INTERPRETATION OF ECONOMIC PHENOMENA

Agricultural Geography

By contributing nearly one-fourth of the GDP and providing livelihood to around 70 per cent of the population, agriculture continues to be the backbone of the Indian economy. Spatially it is the most widespread economic pursuit claiming more than 40 per cent of the country’s total area. It is also equally important that the diverse cultural landscapes that rural India manifests are basically the product of peoples’ judicious response to the available land and other environmental resources for raising crops and livestock. Not surprisingly therefore Indian geographers have been paying serious attention to the study of agriculture and associated issues during last several decades.

Landuse/Landcover and Land Capability Studies

Landuse/land cover and land capability studies have got a renewed emphasis asthe process of agricultural use of land has been in a flux in the wake of fast changing national economy under the new global order. A number of studies on land use/overland land capability using both conventional and modern techniques appeared during thelast four years. Tribedi and Dubey (2006) using satellite imageries and aerial photographsdelineated various landuse categories in Damoh area of Madhya Pradesh for planningpurposes. They determined the changes in forest area, urban area, agricultural land, etc. and suggested measures for improvement in the landuse condition. Das (2006) analyzed the changes in landuse pattern in Assam and its implications for sustainable conomicdevelopment in the state. The study carried out by Narayanakumar and Kumaraswamy(2006) using remote sensing techniques pointed to the fact that the agricultural practicealong the fringe of the lake Oussudu contributes both nutrients and contaminants to degrade the natural aquatic environment. While discussing the causes of landuse/landcover changes in Ukhrul district of Manipur, Singh and Shah (2007) held thetraditional practice of jhuming responsible for rapid shrinkage of forest cover.

Geomorphology and Climatology

Geomorphology

Process studies in post-Davidson era have been largely responsible for major shift sin the subject matter and have provided methodological revolution in the subject and made the subject more applied than ever before. In recent past with a growing awareness towards the environmental problems and the imbalances leading to hazardous situations, the role of the geomorphology is being increasingly recognized as per-eminently necessary. Geomorphology of late is being considered as a science contributing towards the natural resource management mainly in terms of management of land, water and soil resources. Problems like stability of coastal structures, desertification, land resource appraisal etc. are emerging as major topics of research being handled or expected to be handled by the geomorphology. As a result micro studies are gaining importance allover the world and the same is slowly getting reflected in a number of research articles appearing in the journals.
In the Indian context the trend is not very different from what is seen on a global scale. “Use of remote sensing technique and GIS” appears as a favored suffix in many titles. The techniques and tools of research gain importance in such attempts and at timezone wonders if the original topic of research is getting camouflaged in the description of these tools and techniques. Nonetheless it appears that using this suffix is gaining more popularity.

Food Security and Dairy Farming

Food Security

Problems associated with food security in recent years have drawn serious attention of agricultural geographers in India in line with social scientists throughout the globe. It is now agreed that carefully planned agricultural progress with a view to saving rural livelihoods can only ensure availability of more food, jobs and income. As opposed to modern industries which promote jobless growth, agriculture including animal husbandry, forestry and ago-processing can promote job-led economic growth.
 Importantly, geographers of India have not neglected this vital issue. Studies made by Choudhury (2006) and others are significant in this regard. Choudhury made an attempt to discuss issues relating to agriculture and food security in Sikkim and observed that testate suffers from acute food shortage resulting from dearth of cropland on the one hand and traditional practice of agriculture on the other. Jha (2006) elucidated the concepts of vulnerability and food insecurity and tried to develop a theoretical framework to analyze the issues of food insecurity. He emphasized on the impact of population on food security and vulnerability in Bangladesh, a problem-ridden developing country of South Asia. Das and Dutta (2006) investigated the problem of population growth and food availability scenario of the states of North-East India and suggested measures to reduce food scarcity and malnutrition in the region. Gatade (2004) assessed the carrying capacity of land in
Samara district of Maharashtra on the basis of the standard nutrition units of both production and consumption to analyze the population–food balance in the district. 

