Geography Mock Test - 2

• In case of subsistence farming, the farmer produces crops for consumption of own family and there is no surplus to sell in the market.
• In Extensive Farming method, a limited amount of labour is used to cover a large area and machines are widely used.
• In Intensive Farming method, a large amount of labour is utilized for a very small area.
• In case of Plantation Agriculture, trees and bushes are planted on a large estate and a single crop such as rubber, coffee etc. is grown, mainly for exports.

• Economic Development is the creation of wealth from which community benefits are realized. It is more than a jobs program, it's an investment in growing your economy and enhancing the prosperity and quality of life for all residents. Economic development means different things to different people.
• Economic development means the change in growth along with progressive changes in the socio-economic conditions of the country.
• While Economic growth implies a change or an increase in the real output of the country. Growth must be accompanied by the progressive reduction in the inequalities and social vagaries for being called economic development. 

Economic development is not economic growth

1. It’s easy to confuse development with growth, considering they have similar meanings and are often used interchangeably. Add the fact that economic growth is an important part of economic development. Economic growth is all about numbers. “Economic Growth is the positive change in the real output of the country in a particular span of time.”
2. Economic growth is a straightforward measurement of actual economic output — things like gross domestic product (GDP) fall into this measurement. It’s a pure numbers game.
3. But economic development is much broader in scope and includes elements that you might not normally associate with economics, like social welfare, early childhood education, and criminal justice reform.

Economic development refers to Economic growth plus changes in output distribution and economic structure. Therefore Option 2 is the correct answer.

The correct answer is Births, deaths, and migration. Migration can be internal and external migration.

Key Points

• Population change:
  • Population change, defined generally, is the difference in the size of a population between the end and the beginning of a given time period (usually one year).
  • The main components of population change are births, deaths, and migration. Hence statement 2 is correct.
  • “Natural increase” is defined as the difference between live births and deaths.
  • “Net migration” is defined as the difference between the number of people moving into an area and the number of people moving out.

  • The population change is calculated by the formula -- [Population change = (Births + Immigration) – (Deaths + Emigration)]

Additional Information

• Demographics (or demography) is the study of population statistics, their variation, and their causes.
• These statistics include birth rates, death rates (and hence life expectancy), migration rates, and sex ratios.

Components of Population Change

• There are three components of population change – Births, Deaths and Migration. 
• Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is expressed as the number of live births in a year per thousand of population. 
• Crude Death Rate (CDR) is expressed in terms of the number of deaths in a particular year per thousand of population in a particular region.

Migration

• When people move from one place to another, the place they move from is called the Place of Origin and the place they move to is called the Place of Destination. 
• The place of origin shows a decrease in population while the population increases in the place of destination. 

The correct answer is Alluvial Soils.

• Alluvial soil is the most widely spread and important soil.
• In fact, the entire northern plains are made of alluvial soil.
• These have been deposited by three important Himalayan river systems– the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra.

Key Points

• They are mainly derived from the debris brought down from the Himalayas or the silt left out by the retreating sea. Thus they are azonal soils.
• ​Alluvial soils are widespread in the northern plains and the river valleys.
  • Through a narrow corridor in Rajasthan, they extend into the plains of Gujarat. In the Peninsular region, they are found in deltas of the east coast and in the river valleys.
• Alluvial soil is considered the most fertile soil and the entire northern plains of India are made of alluvial soil.
• This soil contains sand, silt, and clay.
• According to age, the alluvial soil is mainly classified as Bangar (old alluvial) and Khadar (new alluvial). 
• This soil contains an ample amount of potash, phosphoric acid, and lime.
• Suitable Crops: Wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables, leguminous crops.

That energy produced from Wind is called Wind Energy. Wind is caused due to unequal heating of land and water bodies by the sun. This unequal heating generates air movement and causes winds to blow. This kinetic energy of wind is used to generate wind energy from a Windmill.

Key Points 

• A windmill essentially consists of a structure of a large electric fan that is erected at some height on a rigid support.
• To generate electricity, the rotatory motion of the windmill is used to turn the turbine of the electric generator.
• When a number of windmills are erected over a large area, which is known as wind energy farm. 
• Wind energy is an example of a renewable energy source because it is not depleted when used.
• Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, UK, USA, and Spain are leading producers of wind energy.
• Denmark is called the country of ‘winds’, More than 25% of their electricity needs are generated through a vast network of windmills.
• In terms of total output, Germany is the leader, while India is ranked fifth in harnessing wind energy for the production of electricity.
• It is estimated that nearly 45,000 MW of electrical power can be generated if India’s wind potential is fully exploited.
• The largest wind energy farm has been established near Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and it generates 380 MW of electricity.
• The Government of India has set a target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by the year 2022, which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power.

  Additional Information

Resources- Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs, is called a resource. It should be technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable. Only then, it can be termed as a ‘Resource’. Examples: minerals, forests, fossil fuels etc.

Classification of resources:

The correct answer is Hills.

Key Points

• Terrace Farming:
  • This is practiced on hill slopes that do not have enough flat terrain for growing crops. Hence, Option 4 is correct.
  • In this, the slopes of the hills are converted into horizontal terraces of regular intervals which allow the cultivation of crops.
  • They also reduce the surface runoff along the slopes and help in preventing soil erosion.

