Class 10 Geography Chapter 1 Question Answers - Contemporary India - II

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1: ‘‘Tourism industry in India has grown substantially over the last three decades.’’ Support the statement. [CBSE (AI) 2017]
Ans: Tourism industry in India has grown substantially over the last three decades
(i) Foreign tourism arrival in the country had seen an increase contributing Rs 21,828 crore of foreign exchange.
(ii) More than 15 million people are directly engaged in tourism industry.
(iii) Over 2.6 million foreign tourists visit India every year.
(iv) Tourism also promotes national integration and provides support to local handicrafts.

Q2: ‘‘The advancement of international trade of a country is an index of its economic development.’’ Justify the statement. [CBSE (AI) 2017]
Ans: ‘The advancement of international trade of a country is an index of its economic development:
(i) It is considered as the economic barometer of a country.
(ii) As the resources are space bound, no country can survive without international trade.
(iii) A favourable balance of trade of a country indicates economic development.
(iv) International trade helps in exchange of surplus goods with those of deficit countries.
(v) Exchange of commodities and goods have been superseded by the exchange of information and knowledge.

Q3: What are the problems faced by the Indian railways?
Ans: The Indian railways faces the following problems:
(i) Many passengers travel without tickets.
(ii) Thefts and damage of railway property has not yet stopped completely.
(iii) People stop the trains and pull the chain unnecessarily. This causes heavy damage to the railways.

Q4: What are the three important networks of pipeline transportation?
Ans: (i) From oilfield in upper Assam to Kanpur via Guwahati, Barauni and Allahabad.
(ii) From Salaya in Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab via Viramgam, Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat.
(iii) Gas pipeline from Hazira in Gujarat connects Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh via Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh.

Q5: What are the advantages of waterways?
Ans: (i) Waterways are the cheapest means of transport.
(ii) They are most suitable for carrying heavy and bulky goods.
(iii) They are fuel-efficient and also environment-friendly mode of transport.

Q6: How does India account for the largest telecom network in India?
Ans: (i) More than two-thirds of the villages in India have already been covered with the Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) telephone facility.
(ii) In order to strengthen the flow of information from the grassroot to the higher level, the government has made special provision to extend twenty-four hours STD facility to every village in the country.
(iii) There is a uniform rate of STD facilities all over India.
It has been made possible by integrating the development in space technology with communication technology.

Q7: What are the advantages of using pipelines?
Ans: (i) Pipelines are used for transporting crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas from oil and natural gas fields to refineries, fertilizer factories and big thermal plants.
(ii) Solids can also be transported through pipelines when converted into slurry.
(iii) Initial cost of laying a pipeline is high but subsequent running costs are minimal. It rules out transhipment loses or delays.

Q8: What is pipeline transportation? Write two merits and demerits of the same. [CBSE Sample Paper 2016]
Ans: Pipeline transport network is the new mode of transport these days. In the past, pipelines were used to transport water to cities and industries. Now, these are used for transporting crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas from oil and natural gas fields to refineries, fertilizer factories and big thermal power plants. Solids can also be transported through a pipeline when converted into slurry.
Merits:
(i) Useful in transporting liquids and solid slurry from far away locations.
(ii) Subsequent running costs after laying down the network are minimal.
(iii) It rules out trans-shipment losses or delays.
Demerits:
(i) Initial cost of laying pipelines is high.
(ii) Pipelines can burst or can have leakage leading to wastage of valuable resource like water, mineral oil, etc.

Q9: Why is air travel economical in north-eastern regions?
Ans: (i) Airways can cover very difficult terrains like high mountains, dreary deserts, dense forests and long oceanic stretches with great ease.
(ii) North-eastern part of the country is marked with the presence of big rivers, dissected reliefs, dense forests and frequent showers and floods and international frontiers, etc.
(iii) Air travel has made access easier to these undulating north-eastern states of India.

Q10: Give three advantages of personal communication.
Ans: (i) It keeps you in touch with your near and dear ones.
(ii) Long distance communication is also easier without physical movement of the communicator or receiver.
(iii) It helps in integrating families.

Long Answer Type Questions
Q11: Examine with example the role of means of transport and communication in making our life prosperous and comfortable. [CBSE (AI) 2017]
Ans: Efficient means of transport are pre requisites for fast development. Role of means of transport and communication are:
(i) Today the world has been converted into a large village with the help of efficient and fast moving transport.
(ii) We can proudly say that India is well linked with the rest of the world despite its large size.
(iii) Railways, Airways, Waterways, Newspapers, Radio, Television, Cinema and Internet etc have been contributing to the socio-economic progress in many ways.
(iv) The trades from local to international levels have added to the vitality of its economy.
It has enriched our lives and added substantially to growth and comfort.

Q12: What are the various means of mass communication used in India?
Ans: (i) It includes radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books and films.
(ii) All India Radio broadcasts a variety of programmes in national, regional or local languages.
(iii) Doordarshan, the national television channel of India broadcasts a variety of programmes ranging from entertainment, education to sports, etc.
(iv) India publishes a large number of newspapers and periodicals annually.
(v) Newspapers are published in about 100 languages and dialects.
(vi) India is the largest producer of feature films in the world. It produces short films, video feature films and video short films.

