Joankessler parkland

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 3 Migration

Migration refers to the movement of people from their native place to another place. It constitutes an important factor in redistributing population over time and space.

• When people move from one place to another, the place they move from is called the place of origin, whereas the place they move to is called the place of destination.
• The place of origin shows a decrease in population, whereas it shows an increase in the place of destination.
• According to the data compiled by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees),

Five countries accounted for two-thirds of all refugees in 2017:

1. Syria (6.3 million)
2. Afghanistan (2.6 million)
3. South Sudan (2.4 million)
4. Myanmar (1.2 million)
5. Somalia (986, 400).

The total number of people forced to flee their homes rose from 42 million in 2007 to 68.5 million by the end of 2017.

• This means that one in every 110 people in the world is displaced. This figure of 68.5 million displaced people includes 25.4 million refugees, 40 million internally displaced and 3.1 million asylum seekers.
• Migration can be forced or voluntary. When people migrate for better job opportunities, it is voluntary migration. Some migrations, though voluntary, are forced by circumstances, such as famines, epidemics and wars.
• Some people are forced to migrate because of fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality or membership ofa particular social or political group.
• Some people are forcibly expelled or taken away as prisoners. All these people who migrate in such conditions and are unable or unwilling to return to their homeland are called refugees.
• When refugees ask for protection in places other than their native place, it is up to their place of destination to decide whether or not to give them refuge. Such refugees whose claim has not been finally decided are called asylum seekers.
• So, every refugee is initially an asylum seeker, but every asylum seeker may not be recognised as a refugee.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Types Of Migration

Migration may be permanent, temporary or seasonal. When people migrate to another place over a long distance to live there for a long period, it is called permanent migration

However, the seasonal movement of labourers to work in the fields or transhumance, i.e., seasonal movement of pastoral people with their flock of animals to warmer pastures in winter and their return in summer, are examples of temporary migration. Migration may take place from rural to rural areas, rural to urban areas, urban to urban areas and urban to rural areas.

Based on these criteria, migration is of the following types:

Internal Migration

When a large number of people migrate from one region or state in a country to another region or state within the same region or country, it is known as internal migration. This type of migration happens when people move from rural to urban areas, like from villages to towns or cities, and small urban areas to large urban areas, like from towns or small cities to bigger cities or metropolitan cities

External Migration

When people move from one country to another country, it is called external migration or international migration.

• This type ofmigration may be intracontinental i.e., between countries in the same continent. When Indians migrate to China, Japan and UAE (within Asia) it is intracontinental migration.
• However, when people from India migrate to the USA, Great Britain, any European country or Australia, it is intercontinental migration.
• When people move to any other country, they are called emigrants by the people of their own country. But in the country to which they migrate, they are known as immigrants.
• Sucha  type of migration is known as emigration and immigration, respectively.

Rural to Urban Migration

This is the most common form of internal migration. People migrate from villages to cities in search of job opportunities, higher income and better standard of living. In India, states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, and Delhi attract large number of migrants from other states, especially Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

• The main reasons for their migration to these cities include poverty, high population pressure on the land, lack of basic facilities like health care, education, etc.
• Besides, natural disasters like floods, landslides, droughts, storms, earthquakes, tsunamis and local conflicts also induce people to migrate to cities. Most of these migrants are initially men.
• However, after working for some time, they also bring their families to the cities.

Rural to Rural Migration

People migrate from one village to another village in search of better prospects related to availability ofland, water for drinking and irrigation and other facilities like healthcare, education, markets and short distance to the nearby cities. Often women migrate from rural to rural areas when they get married in another village.

Urban to Rural/Suburban Migration

This type of migration is also known as ‘reverse migration’. It takes place when the size of the population reaches a point where it becomes more than the carrying capacity of a city.

• This leads to shortage of resources, congestion, pollution, unhygienic living conditions, growth of slums and traffic jams.
• Consequently, people living in the cities shift to the suburban areas where land is in plenty, houses are spacious, there is lots of greenery around, traffic snarls are absent, and it is easy to commute to the city for work or other activities.
• Some workers, who cannot afford the high costs of city life, move to nearby villages from where they commute to the cities daily, usually by public transport.
• Most of suburban migration takes place around big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Shanghai, Bangkok, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Urban to Urban Migration

This type of migration is usually seen in the highly developed countries of the world. People move from one city to another city, generally for better employment opportunities. For example, IT professionals living in Delhi move to Bengaluru for better job opportunities and improving their standard of living.

Climate Refugees

These are the migrants who are forced to leave their homes due to sudden or long-term changes to their local environment.

• Such changes include droughts, desertification, sea level rise, and disruption of seasonal weather patterns like the monsoons.
• Climate refugees migrate to another country or they may migrate internally within their own country.
• The people of the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea have been forced to relocate to another place as the rising sea levels are swallowing their land. As such, they have become climate change refugees.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Causes Of Migration

People migrate from their native place to another place for many reasons. These reasons are broadly categorised into two groups —Pushand Pull Factors. Push Factors are the factors that cause people to leave their place of residence or origin.

These include the following:

• Lack of job opportunities, low income from agriculture and other activities:
• High population pressure on land, low yield of crops and shortage of food;
• Lack of basic amenities like clean drinking water, power supply, health care, education, transport, etc.
• Natural disasters like floods, landslides, droughts, famines, earthquakes, cyclonic storms and tsunamis.
• Wars.
• Persecution of people due to wars, race, religion, social and political beliefs.

Pull Factors are the factors that attract people to move to places other than their native place.

These include the following:

• Better job opportunities, availability of regular work and higher wages.
• Better opportunities for education, health care and sources of entertainment.
• Favourable climate.
• Peaceful and comfortable location.
• Lower risk of natural disasters
• Availability of all kinds of freedom and fundamental rights.

Impact of Migration

Migration is caused by the uneven distribution of opportunities over space.

• People move from areas of low opportunity and low safety to areas of higher opportunity and better safety.
• This in turn,creates both positive and negative effects for the areas from where people migrate (donor regions) and in the areas where they migrate to (receiver regions).

These impacts are given in the table below:

Brain Drain

Brain Drain refers to the exodus or emigration of individuals, who are highly skilled and educated, such as scientists, engineers, doctors, economists, management and IT experts and teachers from their native place to another country. It is also known as human capital flight. This is because it refers to the migration of human resource of a region to another region. It usually occurs from less developed countries to more developed countries.

Donor Regions:

Receiver Regions:

Brain Drain Causes

Brain Drain is caused by both the push and pull factors present in less developed and more developed countries, respectively.

These include the following:

Push Factors:

• Less beneficial prospects in salaries and other facilities.
• Lack of opportunities for enhancing their faculties or improving their talent.
• Lack of resources and funds for research.
• Poor working conditions, lack of freedom and favouritism.
• Economic or political instability.
• Persecution based on religion, race, social customs and political beliefs.

Pull Factors:

• Higher monetary benefits, better job opportunities and better quality of life.
• Better chances of research and improvement in his/her field of specialisation.
• Proper opportunities for enhancing their faculties that give them the feeling of highest fulfilment.
• Good work culture with lots of freedom without any bias.
• Better recognition of their capabilities and greater appreciation of their work.
• Economic and political stability in the country they migrate to.

Impact of Brain Drain

Through brain drain, a country loses its most educated and highly skilled individuals to other countries. This is seen as a problem because these individuals leave their own country and contribute their expertise in the development of another country. The loss for the donor region is a gain for the receiver region.

So, brain drain has both positive and negative impacts. These are given below:

Positive Impact:

When highly skilled and talented individuals migrate to developed countries, they hone their skills and enhance their knowledge based on research.

• When they return, their knowledge is used for the development of their own country.
• The remittances sent by the migrants help in improving the standard of living of the family members of the migrants and also in the development ofthe home country’s economy.
• The lure of emigrating to a developed country led many people to attain the best of education and skills. Some of these people, who cannot migrate, serve their home country.

Negative Impact:

The home country loses the expertise of its highly skilled people, and that affects its development.

• The huge amount of money spent on giving education and training to doctors, engineers, management and IT experts, technicians, etc., is wasted when they migrate to other countries.
• When these migrants take their families with them, their children lose touch with the culture and ethos of their home country and adopt the language, culture and ways of living of the receiving countries
• There is a loss to the exchequer because it loses the taxes that the emigrants would pay.
• The migrants, in spite of higher salaries and higher standard of living, remain virtual outcasts in the countries they have migrated to.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 4 Urbanisation

The term ‘urbanisation’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘urbs’, meaning ‘about a city or city life’.

• Thus, urbanisation refers to the formation of towns and cities and the gradual increase in the population of people living in these areas and how each society adapts to this change.
• The definition of urban areas, however, varies from one country to another. But some common components for the classification of urban areas include the size of population, occupational structure and administrative setup.
• Population size forms important criteria for defining urban areas.
• The lower limit of the population size for a settlement to be called an urban area is 20,000 in Nigeria, whereasit is 5000 in India, 2500 in the USA and 30,000 in Japan.
• In countries like Denmark, Sweden and Finland, all places with a population size of 250 persons are called urban.
• Besides, the size of population, density ofpopulation and share of non-agricultural workers are taken into consideration in countries like India and Italy.

In India, the density of population for an urban area should be at least 400 persons per sq. km. and 75 per cent of its population should be engaged in non-agricultural pursuits.

• Further, a settlement of any size is classified as urban in India ifit has a Municipality, Cantonment Board or Notified Area Council.
• The movement of people towards cities has accelerated in the past decades, particularly in the less-developed regions of the world.
• The world’s urban population is, in fact, growing by 60 million persons per year, about three times the increase in the rural population.
• According to a report by United Nations Population Fund, by 2030, it is expected that nearly 5 billion (61 per cent) of the world’s 8.1 billion people will be living in cities.
• The less-developed regions will have more than 57 per cent urban population.

Difference Between an Urban and A Rural Area:

All the above statistics, make it necessary to understand the causes that lead to the formation of cities and these are discussed below

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 4 Origin Of Cities

Early men were food gatherers and hunters. While they gathered edible plants, fished and hunted, they could never find enough food in one place to sustain themselves for a long period.

• As a result, they had to move from one place to another.
• Gradually, they settled near a source of water, like a river, learnt to grow crops and built permanent human settlements.
• In the course of time, the development of simple tools and other innovations such as ploughs and improved means of irrigation allowed farmers to produce excess of crops beyond their immediate needs.
• This surplus food freed some people to pursue non-agricultural activities like pottery, weaving, sculpture, etc.
• Consequently, people moved out from farms and developed cities, which not only had dwelling houses but also workshops, public buildings, storehouses and markets. This marked the beginning of urbanisation or the rise of cities.
• But still most of the people lived in the villages. Some of the oldest cities in the world are in Asia, i.e., in Mesopotamia, India and China.
• With the establishment of empires, many new cities came up, many of which became centres of power.

Some of the oldest inhabited cities in the world include Varanasi in India, Damascus and Aleppo in Syria, Jericho in Palestine, Athens in Greece, Plovdiv in Bulgaria, Luoyang in China, Rome in Italy and Luxor in Egypt.

• Driven by the Industrial Revolution, between 1700 and 1900, increasing numbers of people moved into cities, resulting in an urban revolution. Industrialisation led to the mechanisation of agriculture.
• This reduced the amount of work on farms and forced many farm labourers to move to cities to find work.
• The migration of these farm labourers from rural to urban areas gave rise to the industrial city which was more densely populated and comprised people of varying backgrounds and skills who lived and worked together in a defined amount of space.
• Gradually, these industrial cities became commercial centres, supporting many businesses and factories. Since that time, urbanisation has been an ongoing process around the globe at a rapid rate.
• At present, as many as 50 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas.

Causes of Urbanisation

Urbanisation is driven by pull factors that attract people to cities and push factors that drive people away from rural areas.

The various factors that lead to the growth of urbanisation are the following:

1. Natural Increase in population:

Caused by an increase in birth rate, more than the death rate, is an important factor in increasing the urban population. In urban areas, deaths are less than births due to the availability of better medical facilities than in rural areas.

Besides, there is a large young, working population in urban areas capable of having children. This causesan  increase in the birth rate more than the death rate and leads to an increase in urban population

2. Rural-Urban Migration

Rural-urban migration is one of the most important reasons for the growth of the urban population.

People migrate from the rural areas to the cities for the following reasons:

Employment opportunities:

In cities are one of the main pull factors that draw people from rural areas to seek better livelihood in cities.

• Many industries are located in cities, which offera number ofjobs, both skilled and unskilled.
• They also provide higher wages.
• Besides, there are many opportunities in the tertiary or the service sector, which provide a number of lucrative jobs.

Educational Institutes:

In cities that provide courses and training in a wide range of subjects and skills attract many rural people to migrate to the cities.

Here, they learn and train themselves to get a job in a city and thereby improve their standard of living.

Better amenities:

Better amenities like housing, power supply, availability of clean drinking water, sanitation, medical and transport facilities, healthcare, education, transportation, recreation, attract people to migrate to the cities in the hope of getting a better standard of living.

Development of the Internet and Communication techniques:

Has led to the reach of mobile phones, computers, laptops even to the villages. This has given people in rural areas access to happenings and events across the world.

It has made them aware of the latest developments and exposed them to the urban lifestyle. This exposure acts as a push factor that drives rural people to the cities.

3. Rural-Urban Transformation:

That is the growth and development of rural areas in the course of time into cities add to the process of urbanisation.

• This is usually seen in the areas where due to the availability of some resources industries come up and with it new economic activities.
• With the establishment of industries, housing facilities, power and water supply, connectivity through roads and railways, transportation and other facilities develop and gradually the rural area gets transformed into an urban centre.

For example:

The city of Jamshedpur developed when Tata Steel Plant was established there in 1907. Jamshedji Tata developed the area into a planned city. He wanted it to be far more than a mere row of workers’ hutments.

• He insisted upon building all the comforts and conveniences a city could provide. So the rural area of Sakchi was transformed into an urban area.
• Similarly, the city of Johannesburg in South Africa was developed at the site where gold was found in 1884.
• The discovery of gold rapidly attracted large number of people to the area and at present Johannesburg is the centre of largescale gold and diamond trade

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 4 Impact Of Urbanisation

Urbanisation has both positive and negative impacts depending on the size of population, resources available and type of growth, whether planned or unplanned.

Positive Impact

• It promotes industrialisation, which in turn promotes other business such as retailers c growth and higher per capita income.
• It creates a variety of jobs and provides livelihood to so many people.
• It leads to the growth of housing sector and transportation.
• It leads to the improvement in healthcare, power supply, water, sanitation, educational facilities, communication systems and modes of recreation.
• Incities, people belonging to different regions having different religions, caste, languages, customs, live together.
• This intermixing of people from diverse backgrounds leads to a composite culture that promotes social harmony. It also causes demographic transformation.

Negative Impact

Rapid population and unplanned growth create an urban sprawl with negative economic, social and environmental consequences.

• An urban sprawl is characterised by excessive land consumption, lack of planned housing, fragmented open space, commercial buildings surrounded by areas of parking, lack of public space and lack of transportation facilities. increase
• The lure of city-life leads more and more people to migrate into urban areas. This causes overpopulation and puts pressure on the existing infrastructure and resources.
• Poor, unskilled people, who migrate to cities often do not find good jobs. They work as labourers, rickshaw pullers, vegetable and fruit hawkers, etc.
• Their income is not enough to afford proper houses. So they are forced to live in overcrowded, low-income colonies lacking in basic necessities like sanitation, clean drinking water, toilets, electricity supply and security.
• This results in the growth of slums.
• The rapid increase in population puts pressure on limited available resources. This increases the cost of goods and services, which in turn increases the cost of living.

• Most of the cities, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries are not equipped to handle large populations and their sanitation needs.
• Due to inadequate sewage facilities, poor sanitation, lack of clean drinking water, dumping of waste on streets, open spaces, wastelands, drains and rivers, contribute to the spread of diseases like asthma, dengue, malaria, food poisoning, diarrhoea and allergies.
• A large number of industries in cities emit large amounts of toxic fumes, solid and liquid waste, which pollute the air, soil and water, respectively.
• Huge number of vehicles like cars, buses, autorickshaw, vans, bikes, trucks, ply on the roads in cities. They not onlycause traffic jams but also cause air and noise pollution.
• In cities, due to tough competition in every field, people usually lead a stressful life, which at times take a toll of their health.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 4 Satellite Cities

A Satellite City is a smaller or medium-sized, planned city, located close to but outside the limits of a larger city.

• It is so-called because it is like a man-made satellite that orbits the earth but is not a part of the earth itself.
• It might have some influence of the larger city near it but is usually not a part of it. Even if it is a part of it, it has its own unique identity.
• Satellite cities are self-contained, independent cities, unlike a suburb or a subdivision.

For example:

Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad Faridabad near Delhi; Sanand, Gandhinagar near Ahmedabad; Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Thane, Bhivandi, Uran near Mumbai; Vikarabad, HITec City near Hyderabad; Yelanhaka, Surya Nagar, and Kengeri near Bengaluru; Panchkula, Mohali near Chandigarh are few of the many satellite cities in India.

Globally, in most of the countries, larger cities have satellite cities like Queensland, Ipswich near Brisbane (Australia), Ontario, Kitchener, Oshawa near Toronto (Canada), Brentwood, Crawley, Grays and Chelmsford near London (Great Britain); and Bridge Port, Allentown near New York City (the USA).

Characteristics of a Satellite City

A satellite city has the following characteristics:

• It is separated from its neighbouring larger city by a sizeable expanse of rural areas or a geographical barrier such as a river, a lake or a canal.
• It is well-planned and has residential buildings with all amenities, offices, banks, educational institutes, sports complexes, shops and shopping malls.
• Its growth took place before the larger city’s suburban expansion.
• It has its own municipal government to look after its civic amenities.

• It has its own power and water supply and waste management system.
• It is connected to the larger city with an efficient public transport system, like buses, metro rail and expressways.
• It is surrounded by a huge green belt.
• It has its own central business district and that makes it different from a suburb.
• It has its own district employment base.
• It has more cultural autonomy than the suburban areas.
• Thus, satellite cities maintain self-contained economies and services, while still being interconnected with larger cities nearby.
• With better urban planning, these cities can play an important role in reducing suburban sprawl and thereby, reducing pressure on the larger cities.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 4 Smart Cities

A Smart City is an urban area that uses information and communication technologies (ICT) and various electronic data collection servers to enhance the quality and performance of urban utility services such as power plants, water supply networks, waste management, schools, libraries, hospitals, information systems, transportation and law enforcement. The following are

The factors that enable a city to be designated as a smart city:

• It uses wide range of electronic and digital technologies to optimise the efficiency of
  urban operations and services.
• It shares information with the public and allows officials to interact directly with them. It makes use of different electronic sensors in all the government departments and programmes to conduct various schemes and policies and also to maintain transparency.
• It uses ICT to transform life and working environment.
• It uses practices to bring ICT and people together to enhance innovation and knowledge offered by them.

