Introduction
Economic Geography may be defined as the study of physical and non-physical environment of man and its influence on his economic life.Economic geography deals mainly with the spatial distribution of various types of economic activities of mankind. It has been defined in different ways by the different scholars.
According to Huntington, economic geography combines three main phases – agriculture, industrial and commercial but mining, lumbering, fishing must be considered. Economic geography, like every other branch of Geography, cannot be separated from physical geography.
Economic Geography of India
The Economic Geography of India is given below:
Land Resource:
India is the seventh largest country (area wise) of the world. India’s total area is 32,87,263 sq. km. India accounts for about 24% of the total surface area of the world and about 0.57% area of the earth. As per rough estimate of Census Commission, out of total land area-10.7% is Mountainous. 18.6% is Hilly area, 27.7% is Plateau and 43.0% is Plain area.
Water Resource:
Major Rivers:Indian rivers are of three types according to size of their catchment areas:
- Major River basins:Its catchment area is about 20,000 sq. km. There are 14 rivers in this category.
- Medium river basins:Its catchment area is 2000-20,000 sq. km. There are 44 rivers in this category.
- Minor river basins:Its catchment area is less than 2000 sq. km. There are a large number of rivers in this category.
Main Lakes:Important lakes of India are:
- Ashtamudi Lake (Kerala)
- Chilka Lake (Orissa)
- Vembanad Lake is the largest lake of Kerala.
- Kolleru Lake (Andhra Pradesh) is the largest freshwater lake of India.
- Loktak Lake (Manipur) is the largest freshwater lake in North-east India.
- Dal Lake: It is the famous lake of Srinagar.
- Wular Lake (Kashmir)
- Largest brackish watercoastal Lake of India.
- Pulicat Lake lies between the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Forest Resource:
At present the total forest area in India is 6,78,333 sq. km. which is 20.64% of its geographically area [INDIA, 2008]. India should have minimum forest coverage of 33.33%. The forest resources are important part of Indian Economy.
Agricultural Resources:
Agriculture is the backbone of Indian Economy. The classification of Indian Agriculture is given below:
Classification on the basis of time of sowing:
- Rabi crops – Wheat, Potato, Gram, Mustard
- Kharif Crops—Paddy, Jute, Sugarcane, corn, Jowar, Bazra, Maize.
- Classification on the basis of nature of usage.
- Food Crops – Paddy, Wheat, Jowar, Bazra, Ragi, Maize.
- Plantation Crops – Tea & Coffee.
- Fibre Crops – Jute, Cotton
- Cash Crops – Jute, Rubber, Tea.
Important crops of India:
1. Paddy: Paddy or rice is the most important food crop of India. India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China and contributes nearly one-third of the world’s production of rice. About 29% of the total rice area of the world is India and rice occupies about 23% of the cropped area of India.
2. Wheat: India is the 4th largest producer of wheat in the world and contributes about 8% of the world’s wheat.
3. Cotton: India is the 3rd largest producer of cotton in the world and produces about 8% of the world’s cotton.
4. Jute: India is the largest producer of Jute in the world.
5. Sugarcane: India is the second largest producer of sugarcane in the world after Brazil.
6. Tea: India ranks first in worlds total Tea production and contributing about 35% of total world’s tea production.
Mineral Resource:
India is a mineral rich country. There are large deposits of coal, iron, bauxite, mica, manganese, thorium limestone etc.
Human Resource:
India is the second largest populated country of the world.
Social and Economic Life during the Later Vedic Period
Social Life
The society had undergone a very major change during the Later Vedic period. This period witnessed an introduction of the caste system thatwas not very well defined, but which had come to stay with all its attendant evils.
It was during the Later Vedic age that the society was divided into two – the Aryans and the non-Aryans and the former was again sub-divided into four castes viz. the Brahmins, the Kashtriyas, the Vaishayas and the Sudras. The three classes of the Aryan were supposed to be of higher caste in the descending order and the Sudras were treated as down-trodden and outcast.
