 

Pipelines

➡️ Pipeline transport network is a new arrival on the transportation map of India. 

➡️ In the past, these were used to transport water to cities and industries. 

➡️Now, these are used for transporting crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas from oil and natural gas fields to big thermal power plants. 

Note -- Solids can also be transported through a pipeline when converted into slurry.

#Advantages

➡️ Initial cost of laying pipelines is high but subsequent running costs are minimal.

➡️  It rules out trans-shipment losses or delays.

Waterways

➡️ Since time immemorial, Indian used waterways for carrying and spreading Indian commerce and culture. 

➡️ Waterways are the cheapest means of transport. 

➡️ They are most suitable for carrying heavy and bulky goods.

➡️ It is a fuel-efficient and environment friendly mode of transport. 

The following waterways have been declared as the National waterways by the government. 

• The Ganga river between Allahabad and

Haldia (1620 km)-N.W. No.1

• The Brahmaputra river between Sadiya and Dhubri (891 km)-N.W. No.2

➡️ Apart from these, India’s trade with foreign countries is carried from the ports located along the coast. 

➡️ 95 per cent of the country’s trade volume (68 per cent in terms of value) is moved by sea.

Major Sea Ports

With a long coastline of 7,516.6 km, India is dotted with 12 major and 187, notified non-majors (minor/intermediate) ports. 

Western Port

a) Kandla Port

➡️ Kandla in Kuchchh was the first port developed soon after Independence .

➡ It was developed to recover the loss of Karachi port to Pakistan after the Partition.

➡️ Kandla is a tidal port.

➡️ It is used to export and import of highly productive granary and industrial goods. 

b) Mumbai Port

➡️ Mumbai is the biggest port with a spacious natural and well-sheltered harbour. 

➡️ The Jawaharlal Nehru port was planned with a view to ease the pressure on the Mumbai port.

c) Marmagao port (Goa)

➡️Marmagao port is the premier iron ore exporting port of the country. 

➡️This port accounts for about fifty per cent of India’s iron ore export.

d)  New Mangalore

➡️ This port is located in Karnataka.

➡️ It caters to the export of iron ore concentrates from Kudremukh mines.

e) Kochchi

➡️ It is the extreme south-western port.

➡️ It is located at the entrance of a lagoon with a natural harbour.

Eastern Port

a) Tuticorin 

➡️ It is the extreme south-eastern port in Tamil Nadu. 

➡️ This port has a natural harbour and rich hinterland. 

➡️ Thus, it has a flourishing trade handling of a large variety of cargoes to even our neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, etc. and the coastal regions of India.

b) Chennai Port

➡️ Chennai is one of the oldest artificial ports ofthe country. 

➡️ It is ranked next to Mumbai in terms of the volume of trade and cargo.

 c)  Vishakhapattanam Port

➡️ This is the deepest landlocked and well-protected port. 

➡️ This port was, originally, conceived as an outlet for iron ore export.

d)  Paradwip port 

➡️ This is located in Odisha, specialises in the export of iron ore.

e)  Kolkata Port 

➡️ This  is an inland riverine port. 

➡️ This port serves a very large and rich hinterland of Ganga- Brahmaputra basin.

f)  Haldia port 

➡️ This was developed as a subsidiary port, in order to relieve growing pressure on the Kolkata port.

Airways

➡️ The air travel, today, is the fastest, most comfortable and prestigious mode of transport.

➡️ It can cover very difficult terrains

easily such as high mountains,  deserts, dense forests and also long ocean. 

➡️ Air India provides international air  services.

➡️ Pawanhans Helicopters Ltd. provides

helicopter services to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to inaccessible areas and difficult terrains like the

north-eastern states and the interior parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. 

➡️ Indian Airlines operations also

extend to the neighbouring countries of South and south-east Asia and the Middle east.

Note --

➡️ Air travel is not within the reach of the

common people.

➡️ It is only in the north-eastern

states that special provisions are made to

extend the services to the common people.