Mountain Environment

Mountain resources are getting enormous stress due to snow melting and glacial retreat  Charlatanry et al., 2006; Dobhal et al., 2004). The scope of latitudinal gradient studies i.e. large change in altitude over short distance associated with significant change in climatic gradient varies from local studies at micro ecosystem to temperate and alpine region. Notable contribution from geographers in this context have come in studies related to assessment and modeling of the interactive influence of topography and land surface heterogeneity on the spatial pattern of soil moisture evaporate-transpiration, runoff generation and erosion. Disasters, be they natural or man-made, are the real constraints to development and are a threat to our environment. The enormous economic losses from natural disasters and the massive relief expenditure make disaster reduction a condition for sustainable development. Development programmed can be so designed as to decrease susceptibility to disasters. Disaster mitigation will have to become a part of national development.Environmental protection is also an essential input in the prevention and mitigation of disasters. The complex cause and effect relationship of disasters and the environment and its impact on development are being carefully understood in recent years as evident in afew studies related to these (Singh, 1998, Singh, 2005, Singh, 2006). Mountain regions make up one-fifth of the Earth’s land surface, and they have considerable role and global importance as environmental resources. Mountains are home to a substantial portion of the planet’s diversity of species and ecosystems. Ironically, allover the world expanding economic pressures are degrading mountain Eco-systems while confronting mountain peoples with increasing poverty, cultural assimilation, and empowerment  

Land and Agricultural Resources

With rapid population growth demand on land resources is increasing. Subsequently, risk to land resource sustainability is also intensifying. Considering thatagriculture employs 64 per cent of the labor force, it is not surprising that agriculture isthe predominant mainstay in nearly every state. Agricultural geography has been thesubject of intensive research and monitoring during the post independence period.

Considerable data already exists at national, state and district level. But, ago ecosystem research and education are being preferred by geographers in order to provide particularly a strong base for detecting responses to global climatic change and preferred differentiating effects of climates, pollution and land use (Singh and Shah, 2004, Singh and Shah, 2007). The impact of increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere will have enormous effect on agriculture and vegetation. It is important to understand processes relating to changes in land use affecting the resources of the river basin and coastal zone. A focus on agro ecosystem in Indian geography is highly imperative,
highlighting different agriculture ecosystems of India, agricultural input environment,
ecologically based pest management and Eco-farming (Jha and Singh, 2008).

Urban Environment and Climate Change

Energy, industrial development, air pollution and climate change are critical to human security. In Mega cities, urban heat islands phenomena is emerging due to land use change, building materials, industrial development and transport congestions (Singh, 2006, 2007). Much of the urbanisation in India is taking place in metropolitan cities, and is accompanied by major changes in the social, economic and technological arenas. Manyof these global trends are also apparent in India. Delhi metropolitan region has faced even more rapid rate of urbanisation and environmental change than the average for India. Thisaccelerated urbanisation trend has environmental costs. This includes air and water quality problems, waste removal and disposal; and the metropolis and the development corridor (Singh and Singh, 2007) in which it is located have an impact on the surrounding country side through the depletion of resources such as food, portable water, and aggregated building materials. This is causing immense change in land use patterns as well as human response from the surrounding rural areas. The land use change is primarily from agriculture to residential/industry or brick kilns. In this process the region faces severe problems of land degradation (Goel and Singh, 2006; Singh, 2007).

Drivers of Environmental Change and Development

According to World Commission on Environment and Development, the environment is where we live; and development is what we do to improve our well-beings. Both are inseparable. Major human driving forces of environmental use include
(a) Demographic change of environment in which there is relationship between population growth and other demographic factors such as migration; (b) Land use and land cover change includes biophysical and social dimensions of rapidly changing land use, human settlement and land cover patterns; (c) Urbanization and industrialization transformation highlights the linkage between dimensions covering environmental services and infrastructures for regulating the environment; (d) attitude and behavior and their role in driving environmental responses and the potential role of alternative development paths; (e) decentralized decision making process promoting the linkages between national, regional and local skills and the constraints to the transfer of policy instruments from one region to another. In recent years, dimensions of environmental change has encompassed a full range of social sciences disciplines necessary to analyze and understand people’s role as both the possible cause and target of environmental change as well as recognizing the local issues and use of local field based geographical studies supplemented by national and regional data. This should provide an indispensable contribution to analyze the key driving forces of land use maintenance and change and especially reflects the wide diversity of economic, social, cultural and institutional
practices and traditional knowledge at the local level (Phagocyte and Chanda, 2004).
This promotes interaction between local and regional communities, conflict prevention and resolution in critical environmental situations. This has direct implications for policy development and implementation in order to develop strong links between research community, policy makers and environmental management experts.