A smart city uses ICT for the following purposes:

• To promote quality, performance and interactivity of various urban services.
• To manage resources efficiently by reducing resource consumption and wastage and thereby, reduce costs.
• To improve contact between the people and the government.
• The characteristics of a smart city varies from city to city and country to country, depending on the level ofdevelopment, willingness to change and reform, resources and aspirations of the residents ofthe city. A smart city has different characteristics in India than Europe or any other country.

Thus, researchers and developers have identified eight key aspects to define a Smart City, i.e., smart governance, smart energy, smart building, smart mobility, smart infrastructure, smart technology, smart healthcare and smart citizen.

Examples: 

Smart City technologies and programs have been implemented in Singapore, Dubai, Barcelona, Milton Keynes, Southampton, Amsterdam, Madrid, Stockholm, China and New York.

Smart Cities Mission in India

The government of India launched ‘Smart Cities Mission’ in 2015 to promote cities that can provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens with a clean and sustainable environment. The purpose of this mission is to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology that leads to smart outcomes.

Some typical features of comprehensive development in Smart Cities include the following:

• Expanding housing opportunities for all. Reducing congestion, air pollution and resource depletion.
• Boosting the local economy and giving an identity to the city based on its main economic activity, such as local cuisine, health, education, arts and crafts, culture, sports goods, furniture, hosiery, textile, daily, etc.
• Preserving and developing open spaces like parks, playgrounds and recreational spaces in order to enhance the quality of life of its citizens.
• Promoting a variety of transport options and creating a road network not only for vehicles and public transport but also for pedestrians and cyclists.
• Applying smart solutions to infrastructure based on development. Example, making earthquake resistant buildings.
• Making governance citizen-friendly and cost effective. Enhancing the use of online services to bring about accountability and transparency using mobile phones to reduce cost of services.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Natural And Man- Made Disasters

A disaster is a natural or man-made event that causes large-scale loss of life and property.

• The impact of such events may differ at different times, depending on their magnitude as well as the nature of the environment they affect.
• A thing or a condition that might lead to a disaster is called a hazard. For example, an active volcano is a hazard for the people living close to it.
• When it erupts, it can turn into a disaster.
• Similarly, a chemical factory is a hazard for the people living around it, as an accidental leakage of poisonous gases can be disastrous.
• Most of the human settlements are at risk from one or the other hazard.
• The chances of these hazards turning into a disaster depend on the location of the place.

For example:

Towns located near a river or in earthquake-prone zones are at higher risk of disasters.

• Similarly, coastal areas are prone to tsunamis and cyclones, whereas hilly areas are prone to floods and landslides.
• With preparedness and certain precautionary measures, these hazards can be prevented from turning into a disaster.
• Disasters are classified into two types: Natural and Man-made.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Natural Disasters

Natural disasters are of natural origin and caused by forces of nature. They are geological or weather-related occurrences, such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, fires, floods, cyclones, tsunamis, droughts, etc., that kill thousands of people and destroy habitats and property.

• A flood occurs when water flows above and beyond its normal level or course. When this water spreads out over a floodplain, it becomes a natural disaster.
• A floodplain is a long flat area of land along either side of a river made up of soil deposits carried by river water.
• Such a flood is also called a riverine flood. This is caused by rainwater or melting snow draining into the river faster than the river can discharge water into the sea.
• The amount of water, that a river can hold before a flood starts, is known as channel capacity.

Causes of Floods

The natural factors that cause floods are:

• Prolonged high-intensity rainfall.
• The blocking of the free flow of the rivers because of enormous debris provided by landslides and volcanic eruptions.
• Meandering courses of the rivers.

The man-made factors that cause floods are:

• Building activity and eventual urbanisation.
• Construction of bridges and reservoirs.
• Agricultural practices.
• Deforestation.
• Massive erosion along the river banks is causing large-scale land decay.
• Vanishing forest cover and open space.

Impact of Floods

Floods are one of the most destructive forms of natural disasters, causing huge losses of life and property.

For example:

Floods in Kerala in August 2018 caused immeasurable misery and devastation.

• Hundreds of lives were lost. Thousands of homes were destroyed, and many more were damaged.
• The flooding affected hundreds of villages and destroyed thousands of kilometers of roads.
• According to the Kerala State Government, the total losses were estimated at around Rs. 40,000 crores.
• Flood waters inundate agricultural fields and destroy crops.

Floods cause contamination of drinking water Eind lead to water-borne diseases like jaundice and diarrhoea.

• In coastal Eireas, the sea water not only destroys life and property but also makes the soil saline and unfit for cultivation.
• Flooded areas get isolated from the rest of the country.
• Economically and socially backward communities are the worst affected and take longer to come back to the kind of life they were leading before the disaster.

Earthquakes

An earthquake is a sudden trembling or shaking of the Earth’s crust. It is caused by the movement of the lithospheric plates under the Earth’s surface. Volcanic eruptions also sometimes cause earthquakes.

• During an earthquake, the surface of the earth shifts, shakes and moves, which destroys buildings and other structures as well as natural habitats.
• Earthquakes begin deep below the ground. The point where the earthquake originates is called the focus or hypocentre of the quake.
• The point on the surface of the earth directly above the focus is known as the epicentre. Seismologists are scientists who study earthquakes.
• They use seismographs to record and measure the motion of the ground and the location where the earthquake takes place.
• The magnitude (energy released) of an earthquake is measured by  Richter Scale and the intensity (effects) of an earthquake is measured by Mercalli Scale.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has classified different regions in India into Zones II to V, taking into consideration earthquake records, tectonic activities and damage caused.

Zone II is considered the least seismically active, while Zone V is the most active. Zone IV and V fall under ‘severe’ to very severe’ categories, respectively, as shown in the map given on the next page.

• According to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), 29 Indian cities and towns, including Delhi and the capitals of nine States, fall under ‘severe’ to Very severe’ seismic zones.
• A majority of these places are in the Himalayas, one of the most seismically active regions in the world.
• Delhi, Patna (Bihar), Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) Kohima (Nagaland), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Imphal (Manipur) and Chandigarh fall under severe seismic Zones.

Impact of Earthquakes

Since earthquakes are sudden and occur without any warning, they cause immense loss to life and property. Destruction of life and property results on account of the following:

• Construction of houses, roads, buildings, bridges and settlements in the seismic zones or areas prone to earthquakes. Building of dams on rivers around seismic zones.
• Weak and temporary houses are not strong enough to bear the shocks.
• On steep slopes, objects rolling and falling of objects hit the people and kill them.
• Earthquakes trigger landslides. A landslide is a sudden collapse of a large mass of hillside down a slope.
• When the landslides occur in the form of huge blocks, they are known as rock avalanches.

Landslide is a recurring feature on the hills. In the Himalayas, rapid denudation of forests and human activities have increased the frequency of landslides mainly during the rainy season.

• Sudden landslides can cause great destruction across a wide area of habitable land. Landslides can cause floods when their debris blocks river channels.
• Earthquakes under seas cause Tsunamis. A tsunami is a series of waves in the ocean caused by the displacement of ocean water by sudden earthquakes or rock movement under the sea. A tsunami waves can travel at 700 km per hour in deep seas.

A tsunami can strip coasts of sand, uproot trees and wipe out coastal towns. Travelling hundreds of metres inland, it can flood coastal towns.

• A tsunami triggered a wave of destruction across the Indian Ocean on December 26th, 2004.
• It was created by an undersea tectonic disturbance of 8.9 magnitude earthquake, just off the northern tip of Indonesia’s island of Sumatra.
• Thousands of people were killed by this massive tsunami. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India were badly affected. It is regarded as one of the most powerful earthquakes in history.
• The death toll rose to more than 1,50,000

Cyclones

Cyclones are violent storms that usually develop over the warm ocean waters. A low pressure gradually begins to form over the warm water bodies. Cool winds from surroundings high pressure areas rush in towards the low pressure. This causes the winds to blow towards the low pressure centre at a very high speed.

• These winds develop high speed and have a circular motion, and are very destructive.
• They are accompanied by torrential rains and storm surges and storm tides. A storm surge refers to the pushing of water onto the shore by a storm. It can be as rapid as several feet in just a few minutes.
• Even a one-foot deep storm surge at high tide, can cause abnormal rise in water level, reaching up to 20 feet or more in some cases.
• Adding to the destructive power of the rushing water is the large amount of floating debris that typically accompanies the surge.
• Trees, pieces of buildings and other debris float on top of the storm surge and cave in on anything that comes in its way.

The storm surge can begin to rise a day before the storm hits, cutting off escape routes when low-lying highways are flooded.

• The storm surge is the most dangerous part of a hurricane’s hazard. The high death tolls of the ten deadliest hurricane disasters in the USA, including Hurricane Katrina of 2005, were primarily due to the storm surge.
• By far the most devastating disasters in India are due to tropical cyclones. More tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal than in the Arabian Sea, the highest frequency being in May, October and November.
• On average five to six such cyclones form in a year and nearly half of which develop into severe storms.
• The States which are prone to Cyclones in India include Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
• Cyclone Vardah, which hit the Tamil Nadu coast in December 2016, with a wind speed of 130 km per hour,r caused heavy rains and resulted in severe damage to buildings and properties, uprooted trees, and electric poles.
• It also caused power cuts for hours, overturned vehicles on the roads, and severely damaged banana plantations, papaya groves, rice paddies, and other food crops

Drought

Drought is defined as an acute shortage of water and crop failure that results when the average rainfall for an area drops far below the normal level for a long time.

• The severity of drought is determined by such factors as the decrease in moisture in an area and the soil, the duration of dry period and the size of the area affected.
• Droughts of brief duration generally do not have significant long lasting effects on organisms and the environment. However, lengthy droughts can have a serious impact.

Causes of Drought

Drought is attributed mainly to climatic and soil conditions, as well as an increasing human and livestock population.

• Prolonged dry spells due to the failure of rains.
• Low moisture retention capacity of the soil.
• The semi-arid or drylands have very high day temperatures during summer, which causes evaporation of soil moisture.
• The exploitation of groundwater, which is drained for domestic, agricultural, and industrial purposes.
• Insufficient or no recharging of the groundwater.

Impact of Drought

Drought leads to shortage of water for drinking and for normal domestic needs. It causes shortage of water for agricultural operations.

• It results in a shortage of food, fodder, and employment.
• It forces people to migrate to areas where water is available.
• During a drought, lakes and ponds dry up, aquatic organisms lose their habitat, and terrestrial organisms lose their water source.
• Severe drought results in a famine that causesthe  death of a large number of people and animals in the area

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Man-Made Disasters

Man-made disasters are exclusively of human origin, involving man’s activities. They are caused due to an error, negligence, failure ofan equipment or deliberate acts like terrorist attacks.

Such disasters include explosions, wars, air crashes, sinking of boats, train accidents, collapse of bridges, dam failures, building fires, toxic wastes, etc. Terrorist act of blowing up a train or a building with explosives and nuclear attacks are also man-made disasters.

Fire in Buildings

The causes of fire hazards in buildings are:

• A fire in a domestic area originates near the kitchen where there is a mechanical failure of the cooking equipment.
• Room heaters and fireplaces are within the rooms.
• Poor electric wiring and the use of defective electrical appliances.
• Smoking sometimes may cause fire.
• The storage of hazardous chemicals or inflammable articles

Forest Fires

The four main causes of forest fires are:

1. Natural:

Fires caused by lightning or volcanic eruptions.

2. Accidental:

Fires caused by sparks from the wheels of trains or certain locomotives.

3. Negligence:

Fires are caused by cigarette stubs or matches along roadways, in rural areas, and along railway lines.

• Fires are caused by agricultural and forestry activities for the clearing of uncultivated land, for the clearing of plant residue, for the renewal of pastures, for the burning of stubble, and for the clearing of road and railway embankments.
• Fires caused by other forms of negligence originate from recreational and tourist activities — the lighting of firecrackers and rockets, blasting of landmines or explosives, the use of electric or mechanical devices, shooting exercises, and the burning of waste in illegal dumps.

4. Arson:

Fires are caused to destroy forestry operations or in connection with poaching or organised crime. Such fires cause great harm to wildlife by destroying their natural habitats.

Impact of Forest Fires

Forest fires destroy millions of hectares of vegetation and property.

• The smoke and smog produced during forest fires decrease the amount of sunlight and induce respiratory problems in wildlife.
• The forest fires affect food crops, transport, and tourism.
• Forest fires have an impact on insects and fruit trees, disrupting the food chain for predators and other species.
• Wildlife are more likely to come into conflict with human populations when they flee burning forests or are forced out to look for a new habitat or food sources.
• Large fire events can also create acid rain conditions, further damaging forest habitat. Forest fires release large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and cause global warming and climate change.
• Industrial and Nuclear Accidents Industrial accidents occur due to dangerous procedures, infrastructure failures, explosions, pollution caused by the discharge of harmful chemicals into air or waterbodies, and accidental leakage of harmful gases.
• The most common of these industrial accidents are the leakage of harmful gases and explosions.

One of the deadliest disasters related to gas leakage, called the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, occurred

on December 03, 1984. About 40 tons of toxic Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked into the atmosphere from Union Carbide’s pesticide factory in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. As a result of the accident, 3500 people were killed and about 40,000 people were affected in an area of 100 sq km.

• The gas leak engulfed the city, blinding people, choking their breathing,g and suffocating them.
• The gas affected the tissues of their eyes and lungs and attacked their nervous systems. People lost control of their bodies.
• Women lost their unborn children.
• It is said that water entered the storage tank which caused a chemical reaction that increased temperature converting the liquid MIC into gas. There were six earlier accidents at the plant and that workers had complained of exposure to toxic substances. Yet, proper safety mechanisms were not put in place.
• Another industrial disaster was a series of massive explosions at a warehouse where hazardous chemicals were stored in the Chinese port of Tianjin in August 2015.
• The explosion killed more than 50 people and injured more than 700 people.

A nuclear accident occurs when radioactive material and nuclear radiation are discharged into the atmosphere, caused by an explosion in the nuclear reactor or a leakage.

• The world’s worst nuclear accident occurred at Chernobyl, Ukraine in 1986. On April 26, 1986, a reactor at the nuclear power complex at Chernobyl exploded. There was a massive steam explosion.
• The core of the reactor combined with water to produce hydrogen, which exploded, blowing toxic radioactive gases into the air. There were numerous fires.
• The whole of the western USSR and other European countries were contaminated by gamma emitters deposited in soil; meat and dairy products were contaminated with Caesium-137. Radioactive clouds travelled across Europe and spread the dust at random everywhere.
• There was high radioactive fallout in Poland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy, and France.

About 7,00,000 people became exposed to Chernobyl radiation. It is feared that many areas in Europe are likely to remain contaminated well into the twenty-second century.

Terrorism

Terrorists use indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror among people to achieve political, religious, ideological or financial goals.

• They use different tactics to achieve their aims, from hand grenades, plastic bombs, rocket launchers,s machine guns to human suicide bombers.
• Terrorists often implant bombs in dustbins, parked vehicles, baggage, and even strap bombs to the bodies of individuals for suicide attacks.
• One of the most ghastly terrorist attacks happened on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked airplanes and used them as weapons to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, in the USA.
• These attacks killed three thousand people.

Terrorism poses a significant threat to the people of India, especially Jammu and Kashmir, northern and northwestern India (naxalism), and north-eastern states

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Disaster Management

Disaster Management refers to the various steps taken before, during, and after a disaster to reduce the damage and suffering caused by it.

The four basic elements of Disaster

Management are:

• Preparedness
• Response
• Rehabilitation and
• Prevention.

1. Preparedness:

The following steps are suggested to be prepared for the occurrence of a disaster:

A set of warning systems should be put of so that the people are warned to take safety measures. Thus, more loss of life and property can be avoided. The warning systems may include: radio, television, loudspeakers, personal messages, beating of drums, bells, etc.

The people must be educated to cope with a disaster. They should be taught to keep a survival kit.

Contents ofa Survival Kit:

• First aid kit.
• Essential medicines.
• Water- at least 9 litres per person for 3 days.
• Food- enough for three days.
• A torch, a radio.
• Personal hygiene items: toothbrush, soa,p etc.
• Baby and pet supplies, toilet paper, etc.
• On the practical side, mock drill training and practice should be undertaken.

2. Response:

The following measures can be undertaken in case of a disaster:

• People should be informed ofthe disaster in time to avoid its serious consequences.
• Emergency contact and operation centres should be opened
• Immediate help should be provided to the injured and the needy.
• Local people must be involved at all levels of activities.
• Temporary shelters should be provided for the affected.
• Medical camps should be set up.
• Rescue teams should be deployed to look for those who are missing.

3. Rehabilitation:

The following recovery and rehabilitation measures can be undertaken:

• Essential services such as providing drinking water, transport, electricity, etc., should be restored.
• The people should be taught how to follow health and safety measures.

Principles of Disaster Management

• Minimise casualties
• Prevent further casualties
• Rescue the victims
• Give first aid
• Evacuate
• Provide medical care
• Rehabilitation
• The victims should be provided with temporary accommodation, financial assistance, and employment opportunities.
• Those who have lost their family members should be consoled.
• If there is a danger ofepidemics, a vaccination programme should be undertaken.

4. Prevention:

• The following steps to prevent and to minimise the impact of future disasters should be undertaken:
• The land use has to be planned to reduce the loss of life and property.
• Buildings should not be constructed in risk zones.
• Mobilising support of different coordinating agencies such as the local government, voluntary organisations, insurance companies, etc., to ensure coordination at the time of a disaster.
• All buildings should be earthquake and landslide-resistant.
• The local community should be involved in making and implementing safety norms.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Strategies And Plans For Mitigating Disasters

Mitigation means any action taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from natural disasters. The basic mitigation strategy involves disaster prevention.

• It is carried out through a community’s land use plans, fire regulations, building codes, etc.
• For those disasters that cannot be prevented, like earthquakes, tsunamis, etc., reducing the impact of the disaster is the next best strategy.
• The first step towards developing a disaster mitigation strategy is to identify the potential hazards and evaluate and assess the risk involved.
• Once the hazard identification and risk analysis phase is complete, the strategies for mitigation can be adopted.

Because of the varying degrees of each disaster, there are different mitigation strategies for each. These are as follows:

Floods

Delay the surface runoff resulting from the high-intensity rainfall to the rivers. This can be achieved by large-scale reforestation and afforestation in the hilly catchment areas of these rivers.

