Housing and Animal Husbandry | Geography for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Housing

National Building organisation

• It is an attached offic of the ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation established 1954 for technology transfer, experimentation, development and dissemination of housing statistics. It was restructured is August 1992.

National Housing Policy
 l Taking into account the developments on national and international scene on Shelter Sector after 1988 and also in the light of comments received from state governments and different sections of the community, a National Housing Policy (NHP) has been evolved.
 l The policy envisages a major shift in Government's role to act more as a facilitator than as a provider.
 l The policy was integrated in the Housing Chapter on the Eihth Plan. During the Eighth Plan, emphasis was on social housing schemes including MNP projects in rural areas, strengthening the role of HUDCO, shelter for the homeless, technology transfer, housing information system andhousing for Central Government employees.

Housing Finance

• The National Hosusing Bank set up in 1988 as a subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India, is functioning under administrative control of the Banking Division of Department of Economics Affairs. It is supervising and controlling various HFIs.
• Allocation by Life Insurance Corporation/General Insurance Corporation for direct and indirect finance for housing has been increased.

Urban Land (Ceiling And Regulation) Act, 1976

• The Urban Land (Ceiling & Regulation) Act, 1976 which came into force on 17 February 1976 was enacted in order to prevent concentration of urban land in the hands of a few persons and also to curb speculation and prefiguring therein with a view to bring about an equitable distribution of urban land to sub-serve the common good. 
• It applies to all the state governments and union territories except Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Nagaland and Sikkim which have not adopted the Act so far and also excludes Tamil Nadu which add enacted its own law in 1978. 
• The Act is mainly implemented by the state governments. as per the information furnished by various state governments/union territories, 2,20,675 hectare of land has been estimated as excess vacant land.
• Out of this 43,944 hectare has been vested in the state governments/union territories.
• The state governments/union territories have acquired physically 15,321 hectare of excess vacant land. 

Urban Water Supply and Sanitation

• Urban water supply and sanitation is a state subject. Schemes thereof are formulated and implemented by the state governments/union territory administrations. 
• The Ministry of Urban Development and Employment sponsors research and development projects to various institutions in the country to develop appropriate technologies in thefield of the field of water supply and sanitation. 
• It has developed a Management Information System (MIS) which has been disseminated to state  public health engineering department and water supply and sewerage boards for implementation. The Ministry provides technical advice and accord technical approval of schemes in the sector to get loan assistance from LIC, World Bank and other bilateral agencies.

Animal Husbandry

Cattle

• The life span of cattle is about twenty years. Heifers are first mated when they are fifteen to twenty months old.
• Mature cattle have thirty-two teeth, but they lack teeth (incisors) on the front portion of the upper jaw.
• The gestation period of most cattle is about two hundred and eighty two days.
• India ranks first amongst all countries in the world, possessing the largest number of cattle and buffaloes. According to the 2003 livestock census, there are 18.5 crore cattle and 9.8 crore buffaloes, thus accounting for 14% and 57% of the world’s cattle and buffalo populations, respectively.
• Despite having such an enormous number of cattle and buffaloes, the per capita availability of milk is only 229 gm. per day which is very low.
• This is due to the poor quality of Indian cattle as most of the breeds are not good for milk production.
• Operation Flood I and II have been aimed at improving the availability of milk in cities and progress in this field has been significant. Cattle normally consume 2.0 to 2.5 kg of dry matter per head per day for every 100 kg of their live weight.

Buffaloes

• India possesses 27 acknowledged indigenous breeds of cattle and seven breeds of buffaloes.
• Out of a world population of 128.77 million buffaloes in 1985, about 97% are found in Asia. India has a population of 75.6 million water (river) buffaloes.
• The river buffalo belongs to the species Bubalus bubalis.
• The domesticated buffaloes are primarily of two types viz., li) The swamp buffalo, and (ii) The river buffalo. The former resides in marsh lands where it wallows in mud.
• These are found in Malaya, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Southern China and other Far-East countries.
• The river type found in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Nepal and Sri Lanka comprise mainly milch animals.
• These animals weigh 450 to 800 kg and are especially maintained for their milk production yielding between 1400 to 3000 kg during a 300 day lactation period.
• Conversely swamp buffaloes, weighing from 300 to 600 kg, provide small quantities of milk and are primarily used as draught animals.
• The average life span of buffaloes is around 25 years. Even at 18, they may produce calves. A reasonable milk yield can be had upto the age of 15 years.
• Working buffaloes are generally in use for about 20 years. The gestation period of buffaloes is about 316 days.
• Dairy industry in the country is mainly buffalo oriented. These animals contribute over 55% of the total milk produced.
• Indian buffaloes produce around 500 kg of milk in a lactation in comparison to 187 kg of milk per lactation of Indian cows. Buffalo milk has a fat content of over 7%.
• In India there are only six high quality milch breeds viz., Murrah, Nilli Ravi, Bhadwari, Surti, Jaffarbadi and Mehsana hailing from northern and Westem parts.