Additional Information

• Contour Bunding
  • In this, a series of checks are put in place across the slope of a hilly surface.
  • The bunds divide the entire slope into numerous smaller segments which help in reducing the runoff along the slopes, ensure greater absorption of rainwater on the slopes thus controlling soil erosion.
  • Sometimes, the bunds can be in the form of retaining walls.
• Contour Ploughing
  • On slopy areas, ploughing of land must be done across the contours, at right angles to the slope.
  • This will prevent the formation of gullies along the slopes which could erode the topsoil through runoff.
  • This also helps in ensuring that the crops along the slopes get adequate water.

The correct answer is option 2, i.e fragmented units which are physically separated.

• Rural Settlements in India can broadly be put into four types:
  1. Clustered, agglomerated or nucleated settlements
  2. Semi-clustered or fragmented settlements
  3. Hamleted settlements
  4. Dispersed or isolated settlements
• Hamleted Settlement is fragmented into several units which are physically separated from each other bearing a common name.
  • This segmentation of a large village is often motivated by social and ethnic factors.
  • Such villages are more frequently found in the middle and lower Ganga plain, Chhattisgarh and lower valleys of the Himalayas.
• Other types of Rural Settlements are as follows:
  • The Clustered Rural Settlement is a compact or closely built up area of houses. In this type of village the general living area is distinct and separated from the surrounding farms, barns and pastures.
  • Semi-Clustered or Fragmented Settlements may result from tendency of clustering in a restricted area of dispersed settlement. More often such a pattern may also result from segregation or fragmentation of a large compact village.
  • Dispersed or Isolated Settlements pattern in India appears in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes.

Explanation:

Water-Borne diseases are conditions caused by pathogenic micro-organisms that are transmitted in water. The disease can be spread while bathing, washing or drinking water, or by eating food exposed to infected water.

1. Cholera: Cholera is a waterborne disease and is diarrhoeal in nature.

2. Typhoid: It is another disease that gets transmitted by drinking contaminated water that carries ‘Salmonellae Typhi bacteria’.

3. Diarrhoea: Diarrhoea is one of the most common waterborne diseases that mostly affects children under the age of 5.

4. Hepatitis A: Another type of waterborne disease is Hepatitis A and it is caused by Hepatitis A virus, which affects the liver.

5. Malaria: Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease affecting humans and other animals caused by parasitic protozoans belonging to the Plasmodium type.

The correct answer is geographical conditions.

Key Points

• Economic development is the process of change over a long period of time.
• Economic development can involve a stronger economy enabling a greater range of social services that improve a nation's welfare.
• The most commonly used measures of economic development are:
  • Gross Domestic Product
  • Incidence of poverty
  • Green Index
  • Life status
  • Literacy rate
  • Average life expectancy

 Thus, we can say that geographical conditions are not a measure of economic development.

Concept:

Age distribution

• In population studies, age distribution, also known as age composition, refers to the proportionate numbers of people in various age groups in a particular population.
• Disparities in age distributions exist between countries due to differences in fertility numbers and trends.
• The proportions of people at different periods of life are reflected in the age structure.
• This variable is a key indicator of the population's health.

Explanation:

• The timing of births and deaths, as well as the rate at which the population grows, influence the age and distribution of a population.
• The age structure of a population varies depending on the age distribution of its members.
• Age structure, which is a property of populations growing at varying rates, has an impact on population dynamics.
• The proportions of people of different ages have a big impact on a population's growth rate.

The age distribution of a population is determined by: the time of birth, time of death and rate at which the population is growing.

So, all options are correct.

The correct answer is option 3.

Key PointsContour bunding -

• Contour bunding is the farming practice of ploughing and/or planting across a slope following its elevation contour lines.
• These contour lines create a water break which reduces the formation of rills and gullies during times of heavy precipitation, allowing more time for the water to settle into the soil.
• Contour bunding, involves the placement of lines of stones along with the natural rises of a landscape, and contour farming.
• These techniques help to capture and hold rainfall before it can become runoff.
• Contour bunding is a proven sustainable land management practice for marginal, sloping, and hilly land where the soil productivity is very low.
• It is widely adopted by the ethnic minorities of Nepal who practice the shifting cultivation system of farming.
• Counter bunding is used for preventing erosion in hilly areas. Hence the correct answer is option 3.
• Over generations, they have successfully used this technology to control soil erosion, promote water retention, and increase crop production.
• It has a high probability of replication because it is simple to implement, is low cost, and makes maximum use of local resources.

• Soils are complex mixtures of minerals, water, air, organic matter, and countless organisms that are the decaying remains of once-living things.
• Soils are formed as a result of weathering of rocks.
• India has varied relief features, landforms, climatic realms and vegetation types.
• These have contributed to the development of various types of soils in India.
• Each soil has unique properties and characteristics.

Riverine soil:

• Khadar and Bhangar are types of riverine i.e. alluvial soil.
• Alluvial soil is also known as riverine soil because it is found in river basins and is formed when the velocity of streams and rivers slows.
• Alluvial soil is formed by the deposition of sediments carried by rivers starting from the mountains (its origin).
• When the river overflows, this soil is deposited on the riverbanks.

​​

Some important points that distinguish between Khadar and Bhangar are:

Thus, Khadar and Bhangar are types of riverine i.e. alluvial soil.

Makherla soil: It is another name for laterite soil.

Regur soil: It is another name for black soil.

Urvara soil: It is the name for soils that are fertile in nature.

The correct answer is Temporary settlements.

• Settlements are places where people build their homes to live.
• Settlements can be permanent or temporary.

Key Points

1. Temporary Settlement. Settlements that are occupied for a short time are called temporary settlements.
2. The people living in deep forests, hot and cold dessert and mountains often dwell in such settlements.
3. These people are engaged in hunting, gathering, shifting cultivation, and transhumance.