• Forests delay the return of rainwater to the rivers because these intercept the falling raindrops, and the leaf litter and herbaceous ground covers hold water.
• These encourage infiltration of rainwater.
• The volume of water during the flood stage can be controlled through a series of engineering devices, such as the construction of flood-control storage reservoirs.
• The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has constructed four major dams and reservoirs on the Damodar river and its tributaries in order to control floods.
• Embankments, dikes, and flood walls are used to confine the floodwater within the valley.

Earthquakes

To prevent an earthquake hazard, the buildings should be properly designed.

• Do not construct houses in high-risk areas.
• Identify special routes before the disaster so that you can easily find your way out if needed.
• Develop an emergency communications plan in case ofseparation during the earthquake.
• In case of an earthquake, move out of the building and come into the open, but do not panic
• If you cannot come out, take cover under a piece of heavy furniture or against any wall.
• Do not use lifts if you live in a high-rise building.
• If you are driving, stop your vehicle in an open area. Avoid bridges and congested areas.
• Stay out of damaged buildings and return home only when authorities confirm that it is safe.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Fires

Fires in Buildings

• Don’t keep highly inflammable liquids on the premises.
• When you leave the premises, switch off electrical and gas appliances.
• Keep fire extinguishers in a convenient place in the building.
• Keep away matches and lighters from the reach of children
• See that the cigarette-smokers throw away the cigarette ends in an ashtray and extinguish the ends before throwing the butts away.
• Keep your water tanks full, so that in case of fire, water is available. Don’t use water in case the fire is caused by any electrical defect.
• Remember, if you are caught in a smoke-filled room, crawl on all fours or your belly as the smoke is closer to the floor.
• Note down the telephone number of the Fire Brigade so that in case of any emergency, you can call the Fire Station at the earliest

Forest Fires

• Shifting cultivation should be banned.
• Burning a piece of land in or around the forest should be monitored.
• People must not throw cigarette butts or matches in and around the forest area.
• Signs of fire in the forest should be reported to the concerned authorities.
• Deadwood and dry leaves from the area should be removed.

By combining satellite-derived vegetation data, topographic maps, weather data and ecological knowledge, scientists can now construct digital landscapes. These would help to prevent fires that can destroy large patches of forests.

Industrial and Nuclear Accidents

• Checking thoroughly all the machinery used in industries for any technical or physical faults and replacing or repairing them as soon as possible.
• Setting up an emergency plan for the evacuation of workers in case of any industrial accident.
• Raising an alarm for the people living in the vicinity of the industrial unit in case of an explosion, leakage of poisonous gases, or harmful nuclear radiation from the industry.

Terrorism

• Maintain situational awareness of your surroundings at all times. If you identify anything unusual, report it to the police.
• Protect your personal information and do not reveal details of your personal life to strangers.
• Remain vigilant at public places, which are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Never touch any unidentified object.
• Do not allow unknown persons to drop or abandon bags, cartons or any wrapped or sealed containers around your premises
• While travelling by public transport, keep a vigil under the seats for any suspicious items.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Role Of The Government In Disasters And Its Management

Disaster preparedness has to be an integral part of the development process for sustainable development. This cannot be achieved without the government’s help because disaster preparedness requires long-term planning, funds, manpower and infrastructure.

The government can perform the following functions to prepare for any disaster and to provide quick relief and rehabilitation in case of an emergency:

The first step towards the mitigation of any disaster is the warning before its occurrence.

• This requires the use of modern technology, sophisticated instruments, and meteorological satellites, which governments can effectively put in place.
• Warning enables the governments to choose from possible alternatives and initiate preventive action well in time.
• For effective disaster preparedness, huge funds are required, which governments can set aside in their budgets.
• Training officials and creating a huge task force ready for disaster management.
• Preparing local communities to understand the preventive measures for safeguarding themselves against any disaster.
• Organising mock drills in schools, colleges, and offices to prepare the people for any eventuality.
• Building embankments and dams to control floods, planting trees in coastal areas to break the flow of storm waters and winds, and undertaking programmes for soil and water conservation.
• Building shelters and keeping a good stock of food, clothing, equipment, and medicines, ready for use in disasters.
• Providing aircraft, boats, helicopters, paramilitary forces, medical reliefand other requirements immediately to rescue people caught in any disaster and evacuate them to safer places.
• Distributing relief material such as food packets, water bottles, clothes, medicines, and blankets to the affected people.
• Work on rehabilitation and reconstruction of houses and properties destroyed by natural or man-made disasters.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Case Study: Floods In Assam

Assam, a state in northeastern India, is known for its vibrant greenery, wildlife, archaeological sites, and tea plantations.

• Assam is unfortunately also known for severe floods from June to October every year, caused by the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries.
• The river Brahmaputra, also known as the lifeline of Assam, is an antecedent river older than the Himalayas.
• It originates in the Manasarovar lake located on the northern side of the Himalayas in Tibet.
• It enters India in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, where it is called Dihang. With steep gorges and rapids in Arunachal Pradesh, on entering Assam, it becomes a braided river, and with its tributaries, it creates a floodplain, the Brahmaputra Valley.
• The river Brahmaputra is a mighty river; even in the dry season, its banks are more than eight kilometres apart. It is the world’s sixth largest river in terms ofwater resources.
• The total length of the river is 2,906 km, with 918 km flowing through India, which includes 640 km flowing through Assam.

Its major tributaries are Teesta, Kameng, Dihang, Meghna or Barack, Manas, and Subansiri. The world’s largest river island, Majuli, is located on the river Brahmaputra.

Causes of Floods

Assam lies in the heart of the Monsoon belt and so gets heavy monsoon downpours.

The average annual rainfall in Assam is 1927 mm. The volume of water in the Brahmaputra River increases due to the increased snow melt at the upper part of its catchment due to rising temperatures. Besides, it has 41 tributaries, which add to its volume ofwater.

The Brahmaputra River flows downstream through a long, narrow, sloping valley. As it does so, especially during incessant rains, it erodes the soft, loose soil along its banks and deposits sediments on the bed of the river.

• This makes the bed of the river shallow and prone to flooding.
• The Brahmaputra River and its tributaries bring a heavy load of fine silt and clayey sediments.
• With time, these sediments pile up and form islands in the middle of the river, causing the water to divide into several channels and flow as a braided river.
• Some of these islands get washed away and are replaced by new ones. Majuli Island is one such island.
• Consequently, channels change their course frequently, erode the banks and cause floods.
• The Brahmaputra and one of its major tributaries, the Dihing, once flowed parallel to each other.
• An extreme flood, which occurred around 1750, diverted part ofthe flow ofthe Brahmaputra through the channel of the Dihing about 190 km upstream of its confluence.

When the two rivers joined, the intervening land area formed the Majuli Island.

• The course of the Brahmaputra River has changed drastically over the past 250 years, moving its course westwards for a distance of about 80 km, leaving its old river course.
• In the past, the floodplain of the old river course had soils that were properly formed compared to the graded sediments of today.
• The banks of the river are, therefore, mostly weak sand and silt, which erode the embankments and cause floods.
• Besides the above natural causes, there are some man-made causes that lead to floods in Assam.

These include the following:

• Deforestation in the Brahmaputra watershed.
• Encroachment of river banks and wetlands for houses, agriculture, and other activities;
• Lack of drainage due to the building of railway bridges and roads. These have restricted the natural flow of water, forcing it to backflow and break embankments in many areas
• Unplanned urban growth;
• Construction of big dams over rivers.

Effects of Floods

Assam is ravaged by floods every year, causing huge losses of life, property, and wildlife.

• According to the ‘Flood Report’ released by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority on July 28, 2016, twenty-two districts of Assam were affected by the floods, and 17.94 lakh people were affected. 2,13,151.52 hectaresoftotalcropareawas affected
• Most affected districts included Morigaon, Jorhat, Dhubri, Barpeta, Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Sonitpurÿ, Goalpar, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji ,and Darrang.

The main effects are the following:

Hundreds of villages along the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries get submerged. Thousands of people get displaced and are rendered homeless.

• Standing crops are damaged, and cattle and valuable goods are washed away. These rob the farmers of their livelihood.
• Roads, bridges, railways, and power lines are damaged, thereby disrupting communication links are disrupted.
• Many parts of the state are cut off for long, and people remain marooned with little food or drinking water, awaiting relief and rescue.
• Floods cause loss of wildlife as well. Many animals get drowned or marooned in the floods.
• Rising floodwaters submerge the famous Kaziranga National Park, located on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River, the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Nameri National Park.
• After the floods, several water-borne diseases like cholera, typhoid, jaundice, and Japanese Encephalitis spread in the area and affected many people

Remedies

The Government has taken several measures to control floods in Assam. Immediate flood relief measures include rescuing people marooned in the floods, setting up relief camps, free distribution of food, clothes, medicines, and cash compensation for their rehabilitation.

But the long-term measures to check the menace of floods in Assam is the following:

• Forestation or plantation of trees along the river banks;
• Rejuvenation of wetlands
• Dredging of the riverbeds to reduce silt;
• Creation of more reservoirs and dams, and river valley projects.
• Interconnecting major rivers of Indi, whereby the extra water can be diverted to the areas where there is a shortage of water.
• Improvement in the flood forecasting system.
• Adopting the traditionally available methods based on local topography for making natural outlets for excess water to flow

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Earthquake In Nepal

A deadly earthquake hit the Himalayan country of Nepal on April 25, 2015, killing nearly 9000 people and injuring 22,000.

• It was the worst natural disaster to strike Nepal sifter the 1934 earthquake that caused more than 10,000 deaths. It occurred at 11.56 am (Nepal Standard Time), with a magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of VIII (severe).
• This quake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks, and only 17 days later, on May 12, 2015, there was another major quake, measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale.
• It also triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest that killed around 20 climbers and stranded hundreds at the base camp.
• Its effects were also felt in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, and Pakistan. The Nepal government estimated reconstruction costs up to 9 billion.

Earthquake Causes

The catastrophic earthquake in Nepal was caused by two converging tectonic plates, i.e., the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate to the north. Tectonic plates are the large, thin, relatively rigid plates that move relative to one another.

Plates are always moving slowly, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction.

• When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the earth’s crust and cause the shaking that we feel or the earthquake
• Since Nepal lies in the Himalayan region, it lies along the boundary between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
• These plates are being forced up against and under each other at the rate of about 5 cm each year. This causes the Himalayas to fold and rise further, and results in frequent earth movements along this boundary.
• There lies a tremendous force behind these movements, which builds up and causes an earthquake.
• The earthquake of 2015 in Nepal was caused by an earthquake movement along the plate boundary.

But what made this earthquake so destructive was its shallowness. The quake had a depth of approximately 8.2 km, which is considered shallow in geological terms.

• The shallower the quake, the more destructive power it carries, and therefore, there was a lot of shaking near the surface in Nepal.
• Poorly constructed multi¬ storey brick buildings and temples in and around Kathmandu were reduced to rubble.
• Many of the buildings lacked steel reinforcements and adequate foundations. Heavy bricks made the buildings deadly when they fell.
• Mountainous rural areas with poor infrastructure suffered even worse.
• The houses made of stacked stones or timber and mud were no match for the destructive force of the earthquake.

Impact

Thirty-nine of the nation’s 75 districts with a population of eight million people, about a third of Nepal’s population, were affected.

• More than 600,000 homes were destroyed and more than 288,000 were damaged in the fourteen worst-hit districts.
• The farmers were the hardest hit by the disaster. They lost their livestock, crops, tools, and irrigation works.
• More than half of the country’s schools were damaged and destroyed, so close to one million children were out of school. Health centres and hospitals were badly damaged, and so were water and sanitation systems.
• Several heritage buildings and famous temples like the Pashupatinath Temple, the Durbar Square, the Dharahara Tower, the Boudhanath Stupa, the Swayambhunath Stupa, etc, were damaged.
• Tourism, Nepal’s top income generator,s was badly hit by the quake. It not only destroyed many tourist destinations but also killed, injured, and stranded a large number of tourists from across the world.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Oil Spills In The Coastal USA

An oil spill refers to the accidental leakage or spillage of a large quantity of oil into the environment, particularly onto the surface of large waterbodies such as oceans, seas, lakes and rivers as a result of human activities. Oil spills, however, can occur on land. Spillage of oil is also regarded as a form of marine pollution.

Oil Spills Causes

• Several oil spills happen every year across the world.
• Most often, oil spills are caused due:
• Accidents involving ships carrying oil;
• Leakage while loading and unloading of oil;
• Destruction caused bythe  Earthquake in Nepal
• Leakage from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs, and wells
• Failure of equipment;
• Natural disasters such as hurricanes;
• Deliberate acts by terrorists, countries at war, and vandals

The quantity of oil spilled during accidents has ranged from a few hundred tons to several hundred thousand tons, like the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the USA in 2010.

• However, volume is only one component of measuring the damage or impact.
• Smaller spills have at times proven to have greater impact, such as the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in the USA in 1989.
• This was because of the remoteness of the site and the difficulty of an emergency environmental response.

Effects of Oil Spills

Oil usually spreads out rapidly across the water surface to form a thin layer, called an oil slick. As the oil continues spreading, the layer becomes thinner and thinner. Finally, a very thin layer called a sheen is left that looks like a rainbow. The presence of winds and water currents speeds up the spread of the oil slick.

Oil spills have the following disastrous effects:

• Oil spills pollute air, water, and soil.
• The chemicals in crude oil are mostly hydrocarbons that contain toxic chemicals like benzene and toluene.
• These chemicals induce adverse health effects in human beings and marine organisms.
• Oil penetrates into the body of the plumage of birds and fur of mammals and reduces their insulating ability and make them more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and much less buoyant in the water.
• Oil spills kill fish and shellfish and many other marine animals and thereby, affect the economy of the coastal areas.
• Oil spills represent an immediate fire hazard. Besides, burning oil spills are a source of pollution, such as soot particles.

Clean Up and Recovery

Clean-up and recovery from an oil spill is a difficult task. It depends upon many factors, including the type of oil spilled, the temperature of the water and the types of beaches and shorelines.

It may take weeks, months, or even years to clean up. The following measures are used to clean up an oil spill:

By using booms or floating barriers to contain oil.

For example:

A big boom is placed around an oil tanker from where oil is leaking to collect the oil.

• Using skimmers or boats that skim (scoop) spilled oil from the water surface. Using sorbents, which are big sponges used to absorb oil.
• Using chemical dispersants and biological agents, which break down the oil into its chemical constituents.
• In situ burning, a method of burning freshly spilled oil, usually while it is floating on the water.
• Washing oil off beaches with either high-pressure or low-pressure hoses. Using vacuum trucks, which can vacuum spilled oil off beaches or the water surface.

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

It occurred in Prince William Sound, an inlet ofthe Pacific Ocean on the coast of Alaska, the USA, on March 24, 1989.

• Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, accidentally struck a reef and spilled 1 1 million gallons of crude oil. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters.
• It contaminated 1300 miles of coastline. It killed at least 140 bald eagles, 302 harbour seals, 2800 sea otters, and 25,000 sea birds within a few days.
• Four people died as part of the clean-up efforts. Fisheries were closed, and thousands of permit holders lost their source of livelihood.
• The tourism industry lost over 26,000 jobs and more than $2.4 billion in sales. Almost 30 years after the spill, about 20 acres of Prince William Sound shoreline are still contaminated with 21,000 gallons of oil, and this oil is just as toxic as it was right after the spill.
• Prince William Sound’s remote location, accessible only by helicopter, plane, or boat, made the government’s and industry’s response efforts quite difficult.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, also referred to as the BP Oil Spill or the Gulf of

• Mexico Oil Spill is an industrial disaster that began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico, caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.
• It is considered to be the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.
• The U.S. government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 million barrels. After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on September 19, 2010.
• The explosion killed 11 workers and injured 17. It affected about 2100 km of the US Gulf Coast.
• Massive harm was done to wildlife in and around the Gulf of Mexico, including the deaths of an estimated 8,00,000 birds and 65,000 turtles.
• A massive rescue operation was undertaken to protect beaches, wetlands, and estuaries from the spreading oil, utilising skimmer ships, floating booms, controlled burns, and 1.84 million gallons (7,000 m3) of oil dispersant.
• Due to the monthslong spill, along with adverse effects from the response and clean-up activities, extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats and fishing and tourism industries was reported.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 6 Asia: The Largest Continent

Asia is the largest continent in the world — more than four times the size of Europe, larger than North and South America put together, and nearly half the size of Africa.

• In terms of population, Asia is the most populous continent, housing 60 per cent ofthe world population within its borders.
• Asia has the distinction of being the cradle of some of the world’s earliest known civilisations, such as the Indus Valley, Mesopotamian and Chinese Civilisations.
• It has also been the birthplace of the world’s great religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism.
• Asia is also home to several languages. Most of the Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken.

For example:

More than 415 languages are spoken in India, more than 600 in Indonesia, and more than 100 in the Philippines.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 6 Asia: Location And Extent

The continent of Asia is situated entirely in the Northern Hemisphere except some of the islands of Indonesia. It is bound by oceans on three sides — the Arctic Ocean in the north, the Indian Ocean in the south and the Pacific Ocean in the east.

• Asia forms a huge quadrangle covering an area of little over 44 million sq. km, which is about one-third of the world’s total land surface.
• Its north-to-south extent ranges from 80°N to 10°S latitudes and the west-to-east extent from 24°4′ E to 169°40’ W longitudes.
• Asia crosses the 180° median and its eastern end touches the 170° median in the western hemisphere.
• Asia is separated from Europe on the western side by the Ural Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Strait of Dardanelles.
• The Isthmus of Suez separates it from Africa, while the Bering Strait separates it from North America.

Asia: A Continent of Contrasts

• In terms of relief and topography, Asia has a huge range of contrasts to offer. That is why it is also called the ‘Continent of Extremes’.
• Asia has the distinction of having both the world’s highest mountain peak, Mt. Everest in the Himalayas, and the deepest land depression, the Dead Sea, lying between Israel and Jordan.
• Asia is land of extreme temperatures, with the highest recorded temperature of 54°C at Tirat Zvi, Israel in 1942 and the lowest recorded temperature of-67.8°C at Verkhoyansk in Russia in 1933.
• Asia has areas of both the highest rainfall in Meghalaya (India) and the least rainfall in the desert areas.
• Asia has diverse vegetation ranging from thick evergreen equatorial forests to xerophytic plants (cacti) and lichens, and mosses.
• Asia is home to the countries with the highest as well as lowest densities of population in the world. & Asia has the largest lake(Caspian Sea) and the deepest lake(the Baikal lake).