Goats

• A buck/billy is a male and a nanny/ doe is a female goat. The life span of a goat is about 10 years. The gestation period of goats fluctuates between 148 to 156 days.
• Goat menat is commonly called Chevon and is usually low in fat.
• India is exporting goat’s meat to as many as 20 countries. At present the internal demand is 20 times higher than the production.
• In India Chegu and Chengthangi breeds of goat produce pashmina. There is no mohair producing breed in the country.
• The annual yield of pashmina is quitelow touching 40,000 kg only.
• According to FAO statistics on livestock (2003), there are 124.36 million goats existing in India, comprising 20.78% of the total goat population in the world.
• The species provides dependable source of income to 40% of the rural population who are below the poverty line in India. Interestingly, despite a 42% slaughter of goats annually, the population keeps rising at the rate of 1.2% per year.
• Its economic contribution to the national economy is of the order of Rs 350 crores annually.
• At present there are twenty breeds of goat in India.

Sheep

• A buck/ram is a male and an ewe/ dam is a female.
• The normal life span of a sheep is 10 to 15 years and the gestation period is about 147 days.
• India ranks sixth among the countries of the world with respect to sheep population.
• The Indian sheep population last reported was 61.47 million, according to FAO statistics on livestock (2003).
• The annual wool production in India is less than 1.0 kg per sheep except Magra (Bikaneri) sheep yielding 2.0 kg whereas Australia, New Zealand and CIS produce 3.5 to 5.5 kg of quality wool per sheep, annually.
• India produces 132 million kg mutton annually.
• The production potential of sheep in India is estimated to be 150 crores of rupees per annum.
• This is based on the yearly production of 40 million kg wool, 132 million kg mutton, 16 million pieces of skin and 22 tonnes of manure.
• The wool production was 44.90 million kg during 2005-06.

Pigs

• A boar is a male and a sow/gilt is a female pig. A piglet/shoat is the young one of a pig. Farrowing is the act of giving birth to piglets by a sow.
• The life span of pigs is about 16 years. The gestation period of swines is 112-120 days.
• China ranks first in the world as a pig rearing country having a population of around 300 million, thus accounting for more than one-third of the global pig population.
• The estimated population of pigs in India is 13.19 million as per FAO statistics on livestocks (2003).
• Uttar Pradesh has got the highest number followed by Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
• Among domestic animals pigs are the most prolific breeders, producing 612 piglets every liter.
• They are remarkably fast growing and attain a weight of 68 kg in just 6 to 8 months, before being  slaughtered.

Poultry

• The term ‘poultry’ refers to chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, swans, guinea fowl, pigeons, ostriches, pheasants, quail and other game birds.
• They have a high breathing and pulse rate . Their body temperature ranges from 105° to 109°F.

Broilers: A broiler (fryer) is a young  chicken  that grows very fast and can be marketed at the age of 8-12 weeks.

• It attains about 1.5 kg live weight within this period.
• It may be of either sex, tenderhearted with soft, pliable, smooth textured skin and flexible breast bone cartilage.
• The value of output from poultry sector is nearly Rs. 17000 crore from eggs and meat only and it provides direct and indirect employment to over 3 million people. Target is there to achieve 52 billion eggs by 2011-12 which is now 46.2 billion.
• When compared with per capita year consumption it is only 20 eggs and 240 gm poultry meat per capita as against 260 to 300 eggs and 20 to 30 kg poultry meat consumption in some of the developed countries.

BREEDS OF SHEEPS

I. Temperate Himalayan Region
(Includes Jammu and Kashmir. H.P., hills districts of Punjab. Garhwal district of U.P. Produces 6% of the total wool in India)

ll Nonth-Western Region
(Comprises Rajasthan; South-east Punjab, Gujarat, parts of Western U.P.—produces 64% of the total wool in India)

III Sounthern Region
(Includes Maharashtra, Mysore, A.P., Tamil Nadu and parts of Madhya Pradesh. Produces 28% of the total wool which is coarse and hairy)

IV Eastern Region
(Includes States of Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland and Sikkim. Produces 2% of Tibetan, the total wool of India)