Additional Information

1. Permanent Settlement. Under permanent settlements, people build homes to live in.

Hence, Traditionally to practice hunting, gathering, shifting cultivation, and transhumance in deep forests, people in hot cold deserts lived in Temporary settlements. 

Key Points

Hence, the correct matching is A - 3, B - 4, C - 2, D - 1

Important PointsActivities that generate income are termed economic activities. On the basis of economic activities, the Indian economy can be divided into 3 major sectors that are the primary sector, the secondary sector, and the tertiary sector. There are two other sectors also, called quaternary and quinary activity.

Explanation:

Pollution refers to the contamination of the body which results in being harmful to lives and/or ecosystems when exposed into the environment.

Soil pollution:

Soil pollution is caused due to industrial activity (electronic waste disposal), agricultural activities (use of pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, etc on the farmland), waste disposal (seepage of leachate from the waste landfills), accidental oil spills, acid rain, etc.

Key Points

Causes of Soil Pollution: Some of the causes are the follows:

• Deforestation and soil erosion.
• Dumping of large quantities of solid waste.
• Pollution due to urbanisation.
• Imbalance in the flora & fauna of the soil​.​
• Loss of the natural nutrients of the soil.
• Indiscriminate use of fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides.

Sources of Soil Pollution:

• Acid rain.
• Pesticides.
• Radioactive wastes.
• Industrial wastes.
• Pesticides and chemical fertilizer.
• Effluent and sewage.
• Materials like asphalt, leather, cans, plastics, glass, paper & dead bodies.

Measures to control soil pollution:

• Recycling of plastics wastes.
• Ban of Deforestation.
• Encouraging social forestry.
• Ban on the usage of plastics below 20 microns.
• Encouraging the plantation programme.

Hence the correct option is all of the above.

The correct answer is the United Nations ​Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Important Points

• The World Happiness Report is an annual publication of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
• Finland is ranked as the world's happiest nation for the third consecutive year in 2020.
• India, previously ranked at 140 dropped to 144. It ranks 144 in the index 2020.
• The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) was set up in 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General.
• SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
• Global Economic Prospects, World Development Report IBRD, and Ease of Doing Business by IBRD are the reports released by World Bank.

Option 3 is the correct answer.

Important Points

• These soils are generally poor in phosphoric contents. So, option 1 is NOT correct.
• It is however rich in soil nutrients, such as calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash, and lime.
• The black soils are made up of extremely fine i.e. clayey material. They are well-known for their capacity to hold moisture. So, option 2 is NOT correct and option 3 is correct.
• It is typical of the Deccan trap (Basalt) region spread over the northwest Deccan plateau and is made up of lava flows. So, option 4 is NOT correct.

Additional Information 

• It is also known as regur soils.
• Black soil is ideal for growing cotton and is also known as black cotton soil.
• It covers the plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh and extends in the south east direction along the Godavari and the Krishna valleys.

The correct answer is waterways.

• Waterways are the cheapest mode of service.
  • The amount of loading and unloading goods is much cheaper if it has to travel a long distance.
• Inland waterways
  • ​Navigable rivers and lakes are used as inland waterways.
  • The Great Lakes in North America, the Ganga – Brahmaputra river system and the river Nile in Africa are some of the important inland waterways.
• Seaways
  • ​These are the oceanic routes and used for transporting goods from one country to another.
  • These routes are connected with the ports.
  • Some of the important ports in Asia are Mumbai and Singapore, New York, Los Angeles in North America, Rio de Jenario in South America, and Sydney in Australia.

Additional Information

• Roadways are the most commonly used means of transport, especially for short-distance travel.
  • Roads may be metalled or unmetalled.
  • There is a dense network of roads in the plains.
  • Roads can be built in deserts, high mountains, and forests too.
  • Roads built underground are called subways or under paths.
• Railways are economical and faster.
  • Steam engines have been replaced by diesel and electrical engines. 
  • Railway network is well developed in plain areas.
  • It is present in hilly terrain too, but not as much as in the plain areas.
• Airways 
  • ​It is the most expensive mode due to the high cost of fuel.
  • It is vulnerable to bad weather like fog and storms.
  • It is the only mode to reach even the most distant and remote locations which do not have a road/rail network.

The correct answer is environmental determinism and possibilism.

Key PointsNeo-determinism:

• This interaction between primitive human society and strong forces of nature when man was scared of nature is termed environmental determinism.
• Nature provides opportunities and human beings make use of these and slowly nature gets humanized and starts bearing the imprints of human endeavor.
• This is known as possibilism.
• A geographer, Griffith Taylor introduced another concept which reflects a middle path between the two ideas of environmental determinism and possibilism.
• He termed it as Neodeterminism or stop and go determinism.
• It means that human beings can conquer nature by obeying it and the fact that possibilities can be created within the limits which do not damage the environment.

The correct answer is Primitive subsistence farming.

Key Points

• Slash-and-burn agriculture is a type of farming in which forests are burned and cleared to make way for crops.
• Slash and burn agriculture is primitive subsistence farming.
• The ‘slash and burn agriculture is known as ‘Milpa’ in Mexico and Central America.
• Shifting cultivation is also known as ‘slash and burn agriculture.
• The initial step in the technique is to clear an area of trees and woody plants.
  • The "slash," or felled vegetation, is then allowed to dry, usually just before the rainy season starts.
  • The biomass is then burned, producing a nutrient-rich layer of ash that fertilises the soil while temporarily eliminating weed and pest species.
  • Due to nutrient depletion and weed and pest invasion, the plot's output diminishes after three to five years, compelling the farmers to quit the field and shift to a new place.
  • Due to a shortage of natural fertilisers and insecticides, among other things, productivity is low.
• Slash and burn agriculture will lead to deforestation.