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 6 Asia: Political Divisions

• The countries of Asia are usually grouped into the following five main categories:
• South Asia, which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
• East Asia, which includes China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan.
• Southwest Asia, which includes Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Turkey.
• Southeast Asia, which includes Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
• Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• Central Asia, which includes Siberiaand the Russian republics in Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
• Russia and Turkiye are the two countries that lie in both Asia and Europe.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 6 Asia: Physical Features

Asia is a land of the widest variations in physical features ranging from the high mountains, vast plateaus, rivers, and coastal plains to the fertile river valleys. O

Based on these physical features, Asia can be grouped into the following physical divisions:

• The Northern Lowlands
• The Central Highlands
• The Southern Plateaus
• The River Valleys
• The Islands

The Northern Lowlands

The Northern Lowlands lie in the upper part of Asia bordering the Arctic Ocean in the north. They extend from Ural mountains in the west to the Lena river in the east.

The Northern Lowlands can be divided into two distinct regions:

1. Siberian Plain:

The Siberian Plain is one of the largest lowlands in the world. It extends over 3,200 km eastwards from the Urals to the Yenisey River.

• This lowland has been formed by the silt brought by the rivers originating from the highlands of Central Asia, namely, Ob, Lena, and Yenisey.
• These rivers flow from south to north and drain into the Arctic Ocean.
• Due to severe of, these rivers get blocked and cannot reach the ocean.
• The blocked river water then spreads over a large part of this flat plain and forms swamps and marshes.

2. Turanian Plain:

• The Turanian Plain is formed by the two Asian rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which fall into the Aral Sea.
• It covers the region of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
• Since the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea are inland seas, they form a region of inland drainage.

The Central Highlands

To the south of the Northern Lowlands lies an extensive belt of mountains and plateaus that runs from west to east. The centre of this belt is the Pamir Knotor Pamir Plateau from which a number of mountain ranges radiate into different directions.

• Towards the northeast of the Pamirs lie the
• Tien Shan mountain range.
• A belt extends eastward from the Pamirs to form the Kunlun Mountains.
• The most southerly of the mountain belts lying towards the southeast of the Pamirs is the Karakoram range and the Himalayas.
• To the west of the Pamir knot, lies the Hindu Kush mountains. The Hindu Kush mountains join the Armenian knot near the Caspian Sea under the name of Elburz mountains in Iran.
• The Sulaiman range lies south of the Pamir knot along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• The famous Khyber Pass linking Pakistan with Afghanistan lies in this mountain range.

In the northeastern part of the Central Highlands, lies a broken chain of ancient fold mountains. These include the Altai, the Yablonovy, and the Stanovoy mountain ranges. In between these ranges lies Tarim Basin, which is a desert.

Numerous plateaus and basins are located within or along the margins of these mountain ranges. These plateaus are called intermontane plateaus.

• The highest of these is the Tibetan Plateau, which has an average height of more than 4,000 m.
• It is also known as the ‘Roofofthe world’. It is bordered by some of the world’s highest mountains, including the Himalayas on the south, the Karakoram on the northwest and the Kunlun on the north.
• To the north of Tibet lies the three important Chinese basins — the Qaidan, the Tarim and the Dzungarian.
• Towards the northeast of the Tibetan Plateau lies the Gobi Desert. The other intermontane plateaus are the plateaus of Mongolia, Iran, Anatolia (Asia Minor).
• The Gobi desert in Mongolia and Tarim Basin (China), the plateaus of Central Asia are also intermontane plateaus.

The Southern Plateaus

To the south of the central Highlands are situated Plateau of Tibet To the south of the Central Highlands are situated a few plateaus, made of very old rocks.

The three notable plateaus are:

1. The Plateau of Arabia lies in the southwest corner of Asia. It is a dry desert with no rivers and scarcity of habitable land.
2. The Plateau of Peninsular India is the largest and the oldest of all the physiographic divisions of India.
   • Its northwest limit is marked by the Aravalli range, and its northern extreme has the raised Bundelkhand plateau.
   • At its western and eastern ends are the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, respectively.
   • The Plateau of Peninsular India is cut by a number of east flowing rivers like Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri.
3. The Plateau of Shan and Yunnan lies in Myanmar and China, respectively.
   • The Shan plateau is located between Pegu Yoma and Arakan Yoma in the eastern part of Myanmar.
   • The Salween River flows through the plateau.
   • The Yunnan plateau, located in the Yunnan province of China, is separated from the fertile Szechuan basin by a range of mountains.

The River Valleys

A number of river valleys have been formed by the alluvium brought down by the rivers, which originate from the snow-covered mountains and plateaus in the Central Highlands.

• These river valleys have been the birthplace of many ancient civilisations like the Harappan, the Mesopotamian,  and the Chinese.
• It is within these river valleys that most ofthe Asians live.

Some ofthe important river valleys are:

The Indo-Gangetic Plains,

• Located in the Indian subcontinent between the Himalayas and the Deccan Plateau, constitute important river valley plains.
• It includes the lowlands ofthe three major rivers — the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, and the Indus, together with their tributaries.
• Occupying parts of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, they are one of the world’s most intensively cultivated and densely populated regions.

The Plain of Tigris and Euphrates:

• Iraq is formed by the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. These rivers flow southeastwards across the country and then drain into the Persian Gulf.
• It is one of the major regions where wheat, barley, tobacco, and cotton are grown.

China:

The Great Plain of China is formed by the Hwang-Ho and Yangtze Kiang rivers in eastern China.

Manchurian Plain:

The Manchurian Plain is formed by the Amur River and its tributaries in the northern part of China.

Mekong:

The Valley of Irrawaddy, the Salween, and the Mekong in Southeast Asia. The Central basin between the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers around Mandalay in Myanmar is important for wheat and cotton cultivation

The Island Groups

• A number ofislands occupy the east and southeast of the mainland of Asia. Most of these islands are mountainous and are surrounded by narrow coastal plains.
• Some of these islands are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and are earthquake-prone. Some islands also have active and dormant volcanoes.

The three major groups of islands include Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines.

• Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia. It is an archipelago (a cluster of islands) of 6,852 islands.
• The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of Japan’s land area. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands,s whereasthe  Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands.

Towards the east of the mainland of India lie the Andaman and Nicobar islands on the Bay of Bengal ,and towards the west lie the Lakshadweep island on the Arabian Sea. Sri Lanka is an island nation separated from India by the Palk Strait.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 7 Asia: Climate, Natural Vegetation, And Wildlife

Asia, a huge continent, stretching from the Equatorial to the Polar regions, has a great diversity of climate. It has some of the coldest and some of the hottest, some of the wettest and some of the driest places on the earth. This diversity of climate is caused by a number of features which interact to give most of Asia a markedly continental type of climate. A continental climate is characterised by extremes of temperature and is generally associated with large landmasses.

Factors Affecting the Climate of Asia

The most dominant features that influence the climate of Asia are the following:

• Its vast latitudinal extent enables the establishment of a wide range of climatic types, ranging from the Equatorial to the Tundra type.
• Several mountain ranges act as effective barriers to air masses or winds.
• The seasonal reversal in the direction of winds.
• The distance from the sea large as parts of the interior are away from the ocean.
• The open nature of the boundary with Europe.
• Several deserts lie in its deep interior.

Asiaextends over 9654 km from east to west and 8527 km from north to south. Due to its vast size, the interiors of the continent do not experience the moderating influence of the oceans.

• The vast interiors absorb more solar energy during summer than the water bodies, and also lose more energy during winter.
• It is because of this that the climate of Central Asia is one of extremes with long and cold winters, chilled by cold winds from the Polar regions, and short and hot summers.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 7 Asia: Summer Season

The seasonal contrasts between the strong heating of the Asian landmass during the summer (May to September) and chilling in winter (January to March) produce variations in the atmospheric pressure and wind circulation, and in turn affect the climate of the region.

• During the summer season, the rays of the Sun fall vertically on the Tropic of Cancer and heat up the central part of Asia.
• Here, the average temperature remains around 30°C.
• This creates a low-pressure belt centred around the basin of the

Indus river, Tibetan Plateau and Iran.

• However, the main water bodies, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, are comparatively cooler, leading to the formation of high pressure over these areas.
• Thus, during the summers, winds laden with moisture blow from the areas of high pressure (seas) towards areas of low pressure (land) and bring heavy rainfall in almost all parts of Asia.
• These winds are called the Summer Monsoons or tropical and subtropical monsoons. In India, they are referred to as the South-West Monsoons

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 7 Asia:  Winter Season

During the winter season, the rays of the Sun fall vertically over the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern Hemisphere, and the interior regions of Asia, which lie at great distance from the sea, become very cold.

• This leads to the formation of a high-pressure area over central parts of Asia.
• High-pressure conditions result in the building up of cold, dry air and winds.
• These winds originating from land are very cold and dry and blow outward from the high-pressure zone.
• Therefore, they do not give rain during the winter season. However, when these winds blow over the Pacific Ocean, they pick up moisture from the ocean and cause rainfall in the coastal areas.
• The southeastern coast of India, Sri Lanka, Japan and Southeast Asia receive rainfall from these winds. These winds are called the Winter Monsoons or North-East winter monsoons

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 7 Asia: Rainfall Pattern

Rainfall conditions in an extensive continent as Asia are wide ranging. It varies from the very rainy areas of the Equatorial belt to practically no rainfall in the deserts of Central Asia and Saudi Arabia.

Mountain ranges are one of the factors, which influence the distribution and pattern of rainfall in Asia. The Himalayas, which have the highest peaks in the world, are imposing barriers.

• They protect South Asia from the extreme cold winds and influence the pattern of rainfall.
• Much of these interior regions of Asia remain in the ‘rain-shadow’ zone as the rain-bearing winds cannot penetrate these mountain barriers. The onshore side of the mountain slopes, on the other hand, receives most of the rainfall.
• That is why the North Indian plains which lies on the ‘leeward’ side of the Himalayas receive rainfall by the summer monsoon, whereas Tibet which lies in the rain-shadow area of the Himalayas remains dry.
• Similarly, heavy rainfall occurs in summer on the west coast of India which lies on the windward side of the Western Ghats but the area east of the Ghats receives scanty rainfall as it is located in the rain-shadow zone.

Thus, the amount and pattern of rainfalls vary from place to place and from season to season. Based on this,

The continent of Asia can be divided into the following categories:

• The Areas of Heavy Annual Rainfall (above 200 cm) lie in the Equatorial region in Indonesia, Malaya Peninsula and the Shiwalik ranges of the Himalayas. Mawsynram in Meghalaya (India) receives the highest average annual rainfall in the world.
• The Areas of Moderate Annual Rainfall (100 cm to 200 cm) lie in parts of India, central and southern China, Japan and Philippines.
• The Areas of Low Annual Rainfall (less than 50 cm) lie in southwest Asia, Central Asia, Siberia and the plateaus of Central Highlands. Many parts of the Arabian Peninsula do not get any rainfall whereas a large part of Central Asia and Siberia being cold deserts get poor rainfall.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 7 Asia: Types of Climate

The large variety of climatic types that prevail, in Asia can be grouped into following categories:

1. The Tundra Type

This type of climate is found in the northern most part of Asia. It remains frozen for a major part of the year.

• Here the winters are long, very severe, dry and snowbound, whereas summers are short but warm enough for some snow to melt.
• The annual precipitation, including the rainfall in summer season and the snowfall is winter is usually less than 25cm.
• This is because of the low rate of evaporation and the lack of moisture in the cold polar air. Northern Siberia and Kamchatka have Tundra type of Climate.

2. The Taiga or Sub-Arctic Climate

• The Taiga region lies to the south of Tundra.
• The Taiga belt in Asia is characterised by very long cold and severe winters. The summers are short and warm. Rain occurs in summer causing humidity.
• Areas in Asia that experience Taiga type of climate are Russia, northern Kazakhstan, parts of northern Mongolia and northern Japan.

3. The Temperate Type

This type of climate is found in the mid-latitudes, which span between the tropics and the polar regions of the Earth.

In Asia, it can be subdivided into the following types:

Warm Temperate (China Type):

This type of climate is found on the eastern margins of continents in warm temperate latitudes just outside the tropics. Since it is found in most parts of China and is a modified form of monsoonal climate, it is also known as the Temperate Monsoon or China Type of Climate

It is experienced in the eastern part of Asia including China, North Korea, South

• Korea and southern Japan. Here the summers are warm and the winters are cold. Most of the rainfall occurs during the summer months and winters are dry.
• Only Taiwan and some parts of Japan receive rainfall in winter caused by the southeasterly winds which pick up moisture from the Japan Sea, East China sea and the adjoining seas.
• An important characteristic feature of China Type of climate in southern China is the occurrence of typhoons, i.e., intense tropical cyclones that originate in the Pacific Ocean.
• They are most frequent in late summer, from July to September and are quite disastrous.

Cool Temperate (Manchurian Type):

This type of climate is found in the eastern coastal region of Asia, including eastern Siberia, Northeast China, Manchuria, Korea and northern Japan. Here, the summers are warm and wet, whereas winters are cold and dry.

• The annual rainfall ranges between 50 cm and 100 cm and the rain occurs mainly in summer.
• Much of the winter precipitation in northern China, Korea and Hokkaido in Japan is in the form of snow.

Steppe Type:

This type of climate is found in central and western Asia. Due to their location in the heart of continents they have extremeslittle maritimeof temperature.

• Influence and summer thus AKJgg are very warm, and winters are very cold. The amount of annual rainfall is low and it mostly occurs during the summer season.
• Most of the winter months have low precipitation, brought by the occasional depression of the Westerlies and comes in the form of snow.
• Unlike the Taiga region, this region has excessive evaporation and is suitable only for the growth ofshort grasses and does not support the growth of trees. The Steppe grasslands are used for wheat cultivation.

The Mediterranean Type:

This type ofclimate is found along the coast of Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Iraq.

• Here the summers are hot and dry, while the winters are mild and wet. Rainfall occurs mostly in winter brought by the cyclonic storms emerging in the west.
• Due to hot and dry summers plants have to adapt themselves to withstand conditions of drought and higher summer temperature.
• So the plants and trees have short thick leaves, long tap roots and thick barks to preserve moisture in the dry season. The most distinctive vegetation of this region consists of evergreen shrubs and trees.
• The trees found in this region include oak, walnut, almond, cedar, pine, fir and myrtle.

4. The Tropical Monsoon Type

It includes a vast region in southern and southeastern Asia covering India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, southern China, parts Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

• This type of climate is characterised by monsoon winds which reverse their direction from season to season and affect the climatic conditions.
• The climate is generally hot and dry during the summers and cool and diy during the winters with a distinct rainy season.
• The rainfall is moderate to high ranging between 50cm to 200 cm annually.

5. The Desert Type

The deserts are mainly of two types —

1. Tropical deserts
2. Temperate deserts.

The type of climate found in these deserts is of the following types:

1. The Tropical Desert Type:

• This type of climate occurs in the Arabian desert in Saudi Arabia and the Thar Desert in India and Pakistan.
• They lie in the western margins of the landmass.
• These desert areas remain hot throughout the year.
• Generally, the summers are hot and the winters are cool.
• The rainfall due to offshore winds is scanty.
• Due to the rapid heating of the land during the day and cooling at night a great difference between the day and night temperatures is experienced in these desert regions.

2. The Temperate Desert Type:

This type of climate is found in a vast territory of high mountains in Central Asia, including the Gobi desert, (China and Mongolia), the Taklamakan desert and the Plateau ofTibet.

• Since this region is located far away from the oceans, it has extreme type of climate with hot summers and severely cold winters with temperatures falling below the freezing point.
• The high mountain barriers in this region keep the rain-bearing winds away from this region and therefore, the rainfall is scanty during the summer, whereas, during the winters it falls as snow.

6. The Equatorial Type

It includes the areas lying between 10° N and 10° S in Indonesia, Malaysia, parts of Sri Lanka and the southern parts ofthe Philippines.

• It is a hot and humid type of climate with high temperatures throughout the year.
• Heavy convectional rainfall accompanied by lightning and thunder occurs almost everyday.
• Humidity is quite high which makes the heat all the more unbearable

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 7 Asia: Natural Vegetation And Wildlife

The large variety of climates in Asia have given rise to different types of vegetation and wildlife.

These include the following:

1. The Tundra Type

Natural Vegetation:

It is a region of cold, treeless plains with permanently frozen subsoil. Due to the growing season of less than three months and the warmest month not exceeding 10°C, there are no trees in this region. Such an environment supports only the lowest form of vegetation like lichens, mosses, sedges and some grasses.

Wildlife:

The animals found in this region include the Arctic fox, the snowy owl, ptarmigan, the polar besu-, polar dog, wolves, lemmings and reindeer. In the Arctic Ocean, seal and walrus are found.

2. The Taiga Type

Natural Vegetation:

Here, the winters are long, dry and among the coldest in the world, whereas summers are warm and short.

• The world’s largest temperature ranges are found in this region. The precipitation is low and mostly in the form of snow.
• The Taiga is a type of Vegetation found in Russia and Siberia. The vegetation of the region comprises a belt of coniferous forests.
• Although precipitation is low in this region, it is sufficient for plant growth due to less evaporation. The main trees are cedar, fir, pine and spruce. These trees yield valuable soft wood.

Wildlife:

In the Taiga region, fur-bearing animals such as arctic fox, mink, sable, reindeer, elk, and bear are found

3. Tropical Deciduous Type

Natural Vegetation:

In the Tropical Monsoon type of climatic region, the natural vegetation varies with the amount of rainfall and the height of land above the mean sea level.

• The areas which receive heavy rainfall have thick evergreenforests whereas, areas with less rainfall have deciduous forests which shed their leaves in the dry winter months.
• The common varieties of trees include teak, sal, sandalwood, eucalyptus, peepal and neem. These forests also have dense growth of bamboos and ferns.

Wildlife:

This region is home to a variety ofanimals including lions, tigers, elephants, leopards, stags, deer, crocodiles and various types of birds. The Asiatic Lion is found only in India.

4. Thorny Vegetation Type

Natural Vegetation:

In the tropical deserts generally conditions are unfavourable for the growth of vegetation. So most of the region is bare with patches of shrubs, grass and thorny bushes. Date palms grow in the oasis.

• In the temperate deserts, vegetation is sparse, comprising shrubs, grasses and thorny bushes. Ferns, bamboos, lianas and palms also grow here.
• However, highlands in Tibet and Mongolia also contain Taiga and Tundra like vegetation depending on the amount of moisture.

Wildlife:

The common animals which live in the harsh climatic conditions of the tropical deserts include camel, ass, gazelle and cheetah. In temperate deserts, the animals found are the

Wildlife In the Tundra Region:

Wildlife In the Desert Region:

Bactrian camel (two humped camel) and horses. Yak is the common animal in the Plateau ofTibet, a cold desert. In Mongolia, Kuland or wild ass is an important animal.

5. Equatorial Type

Natural Vegetation:

Tropical Rainforests are typical of the Equatorial regions. In Malaysia and Indonesia rainforests cover large part of the countries, whereas in southern Sri Lanka these forests have been replaced by agricultural landscape comprising plantations of tea, coconut palms and rubber trees.

