Test: Class 10 Geography NCERT Based - 1 - UPSC MCQ

The process of industrialization in India can be divided into two parts – before and after 1992.

During the first forty years after independence the Indian economy had diversified and expanded very fast. But this growth was characterized by rigid controls and regulations. In August 1992, Government of India took a bold step by changing its economic policies from state control to market forces.

A need was felt to give more responsibility to private capital and enterprise, both domestic as well as foreign. In response to this, the new industrial policy of liberalization, privatisation and globalization was adopted in August 1992.

The immediate cause of these changes in economic policy was to tide over balance of payment crises but having wide social, economic, political and geographical implications.

Petro-chemicals industry is one of the fastest growing industries of India. This industry has revolutionised the industrial scene by providing the products which are substituting the traditional raw materials like wood, glass and metals.

Its products meet various needs of the people at the low cost. Petrochemicals are derived from petroleum or natural gas.

We use a variety of products from morning till evening made from petrochemicals Toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, hairpins, soap cases, plastic mugs, garments, radiocaes, ball point pens, detergents, electric switches, lipstick, insecticides, bags, bed covers, and foam are some of the goods made from petro-chemicals.

Indian Petro-Chemical Corporation has set up a huge petro-chemical complex near vadodara producing a wide range of products. Besides Vadodara, Gandhar, and Hazira in Gujarat and Nagathone in Maharashtra are other important centres of the petro-chemical industry.

India is self-sufficient in the production of petro-chemicals. Crude oil has no value unless it is refined, while refining crude oil; thousands of products like kerosene, diesel, lubricants and raw material for the petro-chemical industry are derived.

India has at present 18 refineries. Industries can be classified into different categories on the basis, such as sources of raw material, ownership, functions, size of industry and weight of raw material and finished products. Since India is still an agricultural country, it has developed various agro-based industries such as cotton textile, woolen textile, jute textile and sugar industry. So, an UPSC IAS aspirant must have such understanding of industrial development.

Cotton textile industry is one of the most widely distributed industries in our country. These mills are located in more than 88 centres in different parts of the country But majority of cotton textile mills are still located in the cotton growing areas of the Great Plains and peninsular India.

Maharashtra is the leading producer of cotton textile in the country. Mumbai is the major centre of textile mills. About a half of the Cotton textile mills are located in Mumbai alone. It is, therefore, rightly called the ‘Cottonopolis’ of India. Sholapur, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad and Jalgaon are other important centres in Maharashtra.

The distribution of mineral and energy resources is uneven. It’s because occurrence of mineral resources are associated with certain types of geological formation.

Coal deposits are mostly associated with Gondwana system, Dharwad and Cuddapah systems contain resources of major metallic minerals like copper, lead, zinc etc and major non-metallic minerals like limestone, dolomite, gypsum, calcium, sulphate etc are found in Cuddapah and upper Vindhyan system.

Coal in India occurs in two important types of coal fields. They are the Gondwana coal fields and Tertiary coal fields. Out of the total coal reserves and production in India, Gondwana coal fields contribute 98% and the rest 2% is produced by tertiary coal fields.

The Gondwana coalfields are located in the sedimentary rock systems of lower Gondwana Age.

They are distributed chiefly in the river valleys of the Damodar (Jharkhand - West Bengal); the Son (Madhya Pradesh–Chhattisgarh); the Mahanadi (Orissa), the Godavari (Andhra Pradesh) and the Wardha (Maharashtra).

Tertiary coalfields occur in the extra-peninsular areas which include Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Sikkim. Besides lignite or brown coal are found in coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and in land basins of Rajasthan.

India is richly endowed with minerals. Our country possesses more than 100 minerals. Out of 100 minerals, there are 30 minerals which have economic significance.

Some of the examples are coal, iron ore, manganese, bauxite, mica etc. The situation is also satisfactory in feldspar, florides, limestones, dolomite and gypsum etc.

But the reserves of petroleum and some non-ferrous metallic minerals especially copper, lead, zinc, tin, graphite are inadequate. Non-ferrous minerals are those which do not contain iron.

Country fulfills internal demands for these minerals by importing them from other countries. India was least industrialised and most of the minerals were exported during British period. After independence though export continues but also mineral production has picked up in consonance with the increasing industrial demands in the country.