​

Additional Information

• Intensive subsistence agriculture is a type of farming in which farmers cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour.
• Commercial farming is a kind of farming that employs bigger doses of contemporary inputs in order to increase output.
• Hydroponic farming, often known as soilless farming, is a method of growing plants without the use of soil.

The correct answer is The number of children a woman will likely bear in her lifetime.

Key Points

• The fertility rate refers to the number of live births per 1000 women in the child-bearing age group, usually taken to be 15 to 49 years. 
  • This is a ‘crude’ rate – it is a rough average for an entire population and does not take account of the differences across age groups.
  • Differences across age groups can sometimes be very significant in affecting the meaning of indicators.
• That is why demographers also calculate age-specific rates.
• The total fertility rate refers to the total number of live births that a hypothetical woman would have if she lived through the reproductive age group and had the average number of babies in each segment of this age group as determined by the age-specific fertility rates for that area. Hence, option 3 is correct.

​

• India's population is stabilizing as per the Fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) as the total fertility rate has decreased across the majority of the states. 
• Of the 17 states analyzed in the NFHS-5 data, except for Bihar, Manipur, and Meghalaya, all other states have a TFR of 2.1 or less, which implies that most states have attained replacement level fertility.
• There have been some improvements in women's empowerment-related indicators.
  • More women are able to participate in household decision-making in 9 states while 30% more women now have bank accounts in Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, and West Bengal.
• Anemia among women remains a big concern.
  • In all the states, anemia is much higher among women compared to men.

Additional Information

• Female sterilization continues to dominate as the modern method of contraceptives in states like Andhra Pradesh (98%), Telangana (93%), Kerala (88%), Karnataka (84%), Bihar (78%), and Maharashtra (77%).
• Sikkim recorded the lowest TFR, with one woman bearing 1.1 children on average.
• Bihar recorded the highest TFR of three children per woman.
• In 19 of the 22 surveyed states, TFRs were found to be ‘below-replacement, a woman bore less than two children on average through her reproductive life.

The correct answer is Primary.

Key Points

• Primary activity: Primary activities are directly dependent on the environment as these refer to the utilization of the earth’s resources such as land, water, vegetation, building materials, and minerals.
  • People engaged in primary activities are called red-collar workers due to the outdoor nature of their work.
  • ​Example: Hunting and gathering, pastoral activities, fishing, forestry, agriculture, and mining and quarrying, lumbering.

Additional Information

Option 4 is the correct answer.

Important Points

Strip cropping:

• Large fields can be divided into strips.
• Strips of grass are left to grow between the crops.
• This breaks up the force of the wind.

Additional Information

• Planting lines of trees to create shelter also works in a similar way. Rows of such trees are called shelterbelts.
• These shelter belts have contributed significantly to the stabilization of sand dunes and in stabilizing the desert in western India.

The correct answer is Jamshedpur.

• The iron and steel industry is the basic industry since all the other industries, heavy, medium, and light, depend on it for their machinery. In India, there are several iron and steel industries located all over the country.

Important Steel plants in India:

• Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) was founded by Jamsetji Tata and established by Dorabji Tata on 26 August 1907.
• TISCO is located in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
• TISCO started pig iron production in 1911 and began producing steel in 1912 as a branch of Jamsetji's Tata Group.
• The Bhilai Steel Plant is established in 1955 with the help of the USSR.
• Durgapur Steel Plant is one of the integrated steel plants of Steel Authority of India Limited, located in Durgapur, West Bengal.
• It was set up with the help of the United Kingdom.
• Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), the first integrated steel plant in the public sector in India, was set up with German collaboration with an installed capacity of 1 million tonnes.

It is found that only Jamshedpur in among the given option is famous for the Iron and steel industry.

Hence, option 2 is the correct answer.

• Raniganj in West Bengal and Jharia in Jharkhand is famous as coal mines.
• Haldia is famous for the petrochemical industry and seaport.

Solution:

The correct answer is option 4 i.e. Intensive subsistence agriculture.

Farmers practise different types of farming in India, based on the nature of the land, climatic characteristics, and available irrigational facilities.

Subsistence Farming

• In subsistence farming, the entire production is for only consumption.
• There is no surplus to sell in markets. Such type of farming is adopted by small and marginal farmers on fragmented landholdings.
• It includes generally food crops, and the methods of farming are generally archaic. Hence option 4 is not correct.

Commercial farming

• Commercial farming is the opposite of subsistence farming.
• Its objective is to sell the produce in the market.
• Commercial farming is done with modern tools and techniques, and High Yielding Varieties of seeds.
• Dairy Farming, Grain Farming, and Livestock Ranching are all types of commercial farming done for commercial purposes. Hence options 1,2 and 3 are correct.

Extensive farming

• Extensive farming is done on a large parcel of land.
• The large patch is able to produce a large amount but production per unit of land may be low.
• Extensive farming is done in those countries where landholding size is large e.g. United States, Canada etc.
• Extensive farming is almost absent in India except in few states such as Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

Intensive Farming

• The aim of intensive farming is to produce maximum output per unit of land.
• It is common in India as well as South-East Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia etc.

Plantation Farming

• Plantation Farming is farming in an estate where a single cash crop is grown for sale.
• Examples are Tea, Coffee, Rubber, Banana, Spices.

Mixed Farming

• Mixed farming refers to the raising of livestock along with crops.
• Mixed farming is economically better than other farming.