Culture, Ethics and Unity in Diversity

A grand synthesis of cultures, religions and languages of the people belonging to different castes and communities has upheld its unity and cohesiveness. It is this synthesis which made India a unique mosaic of cultures. People belonging to severalfaiths-Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism and Christianity have coexisted forcenturies in a shared space. Diversity in India is not merely confined to racial, religiousand linguistic distinctions but also permeates deep into patterns of living, life styles, landtenure systems, occupational pursuits, inheritance and succession law, together with localpractices, rites and rituals related to social norms and values. The Indian cultural tradition is unique. The notions of dharma (normative order), karma (personal moral commitment) and jati (caste) as the hierarchical principle of social stratification are basic to Indiansociety. Twenty three Indian languages are listed in our constitution and more than 544

dialects are spoken in the country. Pali language was prominent in ancient India. Sanskritenjoyed the status of carrying Hindu Sanskritic culture throughout the country. Thesewere followed by the modern Indo-Aryan languages. The institutional basis of socialorder and socio-economic interaction among communities like Jajmani system remainedunchanged to a large extent. A plural and multi-ethnic society like India would have an overlapping of ethnic, caste and class groupings. There are more than 285 ethnic tribalcommunities in India accounting for over 8 per cent of her population. The tribesthemselves are not a homogenous group, but display remarkable heterogeneity in theirracial, linguistic, religious composition as also in their modes of living and levels ofdevelopment as well as in the level of socio-cultural integration. In spite of this great diversity, India continues to swear by its commitment to secularism and practicesdemocratic form of governance. The federal principle of governance has provided a senseof identity to most people.

Forests, Biodiversity and Land Use

Great variation in climatic conditions has given appearance to variety of forest types including tropical and sub-tropical forests in the Western Ghats and eastern Himalaya, temperate and alpine forests in central and western Himalaya and desertforests in the arid and semi-arid regions of the country. According to Forests Survey ofIndia (2003), about 6, 78,333 km2, constituting 20.64 per cent of its geographical area isunder forest cover in the country. Very dense forest (VDF) however accounts for only

1.56 per cent while the moderately dense forest (MDF) and open forest account for 10.32
per cent and 8.76 per cent respectively. The total forest and tree cover of the country isestimated to account for 23.68 per cent of the country’s land.
India contains a great wealth of biodiversity in its forests, wetlands and marine
areas. The country has 7 per cent of the mammals, 12.6 per cent birds, 6.2 per centreptiles, 4.4 per cent amphibians, 11.7 per cent fishes and 6 per cent flowing plants of theworld. Among plants, endemism is estimated as 33 per cent. India contains 172 species

Physical Landscape

The geological history of India started with geological evolution nearly 4.57 billion years ago. Indian geological formations consist of the Deccan trap, the Gondwanaland the Viviyan and those that originated in Pleistocene, Tertiary and Pr-Cambrian periods. Conventionally the country is divided into three physio graphic regions viz., the Himalaya and associated mountain chain, the Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains and the Peninsular plateau including the coasts and the islands. The Himalayan Mountain covers about 5, 00,000 sq kms of land and extends over 2500 kms from the Karakorum in thewest to the Myanmar in the east. Its width is about 240 kms. World’s 14 highest peaksand few large rivers are located in the Himalaya. Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains located in the northern part of the country, extends for 3200 kms from the River Indus in the west to Brahmaputra in the east. Its width varies between 150-300 kms. The senile peninsular plateau in the south is triangular in shape and has some of the oldest mountains of world with elevation varying between 600 and 800 mts. The Islands includethe Lakshwadeep (36 coral Islands) and the Andaman (200 Islands) and Nikobar (19
Islands). The soils in India fall into seven categories, namely the alluvial soils, Black soils, Red soils, Literate soils, Forests soils, Mountain soils and Desert soils.

