explain about the different types of natural resources in India
Answers
Natural resources are generally defined as all those things given by nature on, above and under the surface of the earth. In this broad sense natural resources include land, water, forests, fisheries and animals, mineral ores and sources of energy like coal, petroleum, gas and uranium, etc.
Natural resources
There is no direct link between the availability of natural resources and the level of economic development. There are many countries which are rich in natural resources but still they are underdeveloped.
In fact, for the economic development of a country, optimum exploitation of natural resources is more important than their availability. Nevertheless, importance of natural resources cannot be undermined. Natural resources of a country influence not only economic growth but also its economic structure.
The type of resources available, their quantities, their distribution within the different regions of a country determine, to a considerable extent, the type and scale of industries that can be developed.
In the Third World countries where level of development is still very low, natural resources are of considerable importance. Most of these countries lack capital, technical know-how and enterprise, and therefore only limited substitution of capital and labour for land and natural resources is possible, liven now, in most of these countries the economic life is largely determined by available resources. India is rich in natural resources. Some of its important resources arc discussed below.
1. Land Resources:
In terms of area India ranks seventh in the world with a total area of 32, 87.263 sq. km. (32.87 crore hectare). It accounts for 2.42% of total area of the world. In absolute terms India is really a big country. However, land man ratio is not favourable because of the huge population size.
Land utilisation figures are available for about 92.9% of total geographical area, that is, for 3,287.3 lakh hectare. Forest constitutes 21.02 per cent of the total geographical area of country. Out of a total land area of 304.2 million hectares about 170.0 million hectares is under cultivation. Food grains have preponderance in gross cropped areas as compared to non food grains.
According to Agricultural Census, the area operated by large holdings (10 hectares and above) has declined and area operated under marginal holdings (less than one hectare) has increased. This indicates that land is being fragmented.
2. Forest Resources:
India’s forest cover in 2007 was 69.09 million hectare which is 21.02 per cent of the geographical area. Of this, 8.35 million hectare is very dense forest, 31.90 million hectare is moderately dense forest and the rest 28.84 million hectare is open forest.
The per capita forest in India (0.5 hectare) is much less than that in the world (1.9 hectares). According to the National Policy on Forests (1988), one-third (33%) of the country’s area should be covered by forests in order to maintain ecological balance.
Answer:
India's major mineral resources include Coal (4th largest reserves in the world), Iron ore, Manganese ore (7th largest reserve in the world as in 2013), Mica, Bauxite (5th largest reserve in the world as in 2013), Chromite, Natural gas, Diamonds, Limestone and Thorium.