Explanation:

Agenda 21:​

• Agenda 21 is an action plan of the United Nations (UN) related to sustainable development.
• It was an outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992.
• It is a comprehensive blueprint of action to be taken globally, nationally, and locally by organizations of the UN, governments, and major groups in every area in which humans directly affect the environment.
• The number 21 refers to an agenda for the 21st century.

Thus, the correct definition of “Agenda 21” is 'It is an action plan for sustainable development.'

Additional Information

• There are 40 chapters in Agenda 21, divided into four main sections. 
• It is grouped into 4 sections:-
  • Section I - Social and Economic Dimensions
  • Section II - Conservation and Management of Resources for Development
  • Section III - Strengthening the Role of Major Groups
  • Section IV - Means of Implementation

Soil conservation practices are tools the farmer can use to prevent soil degradation and build organic matter. These practices include crop rotation, reduced tillage, mulching, cover cropping and cross-slope farming. farmers to increase soil organic matter content, soil structure and rooting depth.

Key Points

• Soil conservation practices are tools the farmer can use to prevent soil degradation and build organic matter. These practices include crop rotation, reduced tillage, mulching, cover cropping and cross-slope farming.
• Rock dams are small barriers made up of stone, sand or gravel across a drainage. Its main purpose is to reduce erosion in a drainage channel by restricting the velocity of flow in the channel.
• Jhum cultivation is a traditional farming method where first the land of trees and other vegetation is cleared, burned and then cultivated for a limited number of years. Potash, present in the burnt soil, increases the nutrient content.
• In terrace farming, a terrace is a piece of the sloped plane that is cut into a series of successively receding platforms, that resemble steps. This prevents rain from washing away soil, hence preventing soil erosion.
• Contour barriers are contour strips that intercept downslope flowing water and soil particles. These barriers slow down the water movement and reduce its erosive force. They also filter out and trap many of the suspended soil particles, keeping them from being washed out of the field.

While Overgrazing and shifting cultivation enhances soil degradation.

Hence we can say that Grazing is not a method of soil conservation.

• Soils are complex mixtures of minerals, water, air, organic matter, and countless organisms that are the decaying remains of once-living things.
• Soils are formed as a result of weathering of rocks.
• India has varied relief features, landforms, climatic realms and vegetation types.
• These have contributed to the development of various types of soils in India.
• Each soil has unique properties and characteristics.

Key Points

Alluvial Soil:

• This soil has been deposited by 3 important Himalayan river systems such as the Indus, the Ganga, and the Brahmaputra. 
• This soil is also found in the Eastern Coastal Plains particularly in the deltas of the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna, and the Kaveri rivers.
• It consists of various proportions of Sand, Silt, and Clay.
• Such soil is more common in piedmont plains such as Duars, Chos, and Terai.
• It can be classified as Old alluvial (Bhangar) and New alluvial (Khadar).

Thus, Duars, Chos and Terai plains are associated with alluvial soil.

Makherla soil: It is another name for laterite soil.

Regur soil: It is another name for black soil.

Urvara soil: It is the name for soils that are fertile in nature.

The correct answer is The North Atlantic Ocean.

• North Atlantic sea route is popularly known as a big trunk route.
• It covers one-fourth of the World's foreign trade.
• It covers the North-Eastern USA and North-Western Europe.

Key Points

• The Mediterranean - Indian Ocean sea route connects Western European regions with West Africa, South Africa, South East Asia, and the commercial, agriculture, and livestock economics of Australia & Newzealand.
• Suez Canal - Canal was constructed in 1869 between port said and port Suez in Egypt.
  • It bypassed the cape of the Hope route.
• North Pacific sea route -
  • It links ports of the West Coast of North America with those of Asia.
• South Pacific Sea route-
  • It connects Western Europe and North America with Australia, Newzealand, and scattered islands in the Pacific via the Panama canal.
  • This route is used for reaching Hong Kong & Philipines.

Important Points

The concept of Ghost Town:

• A once-flourishing town wholly or nearly deserted usually as a result of the exhaustion of some natural resource
• A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it (usually industrial or agricultural) has failed or ended for any reason (e.g. a host ore deposit exhausted by metal mining).
• Whether it's time, economic pressures, or natural and human-caused disasters, some cities have been abandoned.
• They stand as mute testimony to a time that no longer exists, and many abandoned cities have become popular tourist attractions.
• Pripyat, Ukraine, was home to almost 50,000 people before everyone was evacuated in April 1986, when part of the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Station exploded.
• This city in northern Ukraine is probably the most famous ghost town in the world.

Hence, a ghost town is an abandoned settlement.

A resource is a source or supply from which a benefit is produced and that has some utility. Resources can broadly be classified upon their availability. They are classified into renewable and non-renewable resources.

Key Points

Non-renewable natural resources:

• A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a quick enough pace to keep up with consumption.
• This means that non-renewable resources are limited in supply and cannot be used sustainably.
• These are not environmentally friendly because the amount of carbon emission is high.
• The cost of these resources is high.
• They are not pollution-free.
• They require low maintenance cost.
• Coal, oil, nuclear energy, petroleum, natural gas, fossil fuels, batteries, shale gas, phosphate are some examples.

Additional Information

Renewable natural resources:

• Resources that are used by humans since human life exists.
• These resources are used by our ancestors for their daily purposes like lighting, shelter, transportation, cooking, heating, protection from harm.
• These are also known as non-conventional sources of energy.
• For example soil, water bodies, sun, wind, air, tidal energy, geothermal, forest, mountains, wildlife.
• These can be used unlimited.
• They are environment friendly.
• The cost is low.
• They are pollution-free.
• They require high maintenance costs.
• They are sustainable resources.
• They cause no harm to life to exist on earth.

