Q. 1. What is settlement? Classify settlements of India on the basis of their shapes into two categories. Mention any three characteristics of each.
Ans. Settlement is the cluster of dwellings of any size where human beings live. The process of settlement inherently involves grouping of people and apportioning of territory as their resource base. Settlements could be small and sparsely spaced or large and closely spaced. Based on this shape and pattern type settlements are categorised as follows: (i) Clustered or Nucleated Settlements : (a) These settlements are those in which large number of houses are built very close to each other. (b) These settlements often develop along the river valley and in fertile plains. (c) Communities are closely knit and share common occupations. (ii) Dispersed Settlements : (a) These settlements are those in which houses are built spaced far away. (b) These are often interspersed with fields. (c) In this type of settlement culture feature like place of worship or market, binds the settlement together.
Q. 2. What makes rural settlement different from urban settlement in India? Explain.
Ans. Difference between rural and urban settlements in India are :
Rural Settlements :
(i) Most of the people are engaged in primary activities to support their life.
(ii) The people in the rural society had homogeneity and thus enjoyed more or less the same social status and had informal social relationships with each other.
(iii) Inadequate educational facilities.
(iv) Inadequate infrastructure.
(v) Life in the society is very simple and reflected in the way of living, dressing, food habits, shelter and manners, etc., showing low standards of living.
Urban Settlements :
(i) Most of the people are engaged in secondary and tertiary activities other than primary activities.
(ii) The people in the city belong to different castes, creeds, religions and cultures, thus do not enjoy the same social status and had formal relationships with each other.
(iii) Adequate educational facilities.
(iv) Adequate infrastructure.
(v) Life in the city is not simple but very complex and complicated showing high living standard.
Q. 3. Explain any five major problems of the rural settlements faced in India.
Ans. Problems of rural settlements faced in India are :
(i) Rural settlements in India have poor infrastructure facilities.
(ii) Supply of water to rural settlements is not adequate. People in villages, particularly in mountainous and arid areas have to walk long distances to fetch drinking water.
(iii) Water borne diseases such as cholera and jaundice are common problems because of lack of safe drinking water and unhygienic conditions.
(iv) Villages are adversely affected by the conditions of drought and flood. This in turn affects the crop cultivation.
(v) The absence of toilet and garbage disposal facilities cause health-related problems.
(vi) The houses made up of mud, wood and thatch get damaged during heavy rains and floods.
(vii) Most of the houses do not have proper ventilation.
(viii) Unmetalled roads and lack of modern communication network causes difficulties in providing emergency services during floods.
(ix) It is also difficult to provide adequate health and educational infrastructure for large population. The problem is particularly serious where houses are scattered over a large area.
Q. 4. Classify the human settlements of the India into two types, by their shape. Explain any two features of each type.
Ans. A human settlement is defined as a place inhabited more or less permanently. It includes buildings in which they live or use and paths and streets over which they travel. It also includes the temporary camps of the hunters and herders. It may consist of only a few dwelling units called hamlets or big cluster of buildings called urban cities. Settlements can also be classified on the basis of shape and pattern into :
Compact Settlements :
(i) In these settlements houses are built very close to each other.
(a) Such settlements are found in river valleys and fertile plains.
(b) The people are closely tied and share common occupations.
(ii) Dispersed Settlements :
(a) In these settlements houses are built far apart from each other.
(b) These settlements consist of one or two houses and cultural feature such as a church or a temple binds the settlement together.
(c) Such settlements are found over hills, plateau and highlands.
Q. 5. Define rural settlement. Differentiate between nucleated settlements and dispersed settlements.
Ans. Rural settlements consists of villages in which most of the people are engaged in primary activities, i.e., agriculture, fishing, mining, forestry, etc. They are generally smaller in size.
Differences :
(i) In nucleated settlements, the houses are closely spaced and streets are narrow, on the other hand in dispersed settlements they consist of one or two dwelling units. In nucleated settlement communities are closely knit together in common bond by cultural features such as a church, a mosque or a temple.
(ii) Nucleated settlement are commonly seen in river valleys and fertile plains while dispersed settlements are found over hill, plateaus and highlands.
(iii) Plains of India, China, Thailand and Japan have compact settlements while dispersed settlements are in Africa, Mauritius, hills of China and India.
Q. 6. Differentiate between clustered and semiclustered settlements.
Ans. Clustered and semi-clustered settlements :
(i) Clustered settlement is a compact or a closely built up of houses whereas; semi-clustered is a fragmented settlement.
(ii) In clustered settlements the living area is distinct and separated from farming areas but, in semiclustered people live in isolation, along with the farming areas.
(iii) The former results in recognisable patterns or geometric shapes, whereas; the later have hardly any shape. They are irregular.
(iv) Clustered settlements are largely found in the plain areas, whereas, semi-clustered are found in hilly and forested area.
(v) Examples of clustered settlements: Nagaland, Rajasthan . Examples of semi-clustered settlements: Gujarat plain and some parts of Rajasthan.
Q. 7. Discuss the features of different types of rural settlements. What are the factors responsible for the settlement patterns in different physical environment.
Ans. Based on this shape and pattern type settlement are categorised as follows:
(i) Clustered or Nucleated Settlements :
(a) These settlements are those in which large number of houses are built very close to each other.
(b) These settlements often develop along river valleys and in fertile plains.
(c) Communities are closely knit and share common occupations.
(ii) Dispersed Settlements :
(a) These settlements are those in which houses are spaced far away.
(b) These are often interspersed with fields.