Communication

Since ancient times people  communicated with each other ,with time the mode of communication has improved very fast. 

There are two types of communication  :

 a) Personal communication (Between two persons) 

e. g:- Postal Service, Telephone, Mobile,  

The Indian postal network

The Indian postal network is the largest

in the world. It handles parcels as well as

personal written communications. 

First–Class Mail

➡️ It includes cards and envelopes .

➡️ They are airlifted between stations covering both land and air.

 The Second–Class mail 

➡️ It includes book packets, registered newspapers and periodicals.

➡️They are carried by surface mail, covering land and water transport. 

Mail channels 

To facilitate quick delivery

of mails in large towns and cities, six mail channels have been introduced recently.

 They are :

Rajdhani Channel, Metro Channel,

Green Channel, Business Channel, Bulk MailChannel and Periodical Channel.

Indian Telecom Networks 

➡️ India has one of the largest telecom

networks in Asia. 

➡️ Excluding urban places

more than two-thirds of the villages in India have already been covered with Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) telephone facility.

How it is possible? 

 ➡️ It has been made possible by integrating the development in space technology with communication technology.

b)  Mass communication (among masses) 

➡️ It provides entertainment and creates awareness among people about various national programmes and policies.

 ➡️ It includes radio, television,

newspapers, magazines, books and films. 

#Radio

➡️ All India Radio (Akashwani) broadcasts a variety of programmes in national, regional and local

languages for various categories of people.

➡️ Doordarshan, the national television channel of India, is one of the largest terrestrial networks

in the world. 

➡️It broadcasts a variety of

programmes from entertainment, educational to sports, etc. for people of different age groups.

#Newspaper 

➡️ India publishes a large number of

newspapers and periodicals annually.

➡️ They are of different types depending upon their periodicity.

➡️ Newspapers are published in

about 100 languages and dialects. 

Note-- The largest number of newspapers

published in the country are in Hindi, followed by English and Urdu.

#Films 

➡️ India is the largest producer of feature films in the world.

➡️ It produces short films; video feature films and video short films.

Note -- The Central Board of Film

Certification is the authority to certify both Indian and foreign films.

International Trade

Trade -- The exchange of goods among people, states and countries is referred to as trade. 

Market -- The market is the place where such exchanges take place.

International Trade  -- Trade between two countries is called international trade. It may take place through

sea, air or land routes. 

It is, therefore, considered the economic

barometer for a country.

Balance of trade

➡️ As the resources are space bound, no

country can survive without international

trade.

➡️ Export and import are the components

of trade. 

➡️The balance of trade of a country is

the difference between its export and import.

Favourable balance of trade 

When the value of export exceeds the value of imports, it is called a favourable balance of trade. 

Unfavourable balance of trade 

On the contrary, if the value of imports

exceeds the value of exports, it is termed as unfavourable balance of trade.

Major items Exported from India

a) ores and minerals 

b) Gems and Jewellery 

c) Petroleum

products (including coal) 

Major commodities imported to India

 

a)  Petroleum and Petroleum Products 

b) Pearls and precious stones 

c)  Chemicals 

Bulk imported items

➡️ Fertilizers 

➡️ Cereals 

➡️ Edible oils  and 

Tourism as a Trade

➡️ Tourism in India has grown substantially over the last three decades.

➡️ Foreign tourist’s arrivals

in the country witnessed an increase.

Benefits

➡️ More than 15 million people are

directly engaged in the tourism industry.

➡️ Tourism also promotes national integration.

➡️ It provides support to local handicrafts and cultural pursuits.

➡️ It also helps in the development of international understanding

about our culture and heritage. 

Types of tourism 

Foreign tourists visit India for 

➡️ Heritage tourism,

➡️ Eco tourism,

➡️ Adventure tourism,

➡️ Cultural tourism,

➡️ Medical tourism and

➡️ Business tourism.

Note --- There is a vast potential for development of tourism in all parts of the country. Efforts are being made to promote different types of tourism for this upcoming industry.

~Seminary Classes