Thus, the correct combination which represents non-renewable natural resources are natural gas, fossil fuels, coal and oil.

The correct answer is Service.

Key Points 

• ​The service sector is the part of the economy that provides various services, as opposed to providing tangible goods such as cars and televisions.
• The service sector is the largest sector of the economy in developed nations.
• The fact that the service sector is designated as the tertiary sector should not be in any way taken to mean that it occupies third place in terms of economic importance.
• Examples of Service Industries
  • ​Travel Industry
  • Information Technology Industry
  • Media and Entertainment Industry
• The service sector consists of the production of services instead of end products. Services include attention, advice, access, experience, and affective labour. The production of information has been long regarded as a service, but some economists now attribute it to a fourth sector, the quaternary sector.
• Service sectors provides most of the employment in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

Additional Information

•  The service sector is the sector of the economy that produces and offers services.
• According to the tri-sector macroeconomic theory, there are three major economic sectors – primary, secondary, and tertiary.
• The services sector is not only the dominant sector in India’s GDP but has also attracted significant foreign investment, has contributed significantly to export and has provided large-scale employment.
• India’s services sector covers a wide variety of activities such as trade, hotel and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financing, insurance, real estate, business services, community, social and personal services, and services associated with construction.

The correct answer is Brundtland.

Key Points

• World Commission On Environment And Development (WCED)
  • The commission was set up in 1983 by the United Nations and is also known as Brundtland Commission, after the name of Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.
  • Environmental challenges like ozone depletion, global warming led to the formation of the Brundtland Commission.
  • It is an international group of environmental experts, politicians, and civil servants.
  • The commission was given the responsibility of proposing long-term solutions for bringing about sustainable development and continuing it into the 21st century.
  • The concept of 'sustainable development' and ways to achieve that, was introduced by the Brundtland Report also known as 'Our Common Future' released in 1987.
  • The Brundtland Report within the major topic of sustainable development included other topics like - the role of the international economy, population and human resources, food security, species and ecosystems, energy, industry, and also proposed legal principles for environmental protection.
  • However, the Brundtland Report is most popularly known for its definition of sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” 
  • The Brundtland Report also talked about the increasing global population. According to the report, the global population in the 21st century would be somewhere between 7.7 billion and 14.2 billion people with more people living in cities than in rural areas.
  • The report also stated that though some of the highest population growth rates were among developing countries, the environmental impact of an additional individual born in an industrialized country was much greater than that of one born in a developing country.

​Additional Information 

• The Brundtland Report also urged the United Nations to establish the UN Programme of Action on Sustainable Development to carry out the directives outlined in the report. The report laid the foundations for the Rio Summit of 1992, which then ultimately led to the creation of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Globalization is the formal name of the integration of markets in different countries.

Key PointsGlobalization:

• Globalization is the word used to describe the growing interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information.
• Countries have built economic partnerships to facilitate these movements over many centuries.
• But the term gained popularity after the Cold War in the early 1990s, as these cooperative arrangements shaped modern everyday life. 
• The wide-ranging effects of globalization are complex and politically charged.
• As with major technological advances, globalization benefits society as a whole, while harming certain groups.
• Understanding the relative costs and benefits can pave the way for alleviating problems while sustaining the wider payoffs.

Hence, the correct answer is globalization.

Human Settlement means a cluster of dwellings of any type or size where human beings live. For this purpose, people may erect houses and other structures and command some area or territory as their economic support base. The economy and population parameters help to classify the settlements under two broad heads, rural and urban settlement.

Rural settlement:

• The Census Bureau defines rural as any population, housing, or territory NOT in an urban area.
• The green area on the map to the right represents all the area in the United States that is classified as rural based on this definition.
• A rural settlement tends to have a small population and low population density. 
• Urban settlement often has a large population size and high population density than the rural area

​The table below will help us to understand the percentage of rural settlements in the following states of India.

Thus, Jammu and Kashmir have the maximum rural settlement.

Hence, Option 1 is the correct answer.

A settlement is a place where people live. Settlements can be as small as a single house in a remote area or as large as a megacity (a city with over 10 million residents). A settlement may be permanent or temporary.

Important Points

Rural Settlement:

• In the villages, most of the people are engaged in primary occupations such as agriculture, fishing, lumbering, mining, animal husbandry, craftwork, etc.
• Rural settlements are most closely and directly related to land. They are dominated by primary activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing.
• The settlement size is relatively small.
• They are located near water bodies such as rivers, lakes, and springs where water can be easily obtained.
• The rural settlements are concerned with the degree of dispersion of the dwellings and the life is supported by land-based primary economic activities.
• Rural people are less mobile and therefore, social relations among them are intimate.
• In India, the rural settlement varies with the diversity of climatic conditions in India that is the compact or clustered village of a few hundred houses is a rather universal feature, particularly in the northern plains.

​Hence, the correct answer is Rural settlements.

Additional Information

Other types of Settlement:

• Urban settlements: It is a concentrated settlement that constitutes or is part of an urban area. It is an area with a high density of human-created structures. In urban areas, people are usually engaged in secondary activities. Therefore activity is split into retail, commercial and industrial.
• Forestry settlements: These settlements are the areas that are supported by the higher plant diversity than undisturbed forest, with less proportion of primary forest species. It clearly indicates that human settlements nearer to evergreen forests have a direct impact on the regeneration of sensitive species. They are engaged in hunting and gathering.