(c) In this type of settlement culture feature like place of worship or market, binds the settlement together.
(iii) Semi-clustered or Fragmented Settlements :
(a) They may result from tendency of clustering in a restricted area of dispersed settlements.
(b) Such settlements are widespread in the Gujarat plains and in some parts of Rajasthan.
(c) One or more sections of society choose to live a little away from the main cluster.
(iv) H amleted Rural Settlements :
(d) They are fragmented into many units.
(e) This segmentation is motivated by social and ethnic factors.
(f) Such settlements are found in the Northern Plains.
(g) These units are locally called Panna, Para, Nagla, Dhani, etc., in various parts of the country.
Factors responsible for the settlement patterns in different physical environments :
(i) Climate : Very hot and very cold climate is unfavourable for rural settlement. Areas with favourable climate attract people to reside over those areas. North Indian plains, delta regions and coastal plains have larger population with compact settlements. In harsh climate regions scattered settlements are found.
(ii) Fertile Soils : Fertile soils are important for agricultural and allied activities. Clustered settlements are generally found in fertile alluvial plains. They may be in rectangular, radical, linear shapes.
(iii) Nature of terrain : Shapes and size of rural settlements are determined by the nature of terrain. In plain areas, the shape and size of rural settlements are compact or clustered and larger, having larger number of population, On the other hand, on hilly and mountain areas they are scattered and small in size. In such areas, dispersed settlements are found in the form of isolated huts. They are found in Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Q. 8. Write three differences between clustered and dispersed settlement in India.
Ans. Clustered Settlements :
(i) These settlements are found in fertile plains.
(ii) H ouses are close to each other and their size is small.
(iii) Sometimes people live in compact villages due to security or defence reasons.
Dispersed Settlements :
(i) These are found in hilly regions or desert areas.
(ii) S ettlements are neat and clean with drainage arrangements.
(iii) Houses are big and are located at gaps.
Q. 9. On the basis of evolution in different times,Indian cities can be divided into how many kinds. Explain each type.
Ans. On the basis of their evolution in different periods, Indian towns can be classified as :
(i) Ancient towns,
(ii) Medieval towns, and
(iii) Modern towns
Ancient Towns :
(i) There are number of towns in India having historical background spanning over 2000 years.
(ii) Most of them developed as religious and cultural centres.
(iii) Varanasi is one of the important towns among them.
(iv) Prayag (Allahabad), Pataliputra (Patna), Madurai are some other examples of ancient towns in the country.
Medieval Towns :
(i) About 100 of the existing towns have their roots in the Medieval Period.
(ii) Most of them developed as headquarters of principalities and kingdoms.
(iii) These are fort towns which came up on the ruins of ancient towns. Important among them are Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Agra and Nagpur.
Modern Towns :
(i) The British and other Europeans have developed a number of towns in India. Starting their foothold on coastal locations, they first developed some trading ports such as Surat, Daman, Goa, Puducherry, etc.
(ii) The British later consolidated their hold around three principal nodes – Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), and Kolkata (Calcutta) – and built them in the British style.
(iii) Rapidly extending their domination either directly or through control over the princely states, they established their administrative centres, hill towns as summer resorts, and added new civil, administrative and military areas to them.
(iv) After independence, a large number of towns have been developed as administrative headquarters, e.g. Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Dispur, etc.
Q.10. “Many of the modern towns in India were developed during the period of British domination.” Substantiate the statement.
Ans. The British and Europeans have developed a number of towns in India. They first developed some trading ports such as Surat, Daman, Goa, Poducherry, etc., for ease of trade and commerce. G radually, they established their administrative centres, hill towns, summer resorts, etc. Towns based on modern industries also evolved after 1850, e.g., Jamshedpur. After independence, a large number of towns have been developed as a dministrative headquarters, e.g., Chandigarh, Delhi, Dispur, etc., and industrial centres such as Durgapur, Bhilai, Sindri, etc. Some old towns also developed as satellite towns around metropolitan cities such as Ghaziabad, Rohtak, Gurugram and Delhi. With increasing investment in rural areas, a large number of medium and small towns have developed all over the country.
Q.11. Describe with examples any five types of urban centres of India based on their functions.
Ans. Based on their functions urban centres are of the following types :
(i) Industrial centres : These centres mainly develop centring round industries as it provides good job opportunities and infrastructure facilities, e.g. Durgapur and Jamshedpur of India.
(ii) Commercial centres : The primary function of these centres is trade and commerce, e.g., Mumbai.
(iii) Administrative centres: These centres come up as the seat of government is situated at this place, e.g., Delhi.
(iv) Military centres : These urban centres develop with a view to supply food, arms, ammunitions and other needs for the military barracks, e.g., Kanpur is a large military cantonment.
(v) Religious centres : Large settlements develop around religious and pilgrimage centres, e.g, Varanasi.
Q.12. Can one imagine the presence of only one-function town? Why do the cities become multifunctional?
Ans. We cannot imagine only one function town because the functions get so intertwined that the city cannot be categorised into a particular functional class. No town can grow only on one-function, all towns are multi-functional, i.e., each town performs more than one functions. However certain towns are known on the basis of one most important function performed by them.
For example: Chandigarh is known as an administration town, Faridabad as an industrial town and Kurukshetra as a religious town. But that does not mean that Chandigarh does not perform any other function other than administration. This town has a well-defined industrial area, university, hospitals and several other facilities. Therefore, it is multi-functional town although administration is its main function.
Specialised cities as they grow into metropolises become multi-functional wherein industry, business, administration, transport, etc., become important.