• The vegetation consists of evergreen, broad leafed tall, dense trees which form a thick canopy.
• The climatic conditions are ideal for the growth of dense evergreen forests because the region gets high amount of rainfall throughout the year and is constantly warm.
• The important hardwood trees include rosewood, ebony, mahogany, rubber and cinchona. Mangrove swamps are found in the coastal areas. These forests also have a thick undergrowth of shrubs and creepers.

Wildlife:

A number of birds and animals inhabit these dense evergreen forests. The main species of animals include the monkeys, sloths, lizards, snakes, birds, insects and apes like orangutans and gibbons.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 1 Representation Of Geographical Features

The Earth is a huge planet with varied relief features like mountains, valleys, plateaus, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. All these relief features have three dimensions, i.e., length, breadth and height. When these features are represented on a map,

Only two dimensions can be seen, i.e.,

1. Length
2. Breadth

To solve this problem, several methods have been developed over the years to represent all dimensions of relief features on maps. These methods include hachures, hill shading, benchmarks, spot heights and contours.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 1 Contours

In previous classes, we have studied that a Topographical Map, also called ‘Topographical Survey Sheet’ or simply a Topo-Sheet, is a large-scale map based on an actual field survey. It shows both natural and man-made features in detail.

These features can also be represented on a physical map

But what makes a topographical map different from a physical map is the Contours or Contour Lines, which are used to show varied relief features. Contour Lines are imaginary lines joining places having the same height above mean sea level.

• Thus, a contour marked 150 means that all places which are connected by it are located at a height of 150 metres (depending on the unit used). Suppose a person is on a hill of 500 metres high.
• He does not go up and down the hill but moves around there only. Thus, the path he follows will have a contour of 500 metres.
• To further simplify the concept, let us suppose that a conical hill is surrounded by sea on all sides.
• If it is cut along planes at regular intervals of 100 metres in height

Then, the outlines of these intersections will show contours at 100-metre intervals, as shown in the figure below.

The contour lines are shown by brown colour in two ways:

1. Thick brown lines
2. Thin brown lines.

After the interval of 100 metres, a thick brown line is drawn for calculating the height. This is called the index contour.

• The difference in height between two consecutive contours is called the Contour Interval.
• In the Figure given below, the thick contour shows the heights 300, 400 and 500 metres.
• The thin contour depicts the height of 320, 340, and 360 metres.
• Here, the contour interval is 20 metres

Contour lines show the following:

1. Elevation of land: The height of the land is indicated by figures inserted in a break in the contour line.
2. Steepness of its slope: When the contours are very close, they represent a steep gradient. When they are farther apart, they represent a gentle gradient. Absence of contour lines indicates that the land is flat, i.e., a lowland.
3. Shape of land at various heights: The contour lines indicate the shape of the land. For example, almost circular contours whose contour height decreases inwards represent a lake

Salient Features of Contour Lines

• Contour lines join places having the same height above mean sea level.
• Contours are curved lines, whose curvature depends upon the configuration of land. They are never broken.
• The spacing of the contour lines indicates the nature of the slope.
• Contours of different heights do not cross each other. However, contours come very close to each other to show the steepness of the slope or merge as in a cliff.
• A contour line either closes on itself on the map, or it begins at one side of the map and ends at another. In case of a ridge contour, lines run parallel to each other.
• In case of a valley, they point towards the lowest contour and rise again.

Spot Height:

It refers to the height of a point on the ground above the mean sea level. It is indicated on a map but not on the ground.

• It is represented by a dot followed by a number on the map (•500).
• The number shows the height above mean sea level of that place. A spot height gives information about the height of a specific point only.
• It gives no idea about the relief features like mountains, plateaus, plains, ridges, valleys, etc

Identifying Landforms Through Contours

Contours help us to identify various landforms through the patterns they form. In fact, each landform has its own distinct contour pattern.

Types of Slopes

The study of contours gives an idea of the type of slope.

The slopes can be classified into the following types:

1. Steep Slope:

• When the degree or angle of slope of a feature is high, it is known as a steep slope.
• On a steep slope, the contours are drawn close to one another.

2. Gentle Slope:

• When the degree or angle ofa slope ofa feature is very low, it is known as a gentle slope.
• In such a slope, the change of elevation is gradual.
• The contours in such a slope are placed wide apart.

3. Hill:

A hill refers to a landform that was a summit at a high elevation. A conical hill is like a cone which has a broad base.

• Its slope is almost the same on all sides.
• Contours showing a conical hill are almost circular with the peak of the hill as their centre.
• The contours are drawn at almost regular distances, the value of which increases towards the centre.
• For a volcanic hill, the value of one or two contours decreases instead of increasing at the centre.
• A mountain is higher in elevation than a conical hill and has more contour lines representing it.

4. Plateau:

It is an upland area with steep marginal slope on one or more sides and an almost flat top. The top of a plateau has very few contours, while the steep sides have closely spaced contours.

• Their values increase towards the centre. The innermost contour is very wide, and it represents the flat table-like top.
• It is the large central part of a plateau’s contour that distinguishes it from a conical hill.
• When several valleys of rivers and streams cut through the top of a plateau, it is known as a dissected plateau. The Deccan Plateau in India is an example ofa dissected plateau.
• The contours of both plateaus are similar, the only difference is that in a dissected plateau, the contours are more irregular and often turn upwards to show the river valleys.

A Plateau:

A Dissected Plateau:

5. Ridge:

It is a long and narrow highland sloping steeply downwards on its sides. It has several summits. Contours showing a ridge are elongated and are closely spaced. Their values increase towards the centre. Sometimes, there occur peaks and passes across a ridge. The innermost contours represent the peaks.

6. Col, Gap, Saddle and Pass:

A col is also sometimes called a saddle or a pass. It is a low point between two hills or between two peaks of a ridge.

• If the gap is wide it is known as a saddle.
• A pass is a lowland between two mountain peaks and provides a passage. The height of a pass is lower than the height of a saddle.
• A gap is a low lying depression or a valley which cuts through a range of hills. A river flows through a gap
• A saddle is so called because it resembles the shape ofa saddle used on horses. It does not provide passage through a mountain.
• The contour pattern showing a col or saddle also resemblesan hourglass or a sand clock.

Col:

Gap:

Saddle:

Pass:

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 1 Settlements

Settlements are places where people build their houses and settle down more or less permanently. In other words, a settlement is a group of human dwellings in urban or rural areas. The place where a settlement develops is called a site.

Early human beings were hunters and gatherers.

• They used to move from one place to another in search of food and shelter.
• They lived in caves or on trees. Gradually, they learnt to grow crops.
• This made it necessary for them to have a permanent home. So they built permanent shelters in the form of huts and thus grew settlements near river valleys.
• The rivers provided them with water and fertile land to grow crops and a mode of transport using rafts and boats.
• Agriculture gave them surplus food and ample time to practice other crafts.
• Gradually, this led to the development of trade, commerce and manufacturing.
• For this, they built different types of structures like granaries, workshops, schools, temples, ports and so on.
• Consequently, human settlements became larger and gave way to villages and towns and finally to cities.
• This led to the growth ofa number of river valley civilisations like the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Settlements usually develop in areas which have a moderate climate, arable, fertile land, availability of water, the potential for providing jobs in mining and industries and easy access to other areas through roads, rivers, and railways.

• Therefore, settlements generally develop on level land where the construction of buildings, roads and railways is easier.
• In highland areas, settlements develop on the floors of valleys.
• Further, settlements come up in areas where there are ample opportunities for earning a living like in the vicinity of cities, in industrial areas and in tourist spots.

Types of Settlements

Based on the length of time for which a settlement is occupied by the people, there are two types of settlements

1. Temporary Settlements: 

Temporary Settlements are those settlements that are inhabited for a short time and then abandoned.

• The people living in deep forests, hot and cold deserts and mountains reside in these temporary settlements.
• They practice hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation and transhumance (the practice of moving livestock from one grazing ground to another in a seasonal cycle, typically to lowlands in winter and highlands in summer.)

For example:

People living in the hilly terrain in Badrinath and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand stay there during the summer season and come down to the plains during the harsh winters.

• Some people never build a permanent settlement and are always on the move, like Gadia Lohars, a nomadic community of ironsmiths from Rajasthan.
• They move from one place to another on bullock carts, called gadi, hence their name, Gadia Lohars.
• The bullock carts are their homes. Temporary settlements are shown on a topographic sheet using squares with a red outline.

2. Permanent Settlements:

Permanent Settlements are those that are occupied for a very long period.

• These settlements can be either big or small.
• They include buildings for houses, schools, hospitals, offices, markets, cultural and entertainment centres, etc.
• Permanent settlements are shown on a topo-sheet using solid red squares.

Based on their size, population density, economic activities, development and the number and quality of public utility services,

Settlements can be classified into the following types:

Rural Settlements:

Rural Settlements are most closely and directly related to land and include villages.

• The design and use of building materials of houses vary from one region to another based on terrain, availability of raw material, season and monetary capability.
• Most of the houses in rural areas are made up of mud, wood and thatch.
• The main economic activities followed by the people in rural areas include agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing and forestry.
• The basic amenities, such as clean drinking water, electricity, schools and colleges, roads, and a communication network, are not as developed as in urban areas.
• In many developing countries of the world, rural areas lack basic facilities like toilets and proper garbage disposal, causing health related problems.

Urban Settlements include:

Urban Settlements: cities and towns. They are larger than rural settlements.

• Most of the people in urban settlements are engaged in non-agricultural activities such as manufacturing, trading and services.
• These areas have advanced amenities, better opportunities for education, health-care, employment, transportation, communication and overall better standard of living than rural settlements.
• Some of the cities and towns have gained prominence as specialised centres based on residential, recreational, transport, manufacturing, mining and information technology-related activities.

For example:

Bengaluru has emerged as the Information Technology hub in India.

Settlement Patterns

The Settlement Pattern refers to the arrangement of houses and other buildings in an area. In simple words, it means the shape of the settlements as seen from above.

Thus, based on the shape or pattern, the settlements can be classified into the following types:

1. Nucleated or Compact Settlements:

• These settlements are those in which a large number of houses are built very close to each other. Such settlements usually develop along river valleys and in fertile plains.
• These settlements often cluster around a central feature like a place of worship, an important building, a police station, a trade route and so on.
• In these settlements, communities are closely knit and share common occupations.

2. Dispersed or Scattered Settlements:

These settlements are those in which the buildings are scattered over a large area.

• They are mostly found in hilly tracts, thick forests and regions of extreme climate.
• This pattern is also associated with large farms and sparse population.

3. Linear Settlements:

These settlements are those in which the buildings are located in a line along a road, railway line, river, canal or the edge of a valley. Such settlements are also known as Ribbon-patterned Settlements.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 1 Interpretation And Analysis Of A Topo-Sheet

Interpretation of a Topo-sheet involves describing the physical and cultural features as shown on it as well as the interrelation between various features. For example, one can identify different physical features like relief, drainage and vegetation and then interpret how these physical features affect the cultural or man-made features.

Locating Features on a Topo-Sheet

For interpreting a topo-sheet, it is essential to first find out the location of a place on it. On an ordinary map prepared on a small scale, one can easily find out the location of a place with the help of a grid.

A grid is a set of lines that look like a ‘cell’ on a graph paper.

• Any feature on the map can be easily located by finding the cell in which it lies. In such maps, a grid is formed by the lines of latitude and longitude.
• Topographic maps, however, have a large scale and cover much smaller areas. Therefore, in these maps there is not enough space to form a grid of lines of latitude and longitude.
• To overcome this difficulty, a grid reference system formed by vertical and horizontal lines is used.
• These lines are drawn in red colour and each line is known by a two-digit number.
• These lines are drawn from the southwest corner of a topo sheet as the starting point.
• The vertical lines drawn east of this point are called Eastings, and the horizontal lines drawn north of this point are called Northings.

The Eastings increase in value eastwards, whereas the Northings increase in value northwards.

In the figure given above, the lines numbered 32, 33, 34 and 35 are Eastings, and the lines numbered 11, 12, 13, and 14 are Northings.

• These Northings and the Eastings cut across each other to form squares or grids.
• These lines are the basis for reference to landmarks and places shown on the map.
• To find out the location that lies within a particular square, a grid reference system is used.
• In this type of reference, the first two figures give the Eastings, whereas the last two give the Northings.
• For example, the temple in the above figure has the four-figure grid reference 3211.
• This means that the temple is located in the 1 km square with Eastings for 32 and Northings of 11.
• Thus, large lakes, meanders, streams, settlements, embankments, physical features, etc., which occupy some space on the map, can be located by using a four-figure reference.
• With the help of contour map information and use of conventional signs and symbols,

A topographic sheet is usually interpreted under the following heads:

1. Marginal Information:

It includes the topographical sheet number, like G43S7 and G43S10, its location, grid references, its extent in degrees and minutes, scale, contour interval, legend, the districts covered, etc. It gives an idea as to which part of country is being depicted by the map

2. Relief of the Area:

The general topography or the relief of the area is studied under the following heads:

• Hill: With concave, convex, steep or gentle slope and shape.
• Plateau: Whether it is broad, narrow, flat, undulating or dissected.
• Plain: Its types, i.e., alluvial, glacial, coastal, marshy, etc.
• Mountain: Its general elevation, peak, passes, area, etc.

3. Drainage of the Area:

The important rivers and their tributaries and the type and extent of valleys formed by them.

4. Land Use:

It includes the use of land under different categories, like

• Natural vegetation and forest
• Agricultural, orchard, wasteland, industrial area, etc
• Facilities and services such as schools, colleges, hospitals, parks, airports, electric substations, etc.

5. Transport and Communication:

The means of transportation include national or state highways, district roads, cart tracks, camel tracks, footpaths, railways, waterways, majorcommunication lines, post offices, etc.

6. Settlements:

These are studied under thefollowing heads:

• Rural Settlements
• Urban Settlements ; and
• The pattern of settlements.

7. Occupation:

The general occupation of the people of the area may be identified with the help of land use and the type of settlements.

For example:

In rural areas, the main occupation of the people is agriculture; in coastal areas, fishing is practised. Similarly, in cities and towns, services and businesses appear to be the major occupations of the people.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 2 Population Dynamics

Population refers to the total number of people 1 inhabiting an area, a region or a country.

• It is these people, who use resources of a nation, produce goods and services, help to develop its economy and society and create the social and cultural environment. In this way, people themselves act like an important resource of a countiy, known as the human resource.
• Thus, population forms the centre around which all the other elements revolve.
• It acts as a reference point for studying various aspects of a nation, like its economic growth and development, health care, literacy and standard of living of people.

Population is a dynamic phenomenon. The numbers, distribution and composition of the population are constantly changing. Population Dynamics is the branch of science that focuses on the changes in the size and age composition of populations and tries to find out how, when and why these changes occur.

The five key properties of a population are:

1. Spatial distribution

2. Size and Density

Population by Continent: 1980 to 2050:

[In millions, except per cent (4,453 represents 4,453,000,000). As of midyear]

World Population by Country (2023):

3. Age structure

4. Birth Rate (Natality)

5. Death Rate (Mortality)

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 2 Distribution Of Population In The World

Population distribution:

Population distribution refers to how members of a population are dispersed physically in a specific area.

• The population of the world is unevenly distributed. About 90 per cent of the world population lives in 10 per cent of its land area.
• The ten most populous countries of the world contribute about 60 per cent of the world’s population. Of these 10 countries, six are located in Asia.
• When early man settled down and started practising agriculture, in about 8000 B.C., the population of the world was approximately 5 million.
• There was a gradual increase in population over the years.
• However, the Industrial Revolution gave rise to rapid population growth.
• Around 1800, the world population had reached one billion; the second billion was achieved in only 130 years (1930),
• The third billion in 30 years (1960), the fourth billion in 15 years (1974), and the fifth billion in only 13 years (1987).
• During the 20th century alone, the population in the world grew from 1.65 billion to 6 billion. According to the United

Nations the global human population has reached eight billion in mid-November 2022, and India has surpassed China as the most populated country in April 2023. This rapid growth in population is called Population explosion.

Population Density

Population Density refers to the number of people living in an area of one square kilometre

Density of Population = Population/Area

The density of population differs from area to area. Some areas are thickly populated, whereas others are moderately populated. Besides, there are many areas, which areuninhabited. Population density of the world is estimated at around 50 persons per square kilometre, i.e., 50 people live in every square kilometre of land.

• This includes all continental and island land areas, including Antarctica.
• Monaco is the most densely populated country in the world, with a population density of 26,105 people per sq. kilometre.
• Many parts of the world are densely populated with more than 200 persons per sq. kilometre.
• These are the North-Eastern part of the USA, North-Western part of Europe, South, South-East and East Asia.
• Mongolia is the least densely populated country in the world. The five least densely populated countries with having population of 10 million are Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Bolivia.

Among the continents, Asia is the most populated continent in the world with a population of approximately 4.7 billion, occupying one-fifth of the world’s land area.

• However, the country with the highest population density in Asia is Bangladesh. Europe has a population of about 742 million people.
• Around 9.3 per cent of the world’s population lives in Europe.
• The north-western part of Europe, comprising the highly industrialised countries like the UK, Germany, Denmark and France, is heavily populated.
• This is because of the mild climate, availability of diverse natural resources and development of highly advanced industries that this region has a high density of population.
• In North America and South America, over 65 per cent of the population lives in one of the three most populous countries, i.e., the United States, Brazil and Mexico.
• These areas are concentrated in the fertile Temperate regions.
• Africa with a population of 1.5 billion, representing approximately 18 per cent of the population.
• In Africa, the densely populated areas include the Nile Valley, Mediterranean Coast, Guinea Coast and coastal South Africa.
• Mauritius is the most densely populated African country.

Many areas of the world have a moderate density of population.

• There are 11 to 50 persons per sq. km in these areas.
• These include central China, the Deccan plateau of India, Eastern Europe, the Central part of the USA, Russia and Tropical Western Africa.
• This is due to the prevalence of extreme climatic conditions, inadequate rainfall and scarcity of important natural resources.
• Areas near the North and South Poles, the hot and the cold deserts and high rainfall zones near the Equator have a very low density of population.
• These are the sparsely populated regions of the world with less than 01 person per sq. km.

Factors Influencing Population Density

The population of the world is unevenly distributed. There are many factors responsible for this uneven distribution of population.

Population from 1950 to 2021:

These include the following:

1. Relief:

The plains and gentle slopes are more densely populated than the mountainous or hilly areas.

• This is because such areas are favourable for agriculture, building houses and other establishments, industrialisation and transportation.
• The Ganga Plains of India are among the most densely populated areas of the world, whereas the Himalayas are comparatively scarcely populated

2. Climate:

Climate greatly influences the concentration of population in an area. Areas with extreme climates, such as very hot or cold deserts or harsh climates, are thinly populated.