The correct answer is Vancouver and Halifax.

Key Points

• The Canadian Pacific Railway is owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway Limited which started its operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in the year 2001.
• It is headquartered in Canada and started its operations on 16th February 1881.
• The track gauge is 1,435 m and the length of the track is 20,100 Kilometer (12,500 mi).
• Andrew Reardon is the current chairman and Keith Creei is the current President and Cheif Executive Officer (CEO) of Canada Pacific Railway. (May 2021)
• It was Canada's first transcontinental railway.
• The Canadian Pacific Railway runs between Vancouver and Halifax.

Additional Information

• Canada is the 2nd largest country in the world after Russia. 
• It is a country in North America. It consists of 10 provinces and 3 territories.
• Its capital is Ottawa and the largest city in this country is Toronto.

The correct answer is Tertiary.

Key Points

• Occupational Structure:
  • According to the census of India, in 2001, around 40 percent of the Indian population is in the working population.
  • The working population of a country is divided according to many different criteria.
  • The population is mainly engaged in a diverse set of occupations.
  • The primary occupations in which the people of any country are engaged are agriculture, manufacturing industries, and the service sectors.
  • When the working populations are classified on the basis of the occupation in which the people are engaged, we call the structure of classification the occupational structure of classification of the working population.
  • In India, different proportions of the working population are engaged in different sectors.
  • The majority of the population is engaged in the agricultural and agriculturally related sectors.
  • Among the three sectors of economic activities, the least number of the population is engaged in the manufacturing sector, that is the secondary sector.
  • The service sector also employs a large proportion of the working population of our country, India. 
  • According to the 2001 census, About 58.2 percent of the total working population are cultivators and agricultural labourers, whereas only 4.2% of workers are engaged in household industries and 37.6 % are other workers including nonhousehold industries, trade, commerce, construction, and repair and other services. Hence, Option 3 is correct.

Additional Information

• Primary Sector- sources of raw materials (agriculture and allied sector services)
• Secondary Sector-transforms one good to another increasing the utility of the product (manufacturing sector)

The correct answer is Water Erosion.

Key Points

• The land which may be classified as a wasteland such as barren hilly terrains, desert lands, ravines, etc. normally cannot be brought under cultivation with the available technology.
• If the land is left uncultivated for more than five years, it would be categorized as a culturable wasteland.
• Major factors are loss of topsoil due to water erosion; land degradation due to acidity; vegetal degradation with water erosion; and gully formation.

Important Points

• Data in NCERT is old (2000) and thus may not be reliable.
• The report can be found here:

http://icar.org.in/files/Degraded-and-Wastelands.pdf  (Page 6)

The correct answer is All of these.

Key Points

• Swachh Bharat Mission(SBM) is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management.
  • It Initiated by the Government of India, the mission aimed to achieve an "open-defecation free" (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.
  • Key Component of SBM :
    • Household toilets, Public toilets, Community toilets, Solid Waste Management.
  • The first phase of the mission was to reduce open defecation and improve the management of municipal solid waste in both urban and rural areas.
  • The second phase on the other hand focuses on sustaining gains of the first phase and improving the management of the solid and liquid wastes.

Additional Information

• The mission was split into rural and urban.
  • In rural areas "SBM - Gramin" was financed and monitored through the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
  • In urban areas "SBM - urban" was overseen by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• Slogan: One step towards cleanliness.
• Other Schemes as part of SBM:
  • GOBAR-DHAN (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources) Scheme:
    • It was launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti in 2018.
      • The scheme aims to augment the income of farmers by converting biodegradable waste into compressed biogas (CBG).
  • Individual Household Latrines (IHHL):
    • Under SBM, individuals get around 15 thousand for the construction of toilets.
  • Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan:
    • The Ministry of Education launched Swachh Vidyalaya Programme under Swachh Bharat Mission with an objective to provide separate toilets for boys and girls in all government schools within one year.

Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures.

• In montane regions, it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower valleys in winter.
• Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys.

Key Points

• Transhumance developed on every inhabited continent. Although there are substantial cultural and technological variations, the underlying practices for taking advantage of remote seasonal pastures are similar.
• Transhumance is a "form of pastoralism or nomadism". Nomadic forms of pastoralism are divided into five groups as follows: "pure pastoral nomadism", "semi-nomadic pastoralism", "semi-sedentary pastoralism", "distant-pastures husbandry" and "seasonal transhumance". 
• Generally, only the herds travel, with a certain number of people necessary to tend them, while the main population stays at the base. In contrast, horizontal transhumance is more susceptible to being disrupted by climatic, economic, or political change.
• Traditional or fixed transhumance has occurred throughout the inhabited world, particularly Europe and western Asia. It is often important to pastoralist societies, as the dairy products of transhumance flocks and herds (milk, butter, yoghurt, and cheese) may form much of the diet of such populations. 

Hence, we can say that the term transhumance refers to the Seasonal movement of people.

A Transcontinental Railway has terminals across different Oceans and Continental borders.

Important Points

 The Longest (9289 Kilometres) rail route in the world runs from Moscow to Vladivostok in Russia.

• It is called Trans-Siberian Railway.
• It was constructed under the Russian Empire by Emperor Alexander III of Russia and his son Emperor Nicholas II.
• It was constructed from 1891 to 1916. In 2021, it is still being extended.

Therefore, the answer is Trans-Siberian Railway.

Key Points

Trans Arabian Railway-

• This is a concept as yet that has been approved by Saudi Arabia.
• This rail route will connect Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar.
• This ambitious project is called the GCC Rail network.
• Russian Railways is interested in constructing this project. 

