Subject Social Science (Geography)

Class 10

Board CBSE and State Boards

Chapter No. 1

Chapter Name Resources and Development

Type Notes

Session 2025-26

Weightage 4 marks

Resources and
Development Class 10
Simplified Notes for
Revision
Table of Contents
 What are Resources?
 Classification of Resources
 Development of Resources
 Resource Planning
 Land Resources
 Land Utilization
 Land Use Pattern in India
 Land Degradation and Conservation Measures
 Soils
 Classification of Soils
 Alluvial Soils
 Black Soil
 Red and Yellow Soil
 Laterite Soil
 Arid Soils
 Forest Soils
 Soil Erosion and Soil Conservation
What are Resources?
Resources: Everything available in our environment which can be used
to satisfy our needs, provided, it is
 technologically accessible,
 economically feasible and
 culturally acceptable
can be termed as a ‘Resource’.

Interdependent relationship between nature, technology, and

institutions: The process of transformation of things available in our
environment involves an interactive relationship between nature,
technology, and institutions. Human beings interact with nature through
technology and create institutions to accelerate their economic
development.
Classification of Resources
 On the basis of origin – biotic and abiotic
 On the basis of exhaustibility – renewable and non-renewable
 On the basis of ownership – individual, community, national, and
international
 On the basis of the status of development – potential, developed, stock,
and reserves.

Classification of Resources

Development of Resources
The problems created as a result of indiscriminate utilization of natural
resources are:

 Depletion of resources at a faster rate for satisfying the greed of a few

individuals.
 Accumulation of resources in few hands, as a result, dividing the society
into two segments i.e., haves and have-nots or rich and poor.
 Increase in global ecological crises such as global warming, ozone layer
depletion, environmental pollution, and land degradation.
Sustainable Development: Sustainable economic development means
‘development should take place without damaging the environment, and
development in the present should not compromise with the needs of the
future generations.’
Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992:
In June 1992, more than 100 heads of state met in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil,
for the first International Earth Summit. The Summit was convened for
addressing urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-
economic development at the global level.

Agenda 21: Agenda 21 is the declaration signed by world leaders in 1992

at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED), which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It aims at achieving
global sustainable development.
The two principles are:

 To combat environmental damage, poverty, and disease through global

cooperation on common interests, mutual needs, and shared
responsibilities.
 Every local government should draw its own local Agenda 21.

Resource Planning
Need for resource planning
 Resource planning is a widely accepted strategy for the judicious use of
resources.
 Resources in India are not evenly distributed. Some parts of the country
are rich in one resource but deficient in other important resources. For
example – Rajasthan is rich in solar and wind energy but lacks water
resources. Jharkhand is rich in minerals and coal deposits but lacks
industrialization.
 Most of the resources present in our environment are limited. Therefore, if
these resources are not preserved or not used rationally we will be in
great trouble.
 To reduce regional disparity.
 To save for future generations and to avoid wastage or overutilization of
resources.
Three stages of resource planning
 Identification and inventory of resources across the regions of the country.
This involves surveying, mapping, and qualitative and quantitative
estimation and measurement of the resources.
 Evolving a planning structure endowed with appropriate technology, skill,
and institutional setup for implementing resource development plans.
 Matching the resource development plans with overall national
development plans.

Land Resources
India has land under a variety of relief features, namely; mountains,
plateaus, plains, and islands.

 About 43% of the land area is plain, which provides facilities for
agriculture and industry.
  Mountains account for 30% of the total surface area of the country and
ensure the perennial flow of some rivers, providing facilities for tourism
and ecological aspects.
 About 27% of the area of the country is the plateau region. It possesses
rich reserves of minerals, fossil fuels, and forests.

Land Utilization
Land resources are used for the following purposes:

 Forests
 Land not available for cultivation
 Barren and wasteland
 Land put to non-agricultural uses, e.g. buildings, roads, factories, etc.
 Other uncultivated lands (excluding fallow land)
 Permanent pastures and grazing land
 Land under miscellaneous tree crops groves (not included in the net
sown area)
 Culturable wasteland (left uncultivated for more than 5 agricultural
years)
 Fallow lands
 Current fallow (left without cultivation for one or less than one
agricultural year)
 Other than the current fallow (left uncultivated for the past 1 to 5
agricultural years)
 Net Sown Area
 the physical extent of land on which crops are sown harvested is
known as the net sown area.
 Gross cropped area
 Area sown more than once in an agricultural year plus the net sown
area is known as gross cropped area.

Land Use Pattern in India

Land use data is available only for 93% of the total geographical area
because

 the land use reporting for most of the northeast states except Assam has
not been done fully.
 Moreover, some areas of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan and
China have also not been surveyed.
33% of the geographical area should be under forest as mentioned in the
National Forest Policy of 1952 because:
 it is essential for maintaining ecological balance.
 It provides a livelihood to millions of people who live on the fringes of
these forests and depend upon it.