Administrative Geography

There has been world over, a significant increase in the expression of concern for the neglect of policy-relevant research in human geography. Only a few geographers in India have evinced interest in this vitally important area in which geographers should contribute significantly with their skills of understanding the ‘natural’ and ‘human’ in synthesis rather than in isolation.

Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System

During the last decade urgency has been shown by geographers for an increased application of remote sensing techniques and GIS not only as part of the curriculum butalso in the researches conducted mostly confined, though not restricted to physical geography. Such techniques are crucially dependent on computer as a tool. Only a fewelitist centres have been able to introduce such courses and are increasingly using these techniques in their researches.

Geography of Health

As a branch, Geography of Health has made significant strides in the period underreview. It has progressed from studies in ecological associations of diseases and attemptsat disease mapping, to investigations into a wider perspective of health and health carewith a focus on human welfare. Cultural and the structural approaches to address theproblems of health and place are dimensions that distinguishes this field of enquire fromits past. However, many, if not all studies stop at a cartographic representation of diseasesshowing inter-state or inter-district variation in the prevalence pattern and hardly movebeyond the level of description.

Cultural Geography

The post-modern discourse has certainly given a new meaning to studies in cultural geography and cultural geography in India has become a shadow of its western incarnation. But, this branch has mostly been used as a way and approach narrating oranalyzing landscape and culture, putting aside the theoretical construction and critique ofthe philosophical ideas as popular in the West. More western scholars than Indian haveevinced interest in cultural forms, mostly of its mythical dimension. The geographical implication of cultural pluralism has hardly received any attention. While ancient Indiantraditions have been overemphasized, few talk about contemporary cultural developmentincluding globalization of culture and its impact.

Historical Geography

Historical geography has never been a priority area in Indian geography, though its importance can hardly be overemphasized. Most of the studies cited in the review do not come from geographers, nor can they strictly be considered as historical-geographicalresearches. Nevertheless, acceptance and emergence of new notions, ways, perspectives, subaltern views, oral history, biographical resources, heritage ecology, etc. are some ofthe recent concerns enriching the field of historical geography of India. All such studiescan provide essential raw material for a meaningful historical-geographical interpretation.

Population Change and Migration

Regarded as a special area of interest within population geography, studiesundertaken in this area are a mix of both general and contemporary-specific population issues relating to population growth/change and migration. There is little change in thefocus of research during the period under review. It is necessary that studies pertaining to the impact of rapid population growth, migration, population pressure, ageing and globalization etc. need to be taken up with urgency for their important role in population change.

Settlement Geography
This is a traditionally important area of research that has attracted good number ofresearches. Moving away from the conventional analysis of size, form and location ofsettlements, Indian geographers have made important contribution to studies on functional aspects and locational characteristics of human activities as well as spatiofunctional organization of economic landscape. Issue pertaining to the impacts emanatingfrom hyper-urbanization and diversified urban systems are recommended as importantareas for future research.

Agricultural Geography

Agriculture continues to be the backbone of Indian economy and rightly remains amajor thrust area in geography. Agricultural geographers in India have diversified theirinterests and have ventured into significant areas of analysis such as land capabilityclassification, agro-ecological concerns, crop diversification and diffusion, problems offood security and vulnerability, dairy farming apart from social and institutional  framework of agriculture.
Industrial Geography
In spite of tremendous potential in this field of research, particularly in the postliberalization phase, not much work appears to have been made. Very few papers havebeen published in this branch of geography in leading journals of India. As industry alongwith agriculture is the backbone of the nation’s economy, the geographers can neglectthis field of inquiry only at their own peril. This is particularly true in the context of avibrant trend of research in this field during the eighties and nineties.