Q13: What is the importance of Indian railways?
Or
State any four merits of railways.
Ans: (i) Railways is the principal mode of transportation for freight and passengers in India.
(ii) Railways also makes it possible to conduct a number of activities like business, sightseeing, pilgrimage along with transportation of goods over long distances.
(iii) Apart from being a means of transport, the Indian railways has been a great integrating force for more than 150 years.
(iv) Railways in India binds the economic life of the country by developing industry and agriculture through transportation. The Indian railways is the largest public sector undertaking in India.

Q14: Classify roads of India on the basis of their capacity.
Ans: (i) Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways: These projects are implemented by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). There are three major Super Highways. Golden Quadrilateral starts from Delhi, moves to Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and back to Delhi. The North-South Corridor starts from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. The East-West Corridor connects Silchar to Porbandar.
(ii) National Highways: These roads are laid and maintained by Central Public Works Department (CPWD). A number of major National Highways run in North-South and East-West directions, e.g., Sher Shah Suri Marg is called National Highway No. 1.
(iii) State Highways: Roads linking a state capital with different district headquarters are known as state highways. These roads are constructed and maintained by States and Union Territories.
(iv) District Roads: These roads connect the district headquarters with other places of the district. These roads are maintained by the Zila Parishad.
(v) Rural Roads: These roads link rural areas and villages with towns. These roads are constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana.

Q15: What do you know about Kandla Port?
Ans: Kandla in Kachchh was the first port developed soon after Independence to ease the volume of trade on the Mumbai port. It is the only important port of Gujarat as after partition, the Karachi port had become a part of Pakistan. It is a tidal port. It caters to the convenient handling of exports and imports of highly productive granary and industrial belt stretching across the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Q16: What is the contribution of Mumbai and Goa ports in the economy of India?
Ans: Mumbai is the biggest port with a spacious, natural and well-sheltered harbor. The Jawaharlal Nehru port was planned with a view to decongest the Mumbai port and serve as a hub port for this region. Marmagao port of Goa is the premier iron ore exporting port of the country. This port accounts for about fifty per cent of India’s iron ore export.

Q17: What is the role played by the Eastern coastal ports of India in trade?
Ans: (i) Chennai: It is one of the oldest artificial ports of the country. It is ranked next to Mumbai in terms of volume of trade and cargo.
(ii) Vishakhapatnam: It is the deepest land-locked and well-protected port. This port was originally conceived as an outlet for iron ore exports.
(iii) Paradip Port: It is located in Odisha and specialises in the export of iron ore.
(iv) Kolkata: It is an inland riverine port. This port serves a very large and rich hinterland of Ganga-Brahmaputra basin. Being a tidal port, it requires constant dredging of Hoogly.
(v) Haldia Port: It was developed as a subsidiary port, in order to relieve growing pressure on the Kolkata port.

Q18: What are the advantages of airways?
Ans: Today, air travel is the fastest, most comfortable and the prestigious mode of transport. It can cover very difficult terrains like high mountains, dreary deserts, dense forests and also long oceanic stretches with great ease.
In north-eastern part of India, there are big rivers, dissected relief, dense forests and frequent floods and international frontiers. In such situations, air transport is considered to be the best option. Government of India has made special provisions to make air travel pocket friendly to north-eastern states of India.

Q19: Which tourisms attract foreigners to India?
Ans: Foreign tourists visit India for heritage tourism, ecotourism, adventure tourism, cultural tourism, medical tourism and business tourism. Agra (UP), Rajasthan, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and temple towns of South India are important destinations of foreign tourists. There is a vast potential of tourism development in the north-eastern states and the interior parts of Himalayas, but due to strategic reasons, these have not been encouraged so far. However, there lies a bright future ahead for this upcoming industry.

Q20: Compare and contrast the merits and demerits of Roadways with those of Railways. [CBSE Sample Paper 2016]
Ans: Roadways v/s Railways
(i) Construction cost of roads is much lower than that of railway lines and construction time is also comparatively less.
(ii) Roads can traverse comparatively more dissected and undulating topography which is a limitation in case of railways.
(iii) Roads can negotiate higher gradients of slopes and as such can traverse mountains like the Himalayas, whereas the mountainous regions are unfavourable for the construction of railway lines due to high relief, sparse population and lack of economic opportunities. Likewise, it is difficult to lay railway lines on the sandy plains in the deserts, swampy or forested tracks.
(iv) Road transport is economical in transportation of few persons and relatively smaller amount of goods over short distances whereas railways are suitable for transportation of large number of people and goods in bulk, especially over long distances.
(v) Roadways provide door-to-door service, thus the cost of loading and unloading is much lower but railways have not reached everywhere, still there are places which are yet to be connected with the railways.
(vi) Road transport is also used as a feeder to other modes of transport such as they provide a link between railway stations, air and sea ports. On the other hand, railways work as a life line for the economic growth of a country as they carry raw materials and produced goods from one part of the nation to another on a large scale.