Land Degradation and Conservation

Measures
 Mining: In states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and
Odisha deforestation due to mining has caused severe land degradation.
 Overgrazing: In states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and
Maharashtra overgrazing is one of the main reasons for land degradation.
  Over-irrigation: In the states of Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar
Pradesh, over-irrigation is responsible for land degradation due to water
logging leading to an increase in salinity and alkalinity in the soil.
Ways to Prevent Land Degradation:
 Afforestation and proper management of grazing.
 Planting of shelter belts of plants, control over grazing, and stabilization of
sand dunes by growing thorny bushes are some of the methods to check
land degradation in arid areas.
 Proper management of waste lands, control of mining activities, and
proper discharge and disposal of industrial effluents and wastes after
treatment can reduce land and water degradation in industrial and
suburban areas.

Soils
Factors on which soil formation depends:
 Relief, parent rock or bedrock, climate, vegetation, and other forms of life
and time are important factors in the formation of soil.
 Various forces of nature such as changes in temperature, actions of
running water, wind, and glaciers, activities of decomposers, etc.
contribute to the formation of soil.
 Chemical and organic changes which take place in the soil are equally
important.
Classification of Soils

Alluvial Soils
Alluvial soil is found in the entire northern plain. It is the most widely
spread soil in India.

The main features of alluvial soil are:

 It is formed by the sediments deposited by river water.

 It consists of various proportions of sand, silt, and clay.
 It is very fertile. It contains an adequate proportion of potash, phosphoric
acid, and lime.
 It is ideal for the growth of sugarcane, paddy, wheat, and other cereals.
 Due to its high fertility, regions of alluvial soils are intensively cultivated
and densely populated.
On the basis of age, alluvial soils can be classified into: Khadar and
Bangar.
Khadar Bangar

It is a new alluvial soil. It is an old alluvial soil.

Lower concentration of kankar nodules. Higher concentration of kankar nodules.

It has more fine particles. It has less fine particles.

It is more fertile. It is less fertile.

Black Soil
The following are the characteristics of regur soil (also known as black
soil):

 It is made up of extremely fine clayey material. They are well-known for

their capacity to hold moisture.
 It is rich in soil nutrients such as calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash,
and lime.
 These soils are generally poor in phosphoric contents.
 They develop deep cracks during hot weather, which helps in the proper
aeration of the soil.
 It is ideal for growing cotton, so it is also known as ‘black cotton soil’.
Red and Yellow Soil
 Red soil develops on crystalline igneous rocks in areas of low rainfall in the
eastern and southern parts of the Deccan plateau.
 Yellow and red soils are also found in parts of Odisha, Chhattisgarh,
southern parts of the middle Ganga plain, and along the piedmont zone of
the Western Ghats.
 These soils develop a reddish color due to the diffusion of iron in
crystalline and metamorphic rocks.
 It looks yellow when it occurs in a hydrated form.
Laterite Soil
 The laterite soil develops under tropical and subtropical climates with
alternate wet and dry seasons.
 This soil is the result of intense leaching due to heavy rain.
 Lateritic soils are mostly deep to very deep, acidic (pH<6.0), and generally
deficient in plant nutrients
 Occurs mostly in southern states, the Western Ghats region of
Maharashtra, Odisha, some parts of West Bengal, and the North-east
regions.
Arid Soils
 Arid soils range from red to brown in color.
 They are generally sandy in texture and saline in nature.
 In some areas, the salt content is very high, and common salt is obtained
by evaporating the water.
 Due to the dry climate, and high temperature, evaporation is faster and
the soil lacks humus and moisture.
Forest Soils
  They are loamy and silty on valley sides and coarse-grained on the upper
slopes.
 In the snow-covered areas of the Himalayas, these soils experience
denudation and are acidic with low humus content.
 The soils found in the lower parts of the valleys, particularly on the river
terraces and alluvial fans are fertile.

Soil Erosion and Soil Conservation

Soil erosion is the displacement of the upper layer of soil, caused by
various agents such as water, wind, and human activities. This can lead to
loss of fertile land, reduced crop yields, and increased risk of landslides
and flooding.

Types of soil erosion:

 Gullies: The running water cuts through the clayey soil and makes deep
channels/gullies. The unfit land caused by gullies is called bad land or
ravines (bad land called ravine in the Chambal basin).
 Sheet erosion: Water flows as a sheet over large areas down a slope. The
topsoil is washed away. This process is known as sheet erosion.
Causes of soil erosion:
 Human activities like deforestation, over-grazing, construction, mining,
etc. are responsible for soil erosion.
 Natural forces like wind, glaciers, and water also lead to soil erosion.
Running water cuts through the clayey soil and makes deep channels
known as gullies, which makes the land unfit for cultivation. The wind
blows loose soil off flat or sloping land known as wind erosion.
 Soil erosion is also caused due to defective methods of farming. Ploughing
in the wrong way i.e., up and down the slope forms channels for the quick
flow of water leading to soil erosion.
Measures to prevent soil erosion:
 Contour ploughing: Ploughing along the contour lines can decrease the
speed of water flow down the slopes and soil erosion can be prevented.
 Terrace cultivation: Step or terrace cultivation on slopes restricts erosion.
Western and Central Himalayas have well-developed terrace farming.
 Strip cropping: Large fields can be divided into strips and strips of grass
are left to grow between the crops. This breaks up the force of the wind
and prevents soil erosion.
 Shelter belts: Rows of trees called shelter belts have led to the
stabilization of sand dunes in the desert in western India.