Trans European Railway-

• is a project by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 
• It is a joint project along with Tran European Motorways. 
• It aims at connecting Central, East, and South-Eastern Countries. 

Trans Asian Railway- 

•  It is a plan to construct a freight train network across Asia to Europe.
• The project is under the U nited Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)

The correct answer is Diarrhoea.

Key Points

• Water pollution occurs when harmful substances contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean or other body of water, degrading water quality. 
• Common ways of water pollution:
  • Waste disposal directly into water streams,
  • Urban and agricultural runoff,
  • From air via acid rain,
  • Discharge of animal waste etc.
• Water pollution can cause a series of diseases like:
  •  Typhoid, Amoebiasis, Ascariasis, Diarrhea, Encephalitis etc.
• Diarrhoea is caused mostly due to consumption of polluted water and is characterized by loose, watery stools or a frequent need to have a bowel movement.
  • Common bacteria that cause diarrhoea include Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella, and Shigella.
  • Parasites that cause diarrhoea include Cryptosporidium enteritis, Entamoeba histolytica etc.
  • Hence, Option 3 is correct.

Additional Information

• Bronchitis is when the tubes that carry air to your lungs, called the bronchial tubes, get inflamed and swollen.
  • Caused mostly due to breathing in air pollution and smoking or breathing in smoke for a long time.
• Conjunctivitis is the inflammation or infection of the transparent membrane that lines your eyelid and eyeball.
  • Caused mostly by Viral or bacterial infection, Allergies, Chemical splash in the eye etc.
• Respiratory infection is caused mostly by breathing in polluted air, common cold, bronchitis, pneumonia etc.

The correct answer is Petroleum.

Key Points

• The Big Inch pipeline transports petroleum.
• The Big Inch and Little Big Inch, collectively known as the Inch pipelines, are petroleum pipelines extending from Texas to New Jersey, built between 1942 and 1944.
• Transporting petroleum by pipeline from the south-west to the north-east was a potentially attractive option for the government as it would be safe from submarine attack and could operate efficiently regardless of the weather.
• A government-industry partnership built two petroleum pipelines from Texas to the East Coast that proved vital during World War II.
• “Big Inch” carried oil from East Texas oilfields.
• “Little Big Inch” carried gasoline, heating oil, diesel oil, and kerosene.
• The final weld on the “Big Inch” was made in July 1943, just 350 days after construction began.

​ Additional Information

• Pipelines had been in use in the industry since 1862, but by the 1930s they were usually only 8 inches (200 mm) wide, able to deliver 20,000 barrels of oil a day; larger pipes could be built, but due to structural weaknesses they could not operate at the regular pressures.
• The concept of constructing such a pipeline was first proposed in 1940 by the Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes.
• The Inch pipelines comprised two systems, the Big Inch pipeline and the Little Big Inch pipeline.
• The Big Inch was a 24-inch (610 mm) pipeline for crude oil.
• The Little Big Inch, a largely parallel 20-inch-diameter (510 mm) line intended for refined products.

Concepts:

Recycling is the most preferred method among the given options but if waste cannot be recycled, incineration then sanitary landfilling is the next preferred methods of treatment.

Land filling is the most prevalent because it is the cheapest method of disposal but it is the least preferred method keeping in view of Environmental benefits as it produces the leachets and leads to contamination of ground water.

Methods for solid waste disposal are:

1. Landfills:  In this, Garbage is basically spread out in thin layers, compressed and covered with soil or plastic foam.  It is used in urban areas where large amount of waste is generated. 

2. Incineration:  This method involves the burning of solid wastes at high temperatures until the wastes are turned into ashes.   It is used when calorific value of refuse is very high i.e. volume of refuse is reduced significantly.  

3. Composting is a biological method for decomposition of the organic wastes. It can be done either in presence of oxygen or in absence of oxygen. End products formed in this process are called humus or Composed manure. There are mainly two methods (Indore and Bangalore method) adopted in India for decomposition of solid wastes by compositing.

4. Shredding: It is the process of size reduction of waste material.

Four of every ten Indians (453 million) are migrants, according to the Census Data. This is more than the combined population of the US, Germany, and Canada.

Marriage is the most common reason behind migration. Of all the Indians migrating for marriage, 97 percent are women. As many as 20.58 crore women in India migrated for marriage, the census data shows. The total population of married women is 29.3 crores which means that around 70 percent women have to migrate because of marriage.

Hence, the correct matching is (a) - (iv), (b) - (i), (c) - (iii), (d) - (ii)

The correct answer is option 1) i.e. Channel Tunnel.

• The Channel Tunnel is 31.4 miles long connecting London and Paris, making it the 13th longest tunnel in use and the fourth-longest used by rail passengers.
• It has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world 23.5 miles. 
• Its construction took place for six years (1988-1994).

• It was recognised as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World” by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The correct answer is Demography.

• Demography is the statistical study of human populations.
  • Demography examines the size, structure, and movements of populations over space and time.
  • It uses methods from history, economics, anthropology, sociology, and other fields.

Additional Information

• Geomorphology is the study of landforms, their processes, form, and sediments at the surface of the Earth (and sometimes on other planets).
  • The study includes looking at landscapes to work out how the earth's surface processes, such as air, water, and ice, can mold the landscape.
• Anthropology is the study of people, past and present, with a focus on understanding the human condition both culturally and biologically.
  • This joint emphasis sets anthropology apart from other humanities and natural sciences.
• Sociology is the study of societies and how humans act in groups.