For example:

Mongolia, a desert country in Asia, is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.

• It has very little arable land and much of its area is covered by grassy Steppes.
• Australia also has a low density of population due to vast stretches of desert areas and mainly arid, inaccessible interiors and remote coasts called the outbacks.
• Botswana, Iceland, Namibia, Suriname and northern Canada are some of the other sparsely populated countries of the world.
• Areas with a moderate climate attract settlements.

For example:

The Mediterranean regions, having warm to hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters Eire densely populated due to their pleasant climate.

3. Soil and Water:

Fertile soils are needed for agricultural and allied activities. So the areas which have fertile loamy soils and can support intensive agriculture, have high density of population.

• Similarly, areas with poor soils are thinly populated.
• Water is a basic necessity of life. It is needed for drinking, bathing, cooking, washing clothes, for cattle, crops, industries and navigation.
• That is why river valleys are among the most densely populated regions of the world.

4. Natural Resources:

Areas which have abundant natural resources, like minerals and power resources, attract large populations.

• Industries are set up in areas where minerals and power resources (mineral fuels, water power, solar energy, biomass, geothermal and wind energy) are easily available.
• These industries generate employment for both skilled and semi-skilled workers, who move to these areas and make them densely populated.

For example:

The Kobe-Osaka region of Japan is thickly populated because of the presence of several industries.

5. Urbanisation:

Cities attract more people, especially in developing countries, as they offer better employment opportunities, educational and health-care facilities, and better means of transport and communication. Better civic amenities and the attraction of city life lead to the migration of rural people to the cities, and the cities grow in size.

6. Political, Social and Cultural Factors:

Countries which have stable governments tend to have a high density of population.

• People usually tend to move away from places where there is social and political unrest.
• Groups of people based on ethnicity, religion occupation tend to live in communities in a particular region.
• Besides, some places attract more people due to their religious, historical or cultural significance

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 2 Overpopulation

Overpopulation refers to the condition when the human population is more than the available natural resources which can support it.

• This is caused by increased birth rates, declining mortality rates, breakthroughs in medical science and migration of people to a particular area.
• When there exists a state of balance between population and the available resources in a particular area, it is known as the optimum population.
• At this stage, people have sufficient job opportunities and enjoy high standards of living.
• This balance gets disturbed when the population of an area increases or decreases drastically in comparison to the availability of resources.
• Thus, population growth beyond a certain level leads to problems

Impact of Overpopulation

The following are the impacts of overpopulation:

Pressure on Existing Resources:

As the human population increases, it puts pressure on the existing natural resources such as cultivable land, fresh water, fossil fuels and minerals.

• This leads to degradation and depletion of resources and contributes to an incredible decline in the quality of life.
• Excessive human consumption of non¬ renewable resources can outstrip the availability of these resources shortly and remarkably deplete them for future generations.

Shortage of Basic Necessities:

Overpopulation causes shortage of food, fresh water, shelter, health-care and educational facilities and other basic necessities of life.

• This lowers the standard of living as it creates stress on the vital resources for survival.
• Consequently, it makes the poor to become poorer and they are forced to opt for poor living conditions for survival.

Unemployment and Poverty:

Increased population demands more job opportunities.

• These cannot be created with the existing resources and create stiff competition for the fewer available jobs.
• This leads to unemployment and poverty, which in turn causes problems like increased crime rates, conflicts and violence.

Destruction of Natural Habitats of Animals:

Theincreasedloss offorestlands forcultivation and for human settlements for the growing population leads to the destruction of the natural habitats of a large number of animals and plant species, threatens their existence and finally causes their extinction.

Increased Use of Energy Resources:

Overpopulation results in increased consumption of resources.

• The more the number of people, the more is the number of goods produced by industries, the more the number of vehicles used, and the more the use of energy resources like coal, petroleum and natural gas.
• All these contribute to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and thereby, global warming and climate change.

Increase in Human Diseases:

According to the WHO, overpopulation is one of the main causes of the increased occurrence of human diseases.

• Overpopulation worsens environmental and social factors like pollution, malnutrition, education and healthcare facilities, and creates overcrowded, unhygienic living conditions in slums.
• These make poor people vulnerable to many infectious diseases. Diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, dysentery, HIV, etc., spread faster in overpopulated countries.

Increase in Cost of Living:

Increasing demand for resources and fewer supplies raise the price of commodities and thereby, increase the cost of living.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 2 Underpopulation

Underpopulation refers to the condition when the size of population of an area is too small to fully utilise the available resources of that area. In such a situation the resources of a nation remain underutilised. The Prairies of North America, Canada, Equatorial Congo, parts of Australia and New Zealand, Russia and Namibia are underpopulated.

Underpopulation is usually caused by

• Increase in death rate caused by natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, etc.
• A falling birth rate, and
• An increase in the emigration of a large population to another area.

It is generally believed that large countries with small populations are underpopulated whereas small countries with large populations are overpopulated. But this is not correct as overpopulation and underpopulation is not related to the density or size of the population. It depends on the availability and effective utilisation of resources of that area by its people.

Impact of Underpopulation

Underpopulation has both positive and negative impacts.

Positive Impacts:

• The positive impacts of underpopulation are the following:
• Food, shelter, education, healthcare and other amenities are available to everyone.
• There are enough resources for everybody to utilise.
• Underpopulated countries experience little or no congestion.
• There are fewer people, therefore less resources are required and therefore there are fewer of industries and less waste generated. Consequently, there is less pollution and environmental degradation.
• Job opportunities are ample for all those willing to work, as there are fewer people. Income levels and standards of living are usually high in underpopulated areas.

Negative Impacts:

• The negative impacts of underpopulation are the following:
• Resources remain highly underutilised in underpopulated countries.
• Due to a lack of adequate manpower, production levels remain low, and the cost of hiring labour is quite high.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 2 Factors Affecting The Population Of A Place

Population is a dynamic phenomenon. Its number, distribution and composition keep on changing constantly.

Population change:

Population change refers to the change in several inhabitants of an area during a specific period.

The major factors that bring about a change in the population ofa place, whether in an individual country or the whole world, are the following:

Birth Rate:

Birth rate, also known as Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is the number of live births per thousand persons in a year.

It is calculated as:

CBR – Bi/P × 1000

Where, Bi = live births during the year and P = Mid-year population of the area.

Death Rate:

Death rate or Crude Death Rate (CDR) is the number of deaths per thousand persons in a year. It is calculated as:

CDR – D/P × 1000

Where D = number of deaths; P = Mid-year population of that year.

When birth rates are higher than death rates, the population of an area increases

Migration:

Migration is the movement of people across regions and territories. When people migrate from one place to another within a territory or a country, it is called internal migration.

• When migration occurs between countries, it is called international migration.
• Internal migration does not change the size of the population but influences the distribution of the population within a country.
• When people migrate 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’.
• Due to migration of people, the place of origin shows a decrease in population, whereas the place of destination shows an increase in population.
• Migrants who move into a new country are called immigrants, and the process is called immigration.
• Similarly, when migrants move out of a country, they are called emigrants and the process is called emigration.
• The same people are both immigrants and emigrants.

For example:

People who left Ireland during the famine were referred to as emigrants by the people left behind in Ireland.

• The same people, when they arrived in the USA, were referred to as immigrants by the Americans.
• People move out of their country due to a lack of employment opportunities, poor living conditions, political turmoil, unpleasant climatic conditions, natural disasters, epidemics and socio-economic backwardness.
• We will read about migration in detail in the next chapter.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 2 Composition Of Population

Each region or country has a diversity ofpopulation based on their age, sex, place of residence, education, occupation and life expectancy. These diverse features help us to understand the various qualities of that population and enable the governments to plan and implement different policies based on these determinants.

Age Composition

Age Composition of a population refers to the number of people in different age groups in a country.

• It is one of the important characteristics of a population. This is because a person’s age influences every aspect of his life like his health, capacity to perform, working habits and needs and aspirations.
• Consequently, the number and percentage of different categories of people determine the population’s social and economic structure.

The population of a country is usually grouped into three categories:

• Children (generally below 15 years): This group is economically unproductive and needs to be provided with the necessities like food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care.
• Adults (15-59 years): They are economically productive and biologically reproductive. They comprise the working population.
• Aged (Above 59 years): They can be economically productive, though they are at the stage of retirement from service. They may work voluntarily, but they are not eligible for employment through recruitment.

Thus, children and old people aged above 59 do not contribute in production and constitute the dependent population of a country.

• In the developed countries of the world, the percentage of dependent population is low.
• The world is home to 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 years. This means that 9 out of 10 people in the world belonging to this age group live in less developed countries of the world.
• With 356 million people in the 10-24 years old (28 per cent of India’s population), India has the world’s largest youth population. Two-thirds of India’s population is less than 35 years.

Sex Ratio

Sex Ratio refers to the number of females per 1000 males in the population. In India, the sex ratio is worked out using the formula

Sex Ratio = female Population/Male Population x 1000

According to the Population Census of 2011, the sex ratio in India is 940 females per 1000 males.

• The states of Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry are places where the number of women is more than the number of men. Haryana has the lowest sex ratio in India, i.e., 877 females per thousand men.
• However, infamous for skewed sex ratio, Haryana saw an improvement in it with the number of females crossing 900 mark in December 2015.
• The sex ratio is an indicator of the status of womeninacountry.Itis alsoanimportant indicator to check the extent of gender equality between males and females in a society at a given time.
• In regions or countries where gender discrimination is prevalent, the sex ratio is unfavourable to women. These are the areas where there are high instances ofthe practice of female foeticide, female infanticide and domestic violence against women

Rural Urban Composition

The division of population into rural and urban is based on the location of people. This division shows how the rural and urban lifestyles differ from each other in terms of their livelihood and social conditions.

• The age-sex occupational structure, density of population and level of development vary between rural and urban areas.
• These criteria for differentiating rural and urban populations vary from country to country.
• Generally, rural areas are those where people are engaged in primary activities, while urban areas are those where the majority ofthe working population is engaged in non-primary activities.

The rural and urban differences in Sex Ratio in Canada and Western European countries like Finland are just the opposite of those in African and Asian countries like Zimbabwe and Nepal, respectively.

In Western countries, males are more than females in rural areas, and females outnumber males in urban areas. In countries like Nepal, Pakistan and India, the case is reverse.

• The excess offemales in urban areas of USA, Canada and Europe is the result of migration of females from rural areas to workin cities.
• Since farmingin developed countries is highly mechanised it remains largely a male occupation. By contrast the Sex Ratio in Asian urban areas remains male dominated due to the predominance ofmale migration.
• In countries like India, female participation in farming activities in rural areas is fairly high.
• Shortage of housing, high cost of living, lack of job opportunities and lack of security in cities discourage women from migrating from rural to urban areas

Population Pyramid

The population Pyramid refers to the graphical representation age-sex structure ofa population. It can be drawn for any area, from a whole continent or country to an individual town, city or village.

• In this representation, the size of the population under investigation is distributed on the horizontal X-axis, whereas the Y-axis represents the age group, which is distributed from 0 to 80 years, and each is broken down to a 5-year age interval.
• The female population is shown on the right, whereas the male population is shown on the left.
• The shape of the population pyramid reflects the characteristics of the population like life expectancy, fertility rate and migration.

Based on the information deciphered from the shapes of the pyramids, they are grouped into three types.

1. Underdeveloped Countries:

The population pyramids for Underdeveloped countries like Mozambique, Somalia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, etc. have the following characteristics:

• The pyramid is broad at the base and narrow, tapering towards the top
• The broad base shows a high birth rate and a large number of children aged below 15 years.
• The tapering top shows that though the birth rates are high, life expectancy is lower.
• Many children die in their infancy. Due to the high death rate, fewer people reach old age.
• High birth and death rates, and lower life expectancy, show that the country lacks in providing a nutritious diet, adequate medical facilities, education and a decent standard of living to its people.

2. Developing Countries:

The population pyramids for developing countries like India have the following characteristics:

• The pyramid is broad at the base, has a less steep , narrowing top and a slightly broader top
• The broad base indicates high birth rate, but it is less broad as in the case of developed countries due to decreasing birth rates.
• The less steep narrowing pyramid indicates a falling death rate, especially among young people and a large number of people of working age.
• It’s life expectancy. Slightly broader top shows increasing decreasing birth and death rates and increasing life expectancy, indicating that the country is improving its standards in nutrition, healthcare, education and standard of living, though much still needs to be done.

3. Developed Countries:

The population pyramids of developed countries like Japan, the USA, and Germany have the following characteristics:

• The pyramid has a narrow base, going straight and has a broader top
• The narrow base shows a low birth rate and a relatively small number of children below the age of 15.
• The straighter pyramid shows a low death rate, and the broader top shows high life expectancy and more people reaching old age.
• Lowbirth and deathrate, highlife expectancy shows that the country has higher living standards, best healthcare facilities, good quality of education and lifestyle.

A population pyramid provides useful information about the following:

• It tells us about the birth and death rates and the life expectancy (the average number of years one is expected to live).
• It shows the number of people in each age group separately for males and females.
• It tells us about the number of males and females in the working and dependent population.
• It can be used to study the future prospects of a nation in terms of economy, birth and mortality rate, sustainability of society, etc.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 11 India: Human Resources

Human resources refer to the people who make up the workforce of an organisation, business sector or economy of a country. It is also sometimes known as ‘human capital’. They are the people, who have productive skills and abilities such as knowledge, wisdom, intelligence and sound health.

Without the existence of these human resources, it is impossible to utilise other resources of the country. Thus, people in the age group of 15 to 64 years or working age constitute the human resources of a country. These are the people who play an important role in the growth and development of a country.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 11 India Distribution of Population In India

Geographical Distribution

Population Distribution refers to how the members of a population are dispersed physically in a specific area. Each unit ofland has a particular capacity to support people living on it.

• Hence, it is necessary to know the ratio between the number of people and the area of land available to them.
• This ratio is known as the density of population. It is defined as the number of people per unit area of land. It is usually measured in persons per sq. kilometre

Density of population: Population/Area

• The population of India as per the 2011 Census was 1,20,193,422, and the density of population was 382 persons per square kilometre.
• At present, the population of India is 1.35 billion. With 2.4 per cent ofthe world’s surface area, India accounts for 17.5 per cent world’s population.
• Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state with roughly 200 million people.
• The Union Territory of Lakshadweep is the least populous, whereas Puducherry is the most populous Union Territory.
• More than half of India’s population lives in the five most populous States, i.e., Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh

Although Rajasthan is the largest state in terms of size, its population contributes only

5.5 per cent of India’s total population. States like Sikkim and Lakshadweep have the lowest population. India’s population is unevenly distributed.

• Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and the North-Eastern States are thinly populated.
• This is because of the hilly terrain in these States, which makes it difficult to grow crops and develop rail and road links.
• The desert regions of Gujarat and Rajasthan also have a sparse population. However, the plains of northern India and the coastal plains are thickly populated

Rural-Urban Distribution

The division of the population into rural and urban is based on residence.

• Further, the age-sex-occupational structure, density of population and level of development vary between rural and urban areas.
• In general terms, rural areas are those where people are engaged in primary activities, and urban areas are those where the majority of the working population is engaged in secondary and tertiary activities.

According to the 2011 Census in India, 68.8 per cent of people live in rural areas and about 31.2 per centof  people live in towns and cities.

Between 2001 and 2011, the growth of India’s urban population was slightly more than rural population.

• The level of urbanisation increased from 27.81% in the 2001 Census, while the proportion of rural population declined from 72.19% to 68.84%.
• Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of people living in rural areas, whereas Maharashtra has the largest share of India’s urban population.
• Migration of people from rural to urban areas plays an important role in changing the composition and distribution of the population.
• In India, people move from rural to urban areas because of adverse conditions of poverty and unemployment and lack of amenities in rural areas.
• It is also due to the ‘pull ’ of urban areas in terms of increased employment opportunities, higher wages and better living conditions.

Sex Ratio

Sex Ratio refers to the number of females per thousand males in the population. In India, the sex ratio has always remained unfavourable to females.

• According to Census 2011, the sex ratio in India is 940, i.e., there are 940 females per thousand males.
• The main reasons for the low sex ratio in India include preference for male child, the practice of female foeticide, female infanticide, domestic violence against women, lack of education and skills among women and their lower socio-economic status.

The government of India has started many schemes to improve the status of women in India like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme, (save the girl child, educate the girl child) meant to prevent gender biased sex selective elimination (female foeticide); to ensure survival and protection of the girl child; and to ensure education and participation of the girl child.

Some other schemes include the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of:

• Adolescent Girls, Sabla, Mahile E-haat, i.e., a direct online marketing platform to support women entrepreneurs, Self Help Groups and NGOS to showcase products and services given by them,
• One Stop Centres with Nirbhaya Fund, to be established at various locations in India for providing shelter, police desk, legal, medical and counselling to victims of violence,
• Swadhar Greh, for rehabilitation of women in difficult circumstances, Indira Gandhi Matriva Sahyog Yojna, to provide conditional cash transfer to pregnant and lactating women.
• All these schemes are aimed at educating women so that they can stand on their own feet and can live with dignity and self-respect.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 11 India: Skilled And Unskilled Human Resource

The human resources of a country can be broadly grouped into two categories:

1. Skilled Human Resources

These are the people who are capable of working independently and efficiently. They have special skill or ability, achieved by a special kind of education or training. They include accountants, artists, computer operators, doctors, electricians, engineers, mechanics, policemen, soldiers, plumbers and teachers.

2. Unskilled Human Resources

These are the people who do not possess any special training or skill and whose work involves the performance of simple duties which require the exercise of little or no independent judgement or previous experience , although a familiarity with the occupational environment is necessary. These include farmers, labourers, peons, domestic servants, sweepers, washermen, porters, watchmen, cleaners, etc.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 11 India: Role Of Health And Education In Human Resource Development

Human Resource Development refers to the process of transforming human beings into highly productive humans, bringing with effective inputs of health, education and skill.

• This is also known as human capital formation. It is this human capital, which effectively utilises the natural resources ofa nation and leads to its growth and development.
• It is all the more important in a labour-surplus country like India, where two-thirds of its population is below 35 years of age.
• It is expected that India is likely to have the world’s largest workforce by 2027, with a billion people in the age group of 15 and 64.
• This huge workforce can be transformed into an asset by providing them proper health care, education and skills.
• The statistical indicator of estimating human development in each nation is
• Human Development Index (HDI). It is the combination of Life Expectancy Index, Education Index and Income Index.
• India ranks 131st in a list of 188 countries in a report prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Human Development Index.

Life free from illness and ailment and living a reasonably long life span are indicative ofa healthy life. The availability of pre- and postnatal health care facilities to reduce infant mortality and post-delivery deaths among mothers, old age health care, adequate nutrition, and individual safety are important measures of a healthy and reasonably long life.

• India has done reasonably well in some of the health indicators like decline in death rate, infant mortality rate and birth rate and increase in life expectancy at birth.
• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launches and implements various schemes to improve the health of the people by providing public health services, vaccinating people against diseases and raising awareness on various health issues
• Education is an important factor for the development of human capital. It is through education that human beings acquire the necessary knowledge, information and awareness.
• It also imparts them with the skill for getting a job, starting their own business, earning a livelihood and maintaining a decent standard of living.
• This in turn, leads to the growth of the economy and the development of a nation.
• In India, the Ministry of Human Resources Development is responsible for providing quality education from the primary to higher secondary, university education, technical education, skill development and adult education.

Through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or Right to Education, all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years are provided free education. To check the number of dropouts from schools, to encourage higher attendance and to provide healthy, nutritious food, midday meals are provided to children in government schools.

The government of India has also started the National Skill India Mission or Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna from 2015 to provide skills for getting gainful employment and ensuring career progression that meets the aspirations of the people.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 11 India: Impact Of Skilled Human Resource

Skilled Human Resource is the key to a country’s prosperity. It adds to the productive capacity and generation of income. The productive capacity of the people depends on their education, knowledge and skill.

• With greater knowledge and skill, people can get gainful employment. This enhances their income and enables them to maintain a decent standard of living.
• They provide quality education, nutritious food and healthy living to their children.
• Since they have the money, they can afford to buy several products and provide employment to others.

For example:

A Civil Engineer is a highly skilled person. He helps to develop the country’s infrastructure and thus promotes its growth and development.

• He has the resources to buy several consumer goods.
• He utilises the services of some skilled and unskilled people like doctors, teachers, lawyers, mechanics, drivers, electricians, plumbers, masons, farmers, watchmen, porters, washermen, etc.
• Thus, educated and skilled people utilise the services of more people and then turn them into human resources.
• This virtuous cycle transforms a large population into human resources

The skilled human resources impact the socio-economic development of a country in the following ways:

They use their skill and knowledge in the systematic utilisation of the country’s natural resources and contribute in its economic growth and development.

• They contribute to technological progress and bring out innovations in various fields.
• They use their skills to enhance the productivity and thereby, enhance the total income ofthe country. This, is turn, improves the per capita income of the people
• They provide quality education to their children and help in the development of future citizens of the country.
• Since they are highly educated and skilled, they give up superstitions and outdated rituals.
• They also give up discrimination based on religion, caste, creed and sex and thus help in the growth of an equitable society.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 9 India: Climate

Cimate plays a decisive role in the day-to-day living conditions of the people of a region. It is the climate that determines their habits and habitats.

• The houses they live in, the crops they grow, the clothes they wear, the festivals they celebrate are all influenced by the climate.
• This makes it necessary to understand what climate is and how it shapes the lives of the people of a particular place.
• The state of the atmosphere that we observe over an area at any point in time is called Weather.

For example:

A day may be hot, cold, windy, cloudy, or rainy. However, these weather conditions fluctuate often even within a day. For example, it might be hot and sunny in the noon but after an hour, it might start raining, and it becomes a rainy day.

• However, a common pattern of atmospheric conditions can be observed over a few weeks or months, i.e., days are hot or cool, calm or windy, cloudy or bright and dry or wet.
• The sum total of weather conditions and variations over a large area for a long period of time (more than 30 years) is called the Climate
• Based on the generalised monthly atmospheric conditions prevailing in a region, the year is divided into seasons such as summer, winter, etc.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 9 India Climate Of India

India has a tropical monsoon type of climate. This is because India lies in the tropical belt and its climate is influenced by the monsoon winds which are largely confined to the Tropics, i.e., between 20°N £md 20°S.

• The main characteristics of this type of climate are relatively high summer temperatures and cold dry winters.
• However, the Himalayas in the north and the Indian Ocean in the south provide distinctive climatic conditions to India.
• The Himalayan ranges protect northern India from the cold winds of Central Asia and Siberia and give it a sub-tropical climate i.e., summers are hot winters are cool.
• The Indian Ocean in the south gives it a tropical monsoon climate more typical of the tropical zone than that of the temperate zone.
• Despite the broad unity of the monsoon type of climate, variations in climate occur in different regions of the country.

For example:

• The climatic conditions of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the north differ from that of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south; yet all of these States have a similar monsoon type of climate.
• These variations are expressed in the pattern of winds, temperature and rainfall, rhythm of seasons and the degree of wetness or dryness.
• These regional diversities are known as the subtypes of monsoon climate.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 9 India Factors Affecting The Climate Of India

The factors that affect the climate of any place are called climatic controls.

The factors that influence the climate of India axe the following:

1. Latitude

Due to the curvature of the earth, the amount of solar energy received varies according to the latitude. Consequently, temperatures generally decrease from the Equator towards the Poles.

• The Tropic of Cancer passes through the middle of the country and the northern portion lies in the warm temperate zone or commonly known as sub-tropical climate and the southern portion lies in the tropical zone.
• The warm temperate or sub-tropical climate of the northern zone gives it cold winter season and ha ot summer season.
• The southern tropical climatic zone of India is warmer than the north and does not have a clear-cut winter season.
• Similarly, the northern zone does not have the mid-day Sun almost vertically overhead during any part of the year, while the southern zone has the mid-day Sun almost vertically overhead at least twice eveiy year.
• Thus, India’s climate has the characteristics of both tropical and sub-tropical climates.

2. Altitude

As one goes from the surface to higher altitudes, the atmosphere becomes less dense and the temperature decreases.

• There is a decrease of 1°C for every 166 m rise in height.
• India has mountains to the north, which have an average height of about 6,000 m. India also has a vast coastal area where the maximum elevation is about 30 m. So the mountains are cooler than the plains.
• For example, Ooty (Udhagamandalam) has much lower temperature than Kochi, because of the altitude.

3. Winds

The winds which have an overwhelming influence on the climate of India are the monsoon winds. These winds bring rain to the entire Indian subcontinent. Tibet lies in the ‘rainshadow’ of the Himalayas so it does not get rain.

• Besides the monsoon winds, there are other winds which affect the climate of India. The hot and dry winds which blow over the plains of northern India, cause heat waves during the summers.
• Similarly, the winds blowing from the north-west during the winters cause cold waves in northern India.

4. Mountains

Mountains act as a barrier and interfere the free flow of air and thereby modify the climate. The climates on the two sides of a mountain range are so different at times that mountains become climatic divide.

• Rainfall increases higher up as the moist air is forced up slope and the contact of the air stream with the colder surface.
• Heavy cloud and rainfall occurs on the windward side of a mountain.
• The rain shadow region on the leeward side experiences less rain or remains dry. The Himalayas and the Western Ghats are classical examples which display the influence of mountains on the climate.

Without the presence of the Himalayas, the monsoon winds would have blown into Central Asia and the northern part of India would have remained dry.

• The Western Ghats get heavy rainfall on western side because they stand in the way of South West Monsoon winds which come from the Arabian Sea to the Indian peninsular.
• On the other hand, the Deccan Plateau gets less rainfall as it lies in the rain shadow area of the Western Ghats.
• In Rajasthan, the Aravalli Range lies parallel to the direction of the South West Monsoon winds. So it is unable to stop the moisture laden winds.
• This makes Rajasthan a dry area. The southern hills of Assam get heavy rainfall but the northern ones do not.
• This is because the southern hills force the moisture-laden winds to shed their moisture before they proceed northwards.

5. Distance from the Sea

Areas in the interiors of India have an extreme type of climate or continental climate, whereas coastal areas have equable or maritime climate.

• The effect of land breeze and sea breeze caused by differential rate of heating and cooling of land and sea are responsible for moderate climate in coastal areas.
• Thus, areas close to the sea do not experience large variations in temperature across seasons.

For example:

Kochi experiences less variations in temperature than Agra does. This is because Kochi lies on the coast, whereas Agra is far away from the sea.

Western Disturbances

Western Disturbances are temperate cyclones, which originate in West Asia and the regions near the Mediterranean Sea and move towards India. They reach India during the winter season and bring the much-needed winter rainfall over the plains and snowfall in the mountains.

7. Jet Streams

Upper air currents in the Troposphere which determine the arrival and departure of monsoons, are known as jet streams. These currents develop in the upper layers of the atmosphere.

The westerly jet stream prevails over the North Indian Plains during the winter months, while the easterly jet stream steers the tropical depression over India. These upper air circulations play a significant role in the distribution pattern of the monsoon rainfall in the subcontinent. The highest rainfall occurs along the track of these depressions

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 9 India Monsoon Phenomena And Its Mechanism

Monsoons Are Periodic Or Seasonal Winds. They Develop Because Of Differential Heating And Cooling Of The Land And The Sea. They Are Divided Into Two Wind Systems — The Summer Monsoon And The Winter Monsoon.

Summer Monsoons

In May, June and July, the plains of the Indian subcontinent are heated by the vertical rays of the sun.

• The intense heat develops a low pressure on the land. During these months, in the southern hemisphere over the Indian Ocean, a high pressure area develops.
• So, the winds blow from the Indian Ocean northward and northwestward into Asia.
• As they blow from the sea to the land, they bring heavy rainfall in some parts of the Indian subcontinent.
• The summer monsoon winds blow from south¬ west; so they are known as the ‘South-West Summer Monsoon’ or the ‘Advancing Monsoon’.

Winter Monsoons

During winter season, the conditions are just reverse of those in summers. A high pressure develops over a big landmass stretching from Central Asia up to north-west Indian plains.

• At the same time a low pressure zone develops in the Indian Ocean. As the winds blow from the land to the sea, they bring cold dry weather. They are incapable of producing rain.
• When these winds blow over seas and pass over the adjoining land, they bring some rainfall.
• The Southern Coromandel Coast (Tamil Nadu and southern tip of Andhra Pradesh) in India get rain from winter monsoons.
• The winter monsoon winds blow north-east; so the monsoon is known as the ‘North-East Winter Monsoon.’

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 9 India Major Seasons In India

India has a Monsoon type of climate which has distinct seasonal pattern marked by significant change from one season to the other. These changes are clearly visible in the interior parts of the country. The coastal areas, due to the influence of the seas do not experience much variation in temperature though there occurs ‘variation in the pattern of rainfall.

Thus, the year may be divided into four principal seasons based on monsoon variations:

1. The Hot and Dry summer (March to May).
2. The Hot and Wet or Rainy Season or the
3. South-West Monsoon (June to September).
4. The Retreating South-West Monsoon (October-November).
5. The Cold and Dry Winter Season or Northeast Monsoon (December-February)

1. The Summer Season

In India, the hot season begins in March and lasts until June. The vertical rays of the Sun move towards the Tropic of Cancer during this period.

• By 21st June it is directly over the Tropic of Cancer.
• In most parts of India, temperature ranges between 30° and 32°C. The highest day temperatures increase as the heat belt moves further north.
• In northwestern part of India, temperatures around 48°C are not uncommon.
• In south India, the hot weather is not as intense as in north India. The moderating influence of the oceans together with the Peninsular situation of south India keeps the temperatures lower than that in north India.
• The temperatures, therefore, remain between 26°C and 32°C in south India.
• There is some respite from the heat in the coastal regions due to the influence of the sea. Plateaus and hills are also relatively cool because of the elevation.
• A striking feature of the hot weather season is the strong and dusty winds, called loo, which blow during daytime over northern and north¬ western India.
• These winds have a temperature range between 45°C and 50°C which is hot enough to cause heat strokes.
• There are occasional tomado-like dust storms in Punjab and Haiyana and Uttar Pradesh.
• The thunderstorms accompanied with strong winds and heavy rainfalloccur in Assam and West Bengal.

These local winds are known as Kalbaisakhi which means ‘the calamity of the beings in the month of Baisakh’. In Assam, these storms are known as Bardoli Chheerha.

Receeding Monsoon:

2. The Rainy Monsoon Season

The South-West monsoon season is the season of general rainfall. This season lasts from June to September. The differential heating of land and sea during the summer months causes the monsoon winds to drift towards the subcontinent.

• The large landmass to the north of the Indian Ocean gets intensely heated during April and May.
• This causes the formation of an intense low system in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent.
• Since the pressure in the ocean to the south of the landmass is high, it attracts the South East (S.E.) Trade winds which prevail in the southern hemisphere.
• These S.E. Trade winds after crossing the Equator are deflected towards the right because of the Coriolis force and reach the west coast as South-West Monsoon. These winds bring heavy rainfall accompanied by violent thunder and lightning.
• This sudden violent onset of rainfall in the first week of June is termed as the Burst ofthe Monsoon. The first State to receive the monsoon showers is Kerala, and also the last to see its withdrawal.

As a result of the tapering topography of peninsular Indi,a the South-West Monsoon winds divide into two branches:

1. The Arabian Sea Branch
2. The Bay of Bengal Branch.

1. The Arabian Sea Branch:

The Arabian Sea branch enters the landmass after blowing over a vast open sea. It hits the Kerala coast in the first week of June.

• It causes heavy rainfall in the western coastal areas and the western slopes of the Western Ghats. Tamil Nadu gets less rainfall because it lies in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats.
• The Arabian Sea branch of the monsoon moves along western coastal plain and spreads over Central and northern India.

2. Bay of Bengal branch:

The Bay of Bengal branch gets deflected towards the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta by the Arakan Yoma range (Myanmar).

• Since it cannot cross the Himalayas, it moves westwards and brings rainfall along the Ganga plains. Thus, these two branches of the south-west monsoon cause rains in most parts of India.

3. Retreating Monsoon

The South-West Monsoon starts retreating from northern India in early October. Hence, the months of October and November are known for the retreating monsoon.

• This is caused by the high pressure in north-western India that leads to reversal in the direction of the monsoon winds. These winds now blow from the north-east to the south-west and are known as the retreating monsoon.
• These are land winds and don’t give rain except to coastal areas ofthe eastern coastal plain.
• They cause cyclonic rainfall along with strong winds to coastal Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
• The retreat of the monsoon is marked by clear skies and drop in night temperature. The land remains moist.
• The combination ofhigh temperature and humidity gives rise to an oppressive weather.
• This is commonly known as ‘October heat’. The day temperature rises due to clear skies. These winds give way to the NE Monsoons by December.

4. The Cold and Dry Winter Season

The cold weather season commences at the end of November and continues till March. The skies are relatively clear with dry weather. Night temperatures are low, specially in northern India, but the days are pleasantly warm.

• The mean temperature in the northern plains is below 20°C and gets even lower in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana.
• In winter season, January is usually the coldest month. The temperature remains quite low during the winter months over the Indian sub-continent. The temperatures decrease from south to north.
• Temperatures fall below freezing point in the higher reaches of the Himalayas. Dras Valley near Kargil in Ladakh records minimum temperature of-45°C. It is the coldest place in India.

The excessive cold in north India during this season is due to the following reasons:

In the month of February, the cold winds from the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan bring cold wave over the northwestern parts of India;

• Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan experience sub-tropical type of climate with high variation in summer and winter temperatures. Since, they are located far away from the sea, they do not experience moderating influence of the sea.
• The snowfall in the nearby Himalayan ranges creates cold wave situation.
• In Peninsular India, the average temperature lies between 20°C to 25°C and it does not have any well defined cold weather season.
• The coastal areas hardly experience any seasonal change in the distribution pattern of temperature due to the moderating influence of the sea and proximity to the Equator.
• During this season, the north east trade winds prevail over the country. These winds blow from land to sea and hence, for most parts of the country it is dry season.
• However, when these winds pass over Bay of Bengal they pick up some moisture and cause some amount of rainfall on the Coromandel Coast.
• As these winds blow from north-east to south-west, they are called the North-East Monsoon.

Distribution of Rainfall

The distribution of rainfall in India is determined by the following:

1.  The pressure conditions and the direction of the relief features;
2. The direction of the winds bearing moisture.
3. Cyclonic depression is determined by the pressure gradient.

India can be divided into four rainfall regions:

1. Heavy Rainfall Region:

• This region experiences more than 200 cm of rainfall annually and includes the following areas.
• The windward side of the Western Ghats like the Western Coastal Plains and the slopes of the Western Ghats.
• Meghalaya Hills (Garo, Khasi and Jaintia), the southern slopes of Eastern Himalayas, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal.

2. Moderate Rainfall Region:

• This region receives rainfall ranging from 100 cm to 200 cm a year.
• The followingareas are includedinthis region:
• The northern part of Andhra Pradesh, the southern part of Tamil Nadu.
• Middle Ganga Valley, some portions of Western Ghats, Eastern Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha.

3. Low Rainfall Region:

• The rainfall in this region is scarce, vaiying from 50 to 100 cm. The areas of scanty rainfall are:
• Parts of the Deccan Plateau comprising the regions of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
• Eastern Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Kashmir.

4. Scanty Rainfall Region:

These areas get the least rainfall, i.e., less than 50 cm annually. Desert and semi-desert areas are included in this

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The following areas come in this region:

• Leh in Ladakh, Southern Punjab and Western Rajasthan.
• The rain shadow regions of the Western Ghats lying in the Deccan Plateau.

Impact of Monsoon

Rains occur for over three months and the rest of the year is mostly dry. Seventy per cent of annual rainfall occurs in the rainy season. It has the following impact:

• The rains are mainly of relief type. The windward slopes of the mountains get more rainfall than the leeward side. So some areas get rainfall and other areas get either less or no rainfall.
• Only a small portion ofthe rainfall is received from sources other than the monsoon, like cyclonic rainfall and convectional rainfall.
• The quantity and the time of occurrence of rainfall cannot be predicted as the rainfall is erratic. It is because ofthis uncertainty that sometimes there are floods and sometimes droughts.
• India has an agrarian economy dependent on rainfall. A good monsoon ensures higher agricultural output and boosts Indian economy.
• A good rainfall increases the ground water level and replenishes the reservoirs, lakes and tanks. This not only benefits irrigation but also improves hydrolectric power production. Some cities like Mumbai totally depend on the South West Monsoon for water.
•  Monsoons are celebrated through many festivals in India to thank nature for the rains and a good harvest. Some of these are Harela (Uttarakhand), Onam (Kerala), Nariyal Poomima (Maharashtra), Hemis (Ladakh), Minjar (Himachal Pradesh) and Adi Perukku (Tamil Nadu).
• Pongal, Baisakhi are festivals that revolve around a good harvest as a result of good rainfall.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 10 India: Natural Vegetation And Wildlife

Natural Vegetation refers to the plant cover that has not been disturbed over a long time, allowing its species to adjust themselves fully to the climate and soil conditions.