Thewomenhad, however, lost their social prestige of the Vedic age. They had to suffer to agony of polygamy at the hands of their husbands.There are certain names like GargiVachaknavi and a few others to be counted on finger tips.They had no Right to inherit the property of their fathers and they had to depend upon the income of their husbands.
Economic Life
Theagriculturestill occupied the main source of the income to the largest section of the Later Vedic society. It had improved its system of cultivation and many new crops like those of rice, wheat and oil seeds were introduced. There is a reference of a plough being dragged by as many as 24 bullocks. There is a mention of two crops a year but there is absence of any horticulture whatsoever. The natural fruits might have been used by the people of this age but fruit cultivation is not indicated anywhere. The manure was used in those days which show that they used to stick to the same land years after years and did not try or could not find new tracts of land to cultivate.
Theindustrieshad also developed with the advancement of the society. The carpenter, the fishermen, the herdsmen and the chariot drivers were supposed to be as professional skilled people and their services were acquired for different payments. The blacksmith, the goldsmith and the washer-men rendered services to the society. A vast number of other workers like the rope makers, dyers, weavers, potters and watchmen for the fields and personal herds of animals have also been mentioned here and there. Again, mention has been made of the people who would slaughter animals or would sign as professional musicians to social gatherings.
Theastrologers and the barberswere mentioned for the first time in the literature of the Vedic period. Certain industries and crafts were specialties of the women folk only, for instance, darning, and embroidery, dyeing and rope-making.
Major wheat producing states
The major wheat producing states in India are
- Uttar Pradesh,
- Punjab,
- Haryana, and
- Madhya Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh
The state of Uttar Pradesh is the largest producer of wheat, accounting for over 34 per cent of the wheat produced in India.
It has the largest area under wheat. It is grown in almost every part of the state; but the greatest concentration is in the western part.
The important wheat producing districts of the state of Uttar Pradesh are Meerut, Aligarh, Agra,Muzaffarnagar,Saharanpur, Bulandshahar, Kanpur and Mathura.
Punjab:
The Punjab ranks second (accounting of about. 20 per cent of the total) in wheat production in India. The important wheat producing districts in Punjab State are Ferozepur, Ludhiana, Patiala and Amritsar.
Haryana:
Haryana occupies the third place in wheat production among the states of India. The important districts of this state are Hissar, Ambala, Jind, Rohtak and Faridabad.
Madhya Pradesh:
Madhya Pradesh ranks the fourth position in wheat production. The main wheat producing districts of Madhya Pradesh are Sagar, Jabalpur, Sehare, Gwalior, Indore and Ujjain.
Other States:
The other wheat producing states of India are
- Rajasthan (Ganganagar, Kota etc,),
- Bihar (Saran, Champaran, Gaya, Patna),
- Maharashtra,
- Gujarat,
- West Bengal,
- Karnataka,
- Jammu and Kashmir,
- Himachal Pradesh and
- Jharkhand.
Production:The average wheat production of the country is more 1,2oo kg per hectare. The yield is higher on irrigated lands. Punjab and Haryana have the highest yields (above 1,520 kg per hectare). The production has been steadily raised due to the introduction of high yielding varieties, such as, Sonara, Hira, Moti, Sonalika and KalyanSona. These are selected from the original Mexican dwarf wheat and they give much higher yields.
Crop Seasons in India
The Kharif (autumn) and Rabi (spring) harvests are the two vitally important crop seasons of India, although as many as 4/5 crops are raised in coastal Kerala and some irrigated areas. Kharif is the monsoon crop, sown soon after the onset of rain (June-July) and harvested in autumn: rice, jowar, bajra, maize, cotton and jute are the principal crops.
The Rabi sowing takes place in October-December and harvesting in April-May. The important crops raised during this season are wheat, gram barley, peas, rabi, pulses, linseed, rape, boro paddy, and mustard.
In the southern half of the peninsula, where temperatures are sufficiently high and rains occur in winter season, the above classification is blurred. Rice jowar and cotton are grown there continuously. Due to excessive rainfall wheat does not grow in Kerala but other rabi crops grow.
Sugarcane, being 10-18 month’s crop, is neither kharif nor rabi and so also is the short duration vegetables which are grown throughout the year with manure and irrigation.