Water, farms, mines, factories and routes

Water is renewable through the hydrological cycle, yet scarcity comes mostly from over-exploitation, excessive use and unequal access — and from pollution. Irrigated agriculture is the largest consumer of water; industries and growing cities add to the pressure.

Dams now serve irrigation, electricity, water supply, flood control, recreation, navigation and fish breeding. The Bhakra–Nangal project (Satluj–Beas basin) gives hydel power and irrigation; Hirakud (Mahanadi) combines water conservation with flood control. Nehru called dams the ‘temples of modern India’.

Built on the Narmada in Gujarat, one of India’s largest water projects, covering Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. It is to irrigate 18.45 lakh hectares in 15 districts of Gujarat, 2,46,000 hectares in Barmer and Jalore (Rajasthan) and 37,500 hectares in Maharashtra.

Dams disturb a river’s flow and sediment, fragment it for fish, submerge land, and have sometimes caused floods through sedimentation; irrigation has pushed farmers to water-hungry crops and salinised soil.

Old wisdom: guls or kuls in the western Himalayas, rooftop harvesting in Rajasthan, inundation channels in Bengal, khadins in Jaisalmer and johads elsewhere in Rajasthan, and underground tankas in Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer. Tamil Nadu is the first state to make rooftop harvesting compulsory for all houses; Meghalaya has a 200-year-old bamboo drip irrigation system.

The Jal Jeevan Mission aims at piped drinking water for every rural household (55 litres per person per day); Atal Bhujal Yojana works on groundwater in water-stressed gram panchayats of seven states; the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana aims at ‘har khet ko pani’ and ‘per drop more crop’.

Small patches, simple tools and family labour; land is cleared, farmed until fertility falls, then left. Called jhumming in the north-east, Pamlou in Manipur, Dipa in Bastar, Bewar or Dahiya in Madhya Pradesh, Podu or Penda in Andhra Pradesh, Kumari in the Western Ghats, Khil in the Himalayan belt and Kuruwa in Jharkhand.

Labour-intensive farming with heavy use of biochemical inputs and irrigation where population pressure on land is high.

High-yielding seeds, fertilisers and pesticides for the market — rice is commercial in Punjab and Haryana but subsistence in Odisha. Plantations grow one crop on large estates: tea in Assam and North Bengal, coffee in Karnataka.

Sown October–December, harvested April–June: wheat, barley, peas, gram, mustard. Winter rain from western temperate cyclones and the Green Revolution help.

Sown with the monsoon, harvested September–October: paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur, moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut, soyabean. Assam, West Bengal and Odisha grow three paddy crops a year — aus, aman and boro.

A short summer season between rabi and kharif: watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables, fodder.

It modernises agriculture, creates jobs outside farming, reduces poverty and regional disparity, and earns foreign exchange through exports.

By raw material (agro-based, mineral-based), by role (basic, consumer), by ownership (public — BHEL, SAIL; private — TISCO; joint — Oil India; cooperative — Maharashtra sugar, Kerala coir) and by weight (heavy, light). The first cement plant was set up in Chennai in 1904.

Industries pollute air, water, land and make noise; every litre of industrial waste water pollutes eight times as much fresh water. Remedies: reuse and recycle water, harvest rainwater, treat effluents in three stages, fit smoke stacks with precipitators and filters, and use silencers.

India has the second-largest road network in the world, about 62.16 lakh km (2020–21). Classes: Golden Quadrilateral super highways (built by NHAI), national highways, state highways, district roads, other (rural) roads under the PM Gram Sadak Yojana, and border roads (Border Roads Organisation, 1960). The BRO’s Atal Tunnel (9.02 km) links Manali to Lahul–Spiti all year.

The principal mode for freight and passengers, reorganised into 17 zones, running 67,956 km of track (mostly broad gauge, 1.676 m). The first train ran from Mumbai to Thane in 1853 (34 km). The Konkan railway links the west coast.

Carry crude oil, products and gas; they made inland refineries such as Barauni, Mathura and Panipat possible. Three networks: upper Assam to Kanpur, Salaya (Gujarat) to Jalandhar, and the HVJ gas pipeline.

The cheapest mode for heavy, bulky goods. India has 14,500 km of inland waterways; the National Waterways Act, 2016 declared 111 national waterways. NW-1: the Ganga, Prayagraj–Haldia (1,620 km); NW-2: the Brahmaputra, Sadiya–Dhubri (891 km); NW-3: the West Coast Canal in Kerala (205 km).

About 95% of India’s trade by volume (68% by value) moves by sea; the major ports handle 95% of foreign trade. Air travel is fastest; Pawan Hans runs helicopters for ONGC and remote areas, and UDAN makes regional flights affordable.

India’s postal network is the largest in the world, and India produces the most feature films. A favourable balance of trade means exports exceed imports. Exports include gems and jewellery, chemicals and agricultural products; imports include petroleum, gems, chemicals, metals, electronics and machinery.