• Thus, grasses, shrubs, and trees, which grow on their own without any interference, constitute the natural vegetation of an area.
• There is a difference between flora, vegetation, and forest. Flora refers to plants of a particular region or period, listed as species and considered as a group.

For example:

• The Eastern Himalayas have about 4000 species of plants, which vary from tropical to temperate and Alpine with increasing altitude.
• Vegetation, on the other hand, refers to the assemblage ofplant species livinginassociation with each other in a given environmental set-up.

For example:

The redwood forests, coastal mangroves, roadside weed patches, cultivated gardens and lawns, etc., all are encompassed by the term vegetation.

The major vegetation types of the world are grouped as forests, grasslands, shrubs, and tundra.

• Forest refers to a large tract of land covered with trees and accompanying undergrowth of shrubs, herbs, and sustaining thousands of life forms, which include both plants and animals.
• In legal terminology, a forest is any land with its vegetative cover that has been so declared under a legal provision.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 10 India: Types Of Vegetation

India has a variety of forests and natural vegetation due to variations in climatic conditions, soil types, and relief features.

The Western Ghats and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are marked with tropical rainforests; the Himalayas have temperate vegetation; the desert and semi-desert regions of Rajasthan have a wide variety of bushes and thorny vegetation; and the Delta regions have tropical forests and mangroves.

The country can be divided into five major vegetation regions, which are:

• Tropical Evergreen
• Tropical Deciduous
• Tropical Desert
• Littoral; and
• Montane

1. Tropical Evergreen or Rain Forests

Climatic Conditions:

These forests are found in the hot wet humid areas where the annual rainfall is more than 250 cm, average annual temperature is between 25°C and 27°C and average annual humidity exceeds 77 per cent.

Distribution:

Heavy rainfall areas of the western slopes of the Western Ghats, hills of north-eastern region, parts of West Bengal, Odisha and the island groups of Lakshadweep, the Andaman and Nicobar and Tamil Nadu coast.

Characteristic Features:

These forests have the following characteristic features:

• They are dense, multi-layered, and have many types of trees and shrubs.
• Trees reach great heights of more than 60 m or above.
• The carpet layer of herbs and grasses cannot grow because ofthe dense canopy of trees, which does not allow enough sunlight to reach the ground.
• These forests appear green all year round. The trees in these forests do not have a fixed time to shed their leaves, to flower or to produce fruit.
• The main variety of trees found in these forests include rosewood, ebony, mahogany, toon, chaplas, sissoo, gurjan, telsur, etc.

Economic Value:

Tropical Evergreen forests produce various plant species of high economic value. The timber produced is hard, durable and fine-grained. However, due to tangled mass of canes, palms, bamboos, ferns and climbers along with the lack of means of transport, these forests have not been fully exploited.

2. Tropical Deciduous Forests

These forests are also known as the Monsoon forests. They are the most widespread forests in India. Based on the availability of water, these forests are further categorised into two types: the moist deciduous forests; and the dry deciduous forests.

1. The Moist Deciduous Forests

Climatic Conditions:

Such forests are found in areas with moderate or low annual rainfall of 100 cm to 200 cm and a mean annual temperature of 24°C and 27°C, and a humidity percentage of 50 to 80.

Distribution:

These forests are found in North-eastern States along the foothills of Himalayas, Jharkhand, West Odisha and Chhattisgarh and eastern slopes of the Western Ghats.

Characteristic Features:

These forests have the following features:

• The trees in these forests shed their leaves from six to eight weeks during spring and early summer when the storage of water is acute.
• Further, the sub-soil water is not enough for the trees to keep their leaves all year round.

A particular species can be found over a large area. The common trees of such forests are sal, teak, arjun, shisham, mahua, mulberry, palas, semul, and sandalwood.

Economical Value:

Tropical Deciduous Forests are commercially the most exploited. Besides providing valuable timber, they provide various other products. Sandalwood found in these forests is in great demand in India and abroad.

2. Dry Deciduous Forests

Climatic Conditions:

These forests are found in areas having a mean annual temperature of 23°C to 27°C, annual rainfall between 70 cm to 100 cm and humidity between 51 to 58 per cent.

Distribution:

These forests are found in the rainier parts of the Peninsular Plateau and the plains of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Characteristic Features:

• These forests thrive between moist deciduous forests (in the east) and tropical thorn forests (in the west).
• On the wetter margins, these forests have a transition into moist deciduous, while on the drier margins they degrade into thorn forests.
• In the northern Indian plains and in the areas of higher rainfall in the Peninsular Plateau, these forests have open stretches in which teak and other trees are interspersed with patches of grass.
• During the dry season, the trees in these forests shed their leaves completely and give the forests a look of a vast grassland with naked trees.
• The common trees of these forests are teak, tendu, sal, rosewood, amaltas, bel, khair, axlewood, etc

Economical Value:

The trees of these forests provide timber, fruits and other useful products. Large tracts of these forests have been cleared for agricultural activities

3. Tropical Desert Forests

These are also known as Tropical Thorn Forests.

Climatic Conditions:

These forests are found in the areas which receive rainfall less than 50 cm, the mean annual temperature ranges between 25°C to 27°C and has humidity below 47 per cent.

Distribution:

These forests are chiefly distributed in south-western Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, central and eastern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Characteristic Features:

These forests have the following features:

• These forests have Xerophytic vegetation. Due to paucity of rainfall, the trees are stunted with large patches of coarse grasses.
• In these forests, plants remain leafless for most part of the year and look like scrub vegetation.
• The important trees found here include babool, date palm, her, khair, neem, khejri, kanju, cactii, kokko,etc.

Economical Value:

• Ber fruit is eaten raw or made into pickle or beverages. Its timber is hard, strong, tough and durable.
• It is used to make legs for bedsteads, boat ribs, agricultural implements, charcoal, etc. Babool bark and gum have medicinal value.
• Date Palm is eaten raw and also used as an astringent, as a decoction, syrup or paste for sore throat, cold, fever, etc.
• Neem bark and roots have medicinal properties. Neem oil, leaves, and neem extracts are used to manufacture health and beauty products.
• It is also used as an insecticide

4. Littoral or Tidal Forests

Climatic Conditions:

These forests are found in wet marshy areas, in river deltas, in tidal or other swampy areas and along the sea coasts.

Distribution:

These forests are chiefly distributed in the deltas of large rivers on the eastern coast and in pockets on the western coast in saline swamps of the Sunderbans in the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta in West Bengal and coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

Characteristic Features:

These forests have the following features:

• They have mainly evergreen species of varying density and height, usually associated with wetness.
• The tree trunks are supported by a number of stilt-like roots which remain submerged under water during high tide and can be seen during low tide.
• They have profuse growth with tangle of climbers, which is an adaptation for survival in soft and shifting mud.

The important trees include keora, amur, bhara, rhizophora, screw pines, canes and palms, sundari, agar, etc.

• Mangrove forests grow along the coasts in the salt marshes, tidal creeks, mud flats and estuaries.
• They are found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and West Bengal. Other areas of significance include the Mahanadi, the Godavari, and the Krishna deltas.
• These forests have Sundari trees, after the name of which these forests are known as ‘Sunderbans’ in the Ganga Delta.

Economical Value:

Mangrove trees are utilised for fuel, whereas sundari trees provide har,d durable timber

5. Montane Forests

In the mountain regions temperature decreases with altitude. This has a corresponding effect on the natural vegetation of the mountain regions. The Himalayas have a variety of trees from sub-tropical to Tundra.

Climatic Conditions:

These forests are found in areas where annual temperature is 12°C to 13°C, rainfall is between 100 and 300 cms and annual humidity is between 56 and 65 per cent.

Relief:

These forests occur at an altitude between 1000m to 4000m.

Distribution:

These forests cover the entire Himalayan zone from Ladakh to Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. In the Peninsular region, they are found in the Vindhyas, Nilgiris, and the Western Ghats.

Characteristics Features:

These forests have the following features:

• These forests contain mixed species of broad-leafed evergreen trees and conifers. They also contain scrubs, creepers, and ferns.
• At the foothills of the Himalayas, Deciduous forests are found.
• At an altitude of 1000m to 2000m they are the moist temperate forests.
• In the hilly areas of West Bengal and Uttarakhand, evergreen broad leaf trees like chestnut and oak are found
• Between the altitude of 1500m and 1750m, coniferous trees like Chir pine is an important tree. At an altitude of 2250m and 3000m blue pine and spruce are found.
• At higher altitudes, alpine forests and pastures are found followed by mosses and lichens. Beyond the snowline, no vegetation is found.
• In the Peninsular regions, the area is only about 1500 m in height and vegetation varies from tropical to temperate forests.
• The important trees found in these forests include magnolia, laurel, cinchona, wattle, jamun, plum, etc

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 10 India: Importance Of Forests

Forests have the following importance in our daily life:

Productive Functions:

Various trees provide us with products such as fruits, leaves, roots and tubers of plants. Wood is used for making furniture in houses as well as industrial units.

• Wood and bamboo pulp are used for manufacturing paper and paper boards. Wood is used indiscriminately as a source ofenergy for cooking and for providing warmth.
• Forest products, otherthan timberand firewood, include fibres, essential oils, oil seeds and edible plants.
• Bamboos provide a means of livelihood for the tribals who make mats, baskets, ropes, etc., using bamboo.
• It is also used in the manufacture of rayon (yams and artificial silk fibres).

Protective Functions:

• Forests control the water flow.
• The thick layer of humus in the forests prevents evaporation of water.
• The humus acts as a natural sponge and helps to soak the rainwater in the soil.
• The forest with its complex root system binds the soil, thereby preventing soil erosion and loss of nutrients.
• The thick humus over the years is formed by the decay of forest litter, which increases the fertility of the soil.

Regulatory Functions:

• The trees use carbon dioxide from respiration and release oxygen during photosynthesis.
• The oxygen released by the trees is used by the animal world.
• Thus, the trees perpetuate the cycles of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the biosphere.
• They also regulate the water cycle. The trees absorb water from the ground, release water (during transpiration) into the atmosphere, which helps to form clouds and precipitation, which brings water again into the soil, thus completing the Water Cycle.

Accessory Functions:

Accessory functions of the trees means that the forests provide habitat for the wildlife. Forests also provide aesthetics and recreation to human beings through National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries and Biosphere Reserves

Forest Conservation

• Man has been overexploiting the forests to satisfy not only his needs but also his greed. This has led to a decline in the forest cover.
• Due to rapid population growth and the demand for more food, forests have been cleared to convert them into agricultural land.
• Forests have been converted into pasture land for expanding dairy farming and cattle ranching.
• Overgrazing in the forests by animals in the tropical and sub-tropical regions has resulted into large-scale degradation of natural vegetation.
• Ever-increasing demand for timber for various purposes due to industrial expansion and urbanisation has added to the problem of deforestation.
• Construction of multi-purpose river valley projects has led to the submergence of land and the destruction of forested riversides.

All these factors have led to the decline in forests, which have the following effects:

Decline in the forests has led to a decline in forest productivity.

• Forests influence human environment by moderating climate, regulating water supply, maintaining the fertility of soil and purifying air.
• Absence of forest cover leads to soil erosion, which increases load of the rivers.
• The increased surface load reduces water in the rivers for human use.
• Siltation causes floods which destroy property, crops and living beings.
• Lack of forest cover reduces precipitation, thus causing droughts.
• Forests use carbon dioxide during photosynthesis but the absence of forests allows more cpncentration ofcarbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of its non¬ consumption.
• Thus, deforestation increases greenhouse effect in the atmosphere.
• This raises the temperature ofthe Earth’s surface and of the atmosphere, leading to global warming and its harmful consequences.
• Reduced forests have led to the loss of habitat for animals.

Natural vegetation of India:

Hence, the conservation of forests is of vital importance for the survival and prosperity of humankind.

Conservation Measures

To arrest deforestation and stop the diversion of forest lands for non-forest uses, the following conservation practices must be undertaken:

1. Increasing the Area Under Forests:

Loss of forests can be remedied by a massive programme of tree plantation. Planting trees on degraded lands and land that is unfit for agriculture will not only help in improving the environment but will also relieve harvesting pressure on these forests.

2. Afforestation around Industrial Units:

The level of pollution is much higher in areas where industries are located. For example, cities having Iron and Steel Plants, pollute the air with particulate matter, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and hydrogen fluoride.

• Besides, these steel plants emit significant dust levels of about 20 kg per metric ton of steel.
• To prevent pollution, trees are planted around the cities having Iron and Steel Industries.
• The trees act as a barrier for the dust and purify the air.

3. Stopping Indiscriminate Felling of Trees:

There should be a strict ban on the felling of naturally growing trees. If a tree has to be cut, the necessary permission has to be obtained. Besides, proper replacement of trees by planting saplings at least in the ratio of 1:10 (1 tree to 10 saplings) should be undertaken.

4. Using Alternative Sources of Energy:

In many parts of the world including India, trees are felled for providing firewood. So, in order to conserve forests, we must use non-conventional or renewable sources of energy, like solar energy, tidal energy, hydel energy, etc.

5. Adopting Social Forestry and Agro Forestry:

• Social Forestry refers to the management and protection of forests and afforestation on barren lands to help in the environmental, social and rural development.
• Agro-forestry is being practised to provide conservation of the land and its improvement to achieve a combined production of forest and agricultural crops.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 10 India: Wildlife

Wildlife traditionally refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all plants, fungi, and other organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans.

• However, the term wildlife in popular usage refers to the wild, undomesticated animals living in their natural habitats such as forests, grasslands, oceans, seas, etc.
• India has a rich variety of animals. There are about 81,000 species ofanimals spread across the country.
• It includes about 2500 species of fresh and marine water fish and nearly 1200 species of birds, besides a large number of amphibians, reptiles, mammals and small insects and worms.
• India is home to Royal Bengal tigers, Asiatic lions, Snow leopards, One-horned rhinoceroses, various species of deer, including Chital, Hangul, Swamp deer or Barasingha, the Indian elephant, pythons, saltwater crocodiles, alligators, blackbuck, golden langur, etc.
• Many species of animals in India have become extinct and there are many others facing the danger of extinction.

All these species have been grouped into three categories:

Endangered Species are species that are the imminent danger of extinction. These include the Asiatic lion, found in the Gir National Park (Gujarat) and in the Chandra Prabha Wildlife Sanctuary (Uttar Pradesh).

• The other endangered species include the one-homed rhino, the hangul, the black buckand the great Indian bustard.
• Threatened Species are those that are likely to become endangered, at least locally, within the foreseeable future.
• India contains 172 or 2.9 per cent of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)- designated threatened species.
• These include the Asian elephant, the Asiatic lion, Bengal tiger, Indian rhinoceros, mugger crocodile and Indian white-rumped vulture.
• Vulnerable Species are naturally rare or have been locally depleted by human activities to a level that puts them at risk.

The reasons for the animals getting endangered and their extinction are the following:

Destruction of the natural habitats of animals due to expanding agriculture, urbanisation, and industrialisation. Overgrazing by animals that convert the grasslands into deserts. Poaching for meat, skin, fur, ivory, and horns.

Conservation of Wildlife

Due to the continuous increase in the number of endangered species, many steps have been taken to protect and manage wildlife in India.

• Though India has an ancient tradition of conservation, the modern concept of conservation was developed in 1952 with the establishment of the Indian Board of Wildlife.
• Since then, several measures have been taken to conserve wildlife.
• The first week of October is observed as Wildlife Week every year.

National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, and Biosphere Reserve- a Comparison:

The following two strategies are used for the conservation of biodiversity and wildlife in India:

In-Situ Conservation

The in-situ conservation means conservation of wildlife in its natural habitat. It emphasises the protection ofthe ecosystems ofthe original habitats or natural environment.

• The in-situ approach includes protection of a typical ecosystem through a network of protected areas on land or sea.
• These are managed through state or other effective agencies. India has 381 protected areas, covering about 4.7 per cent of the land surface.

The biosphere reserves, national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries are included in the protected areas.

• National Parks:
  • A national park is an area that is strictly reserved for the betterment of the wildlife and where human activities like forestry, grazing or cultivation are not permitted. India has 104 national parks encompassing an area of 40, 501 sq. km.
  • India’s first national park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, now known as Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand of these national parks, some of the popular ones include Kaziranga National Park (Assam), Gir Forest National Park (Gujarat), Bandhavgarh National Park (Madhya Pradesh), Ranthambore National Park (Rajasthan), Silent Valley (Kerala), Bandipur National Park (Karnataka), Rajaji National Park (Uttarakhand) and Dachigam National Park (Jammu and Kashmir).
• Wildlife Sanctuaries:
  • A wildlife sanctuary is a protected area that is reserved for the conservation only of wildlife — animals and plant species.
  • Human activities like harvesting or timber collection or minor forest products and private ownership rights are allowed. India has 543 wildlife sanctuaries.
  • These include 50 tiger reserves governed by Project Tiger.

Biosphere Reserves

A biosphere reserve is a special area of land or coastal environment in which multiple use of land is permitted by dividing it into certain zones.

• The natural or core zone consists of an undisturbed and legally protected ecosystem.
• The buffer zone surrounds the core area and is managed to accommodate a greater variety of resource use strategies.
• The transition zone, the outermost part ofthe biosphere reserve, is an area of active cooperation between the management and the local people.
• Here, protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also to the human communities who inhabit these regions.
• India has 18 Biosphere Reserves, which protect large areas of natural habitat and often include one or more National Parks.

The basic objectives of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and biosphere reserves are:

• Protection of natural habitats through
• Maintenance ofthe viable number of species in protected areas.
• Establishment and protection of areas through legislation for the conservation of wildlife.
• Educating the public on wildlife protection.
• Conducting research in specific areas of wildlife.

Ex-situ Conservation

Ex-situ conservation means conservation ofwildlife outside its natural habitat. The conservation takes place in captivity under man’s supervision.

• Some times, the population ofspecies may decline or may become extinct due to genetic or environmental factors such as inbreeding, habitat loss, disease and over-exploitation.
• In such cases, in-situ conservation may not prove to be effective and a species can be protected from becoming extinct only through maintaining individuals in artificial conditions under human care.

Generally, botanical gardens, zoos, aquariums, parks, agricultural research centres, forest research centres, etc., are the artificial habitats for ex-situ conservation.

Wildlife Conservation Projects

Many projects are being carried out in India to prevent the extinction of some endangered wild animal species.

Some of them are as follows:

• Project Tiger: “Project Tiger’ was launched by the Central Government in April 1973, to save the tiger from extinction in India.
• Gir Lion Project: This project is beingcarried on at Gir forest in the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat to save lions in the region.
• Crocodile Project: This project aims at the conservation and management of crocodiles, through incubation of eggs and rearing. It is being conducted in certain sanctuaries of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• Project Elephant: This project aims to preserve several elephants and identify elephant reserves to protect them.