Geomorphology

With growing awareness towards environmental problems the role of the geomorphologists is increasingly recognized as pre-eminently necessary. Geomorphologyis being considered as a science contributing towards the natural resource and environmental management. Problems like stability of coastal structures, desertification, land resource appraisal etc. are emerging as major topics of research being handled orexpected to be handled by the geomorphologists. As a result micro studies are gainingimportance. “Use of remote sensing technique and GIS” appears as a favoured suffix in many titles. The techniques and tools of research gain importance in such attempts and attimes one wonders if the original topic of research is getting camouflaged in the
description of these tools and techniques.

Resource and Environment

Environmental issues now occupy a significant place in academic discourse and activism alike. Situation of India with regard to environmental crisis and resource depletion is deepening in the wake of rapid changes brought about by the new regime ofeconomic liberalization and penetration of transnationals. However, few geographershave been able to take a holistic view of environment. Vulnerability is the key to ourunderstanding that attempts to break from all-too technocratic agenda that have characterised relationship between human societies and their environments over previouscenturies. There is a serious lack of integrated techniques and approaches to studyvulnerable environment. There is a need to identify challenges and opportunities forimproving human well-being through vulnerability analysis of different ecosystems and community groups. While application of GIS and remotely sensed data can make a world of difference, few seem to have undertaken meaningful research using this important tool. There is a dearth of empirical studies evaluating the impact of the current phase ofliberalization and globalization on the environment and resources both at national and local levels.

progress in Indian Geography

This report on progress in Indian Geography is a modest attempt at projecting the state ofthe art as perceived by a group of scholars who have collaborated with me in this venture.
Needless to mention, opinions tend to vary, depending upon who is writing the report on the stateof affairs in a particular branch of study. Some have been quite happy and optimistic about theefforts made in a particular branch of study in geography; others feel disappointed and lookforward to more concerted efforts to be made by geographers in India to bring the branch of studyto a desired level of international standard. No attempt however has been made in this report to raise controversial issues or project the image of a certain school of thought. The report wasdesigned to focus on the most productive areas of research in different branches of geography and to find out emerging areas of research in the light of the changes taking place in global as well as in Indian physical, economic, social and political space. Effort was made to be as comprehensiveas possible, but despite best efforts some areas could not be covered due to lack of response.
The various sections of the report have been authored by professional colleagues who were extremely kind to spare their valuable time in writing the essays in spite of paucity of timeand other nagging responsibilities. These contributions are given below:

The Report has been organized into nine broad themes apart from an introductory section
on Geographical Mosaic of India: The Lithosphere, Hydrosphere and the Atmosphere; Interpretation of Economic Phenomena; Interpretation of Demographic Phenomena;
Urbanisation; Regional Development and Planning; Historical Geography; Interpretation of
Social Phenomena; Interpretation of Political Phenomena and Methodological Issues. Reviews ofresearch may occasionally reflect individual viewpoints or likes and dislikes. These were
unavoidable. These aberrations however do not in any manner undermine the basic thrust ofgetting an overall impression about the progress that Indian Geography has made during the pastfour years.

ABSTRACT OF THE REPORT
This overview of research in Indian Geography covers the period between the 30th and 31st Congresses of the International Geographical Union. The Indian contribution to geography has been broadly reviewed by grouping it into the following clusters of research: The Lithosphere, Hydrosphere and Atmosphere; Interpretation of Economic Phenomena; Interpretation of Demographic Phenomena; Urbanization; Regional Development and Planning; Historical Geography; Interpretation of Socio cultural Phenomena; Interpretation of Political Phenomena and Methodological

Issues.
Each cluster has been further divided into sections depending upon the multiplicity of issues inherent. The classical division of the discipline between physical and human was not considered meaningful while presenting this overview. The reportbegins with an opening section on A Geographical Mosaic of Incredible India introducingthe natural and cultural heritage of India. The section is aimed at providing an overviewof the baffling geographical diversity that India represents both in its physical setting and in its cultural make up.
Most if not all, sections indicate gaps in research, recommendations and futureresearch agenda. All references to bibliography have been placed at the end, according tothe sections. Broadly, the following important areas of concern may be identified which appear to be significant from the overview of research in Indian Geography presented in detail in subsequent sections: