GS1 Weekly

[2nd 7th Feb 2015]

[The Undercover group]
(Insightsonindia.com)

Topic: Population and related issues;

Q) Economic characteristics of an area exert a much more direct effect on its population
pattern than do physical characteristics. Explain with examples. (200 Words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=1-12
Ans: Population arrangement is influenced by Socio economic ,Physical and economic
Features . Also there is Greater role of Economic Features influencing the Population Vis a
Vis Physical Factors
1 Uttrakhand Deluge which was Due to High tourism and other Economic activities caused
by Dense Population despite Difficult terrain .
2 Dubai which is Economic and business Hub attracts Population and giants across the world
despite Harsh Physical features Desert , etc
3 Gulf Countries receives Migrants across the world as for Oil drilling activities which also
serves as examples
One May find this Feature at much lower level Viz , there will be Significant food vendors
despite low spaces in Down town Vis a Vis there will Less food centres near area of Less
Population or Development or Merchant activities
However Low level of Urbanisation , economic activities In area like ganges , Bengal and
Bihar have high level of Emigration .Such areas are very good endowed with Physical Factors
.
At state level , Bhopal has Comparatively greater advantage of Physical factors vis a Vis to
Indore , But still Indore is having greater density of population Given SEz ,dry port status and
other economic advantages
In brief ,Since inception there has been migration primarily due to Economic actives and less
due Physical Features, One may take Cue that Britishers Arrived in India for Economic
Purposes and Not to Live here in Seren tropics and Sub tropics Climate
Topic: Population and related issues;
Q) Slums are an urban menace. Elucidate with Indian cities as examples. (200 Words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=1-12
Ans: Slum is any human settlement where following characteristics are met:
(1) Over crowding of houses.
(2) Very poor sanitation
(3) Informal economic channels.
(4) Lack of Education opportunities for children

(5) No Reliable Electricity connection, clean water availability, health facility, law
enforcement etc.
Often slums are found mushrooming adjacent to urban areas. There are valid reasons for
this and they create problems to Urban dwelling. Some problems that Urban areas face
because of Slums are:
(1.) They are more vulnerable to natural and unnatural hazards which may affect urban
areas equally. Bhopal slum alongside of Union Carbide was majorly affected by Bhopal gas
tragedy.
(2.) They often lives in sanitation-less, disease prone areas. Which acts as breeding ground
for diseases. Mosquitoes, parasites and protozoan borne diseases are prevalent in Slums.
Dharawi Slum of Mumbai has almost 90% of cases of cholera, malaria of mumbai.
(3.) Slum led to rise in traffic, crime in urban areas, hideouts for criminal. Mumbai Shakti Mill
gangrape rapists were all from nearby slums.
(4.) Taking away the share of public welfare programme meant for city dweller. Delhi
Bhalswa slum is famous for multiple ration card holding per house and leakage of PDS
subsidy.
(5.) They often create wrong picture of city. Many investment get diverted because of lack
of land for them. Ahmedabad case of jewellery firm wanted land of slum from government.
But vast scale protest from slum dwellers led to shifting of jewellery firm to other city.
(6.) Child malnutrition, infant mortality, water borne disease, illiteracy are common in slums
which distort the figures of city demographics.
(7.) Voting power of slums led to distorted politics play.
(8.) Traffic begging mafia, drugs, child trafficking, prostitution happens mostly in slums like
in case of Sona Gachi and Basanti slums of Kolkata. It leads to urban harmony disturbance.
(9.) In many riots, religious extremists march mostly slum dwellers take part because of free
lunch and liquor. They are motive less often and lack rational thinking. For ex. In mumbai
shahid smarak breaking incident. Perpetrators are found from nearby slum.
(10.) Many juvenile crime and criminals happen from slum areas. Victims are often urban
dwellers.
Though it may look that slums are menace to urban area and society but it is not entirely
true. In absence of lack of education, housing, job opportunity they resort to easy money
making and crime. Government must take steps toward stopping unskilled labour
immigration toward urban areas. Also strong steps toward removing slums that is in
government lands. It will be good for everyone in long-term.

Topic: Population and related issues;

Q) Discuss the spatial pattern of intra-regional migration in India and examine its
implications in regional development. (200 Words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=1-12
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/where-prosperity-povertycoexist/article6846349.ece
Ans: Intra regional migration refers to migration within a particular region,state or district.
In India spatial pattern of intra regional migration is due to Push and Pull factors like:
Marriage : Mostly dominant in Rural to Rural ,within same cities etc.Female migration is
dominant in short distance migration .
Employment and other facilties :Mostly dominted by male members from Rural to
Urban,backward districts to developed districs/region where opportunities of
employment,education,health etc are available.
These spatial patterns of migration can be observed in:
---------------------------------------------------------------------In states like Jharkhand, West Bengal Maharashtra ,more and more people are migrating to
cities like Bokaro and Jamshedpur (Jharkhand),Durgapur and Kolkata (WB) and Mumbai and
Pune (Maharastra) from backward districts where large industries and better employment
and other facilities are present. Same pattern is being observed within districts also where
people are migrating from Rural areas to Towns.
While in some states like Bihar ,UP and North Eastern states etc who are economically less
developed more migration is in the form of Inter regional migration to developed cities in
various parts of country while in developed states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra
Pradesh dominant pattern of migration is intra-regional type.
Implications on regional development
-------------------------------------------------Intra regional development can have mixed results for a region.

Pros
-----1.Availability of labor for industries in destination region
2.More and more population will be working in formal sector contributing to GDP
3.Availability of better wages, health and educational facilities for migrants
4. Elimination of disguised unemployment present in traditional agricultural system

Cons
-------1.Burden on infrastructure of destination region

2. Due to competition for jobs, it may result into violent activities

3.Paucity of labour in source regions
4.Demography getting skewed in source and destination regions
5.Rise of slums in destination regions
Topic: population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues,
Q) Enumerate the reasons for spatial differences in human development across the world
and in particularly among the various regions in India. (200 Words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=3-12
Ans: Spatial differences in human development are conditions where spatial and
geographical units inequality exist at different levels usually income.
Main reasons for this -->
1) Physical differences: natural resources availability like water, air, fertile soil for
agriculture, minerals and border regions of states and countries etc
2) institutional differences- like availability of good governance facilities, sanitation,
drainage system etc
3) economic differences: per capita income of a region, availability of job opportunities, help
of industrialization resulting in good economic growth
4) Political theory of a country and inclusive participation of people.
All these favtors responsible for the spatial differences and inequality in a country at
different regions
Eg: Most industrialised regions of india like bangalore attract more people resulting in good
growth of people also in areas surrounding it whereas people living in borders of states like
Hyderabad- karnataka region far from bangalore
The spatial differences regarding various reasons is inevitable. But the effective policy
making and implementation of these policies for the welfare of the govt can help people get
income equalities to reduce the problems of poverty. Affordable health services availabilty,
educational facility must be provided to all despite these regional differences. RTE, setting
up of primary health service centres, MNGREGA are all good steps in this regard

Topic: Population and related issues;

Q) How far do the patterns of economic development and those of human development
correspond with each other in the world? Illustrate your answer with examples. (200
Words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=3-12
Ans: Economic Development and Human development are positively correlated and
dependent on each other. While economic development is possible because of Developed:
1. Human resources
2. Transport system.
3. Infrastructure to support and boost economy
4. Pleasant climate
5. Mineral, agriculture and strong primary sector.
and Human Development is composite measurement of:
1. Life Expectance
2. Income
3. Education
As it is clear that Economic development strongly depends on Human Resource. For ex.
Japan lacks in Pleasant climate and primary sector but still is economically prosperous
nation because of huge investment in Human Resource development in last 5 decades.
Hence, they are technology and industrial leaders in robotics and automobiles which needs
vast R&D. Same is case of California, New York which have high Human development
because of economic advancement and vice-versa.
Economic Development requires a buffer time of one generation life span to develop a
nation and uplift it from poverty. For ex after Hiroshima & Nagasaki bomb disaster. Japan
was economically devastated. First thing it did was to invest in Human resource
development and resulted in economic boom within 15 years and restoration of both
metorpolitans in 10 years. Hence For a nation to realise her dream of economically strong
first has to focus on Human development viz. education, infrastructure and Health.

Topic: Issues relating to poverty and hunger.

Q) Amartya Sen argues that the expansion of freedoms is central to development and he
mentions five distinct freedoms: political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities,
transparency guarantees, and protective security. Critically analyse. (200 Words)
http://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue8-focus1
Ans: Let's analyze the above statement and see how far freedom is necessary for
development.
(A)Political freedom: Amartya Sen's conception of democracy is limited to pluralist or
electoral democracy, without knowledge of critiques of the exercise of power within
pluralism . Unlimited political freedom may lead to political instability, chaos and
uncertainty that can hamper governance in absence of which there will be no development .
China is a glaring example of a country that has world's second largest GDP and fastest
growth rate
(B)Freedom in Economic facilities:
1.free labor not necessarily mean freedom to demand wages and work time of one's choice
without considering viability and cost factors .
2.Unchecked supply of labor pool may cause excess of labor availability in some sectors and
scarcity in others.
3.Absence of market regulations leads to uneven allocations of limited resources and
disproportionate productions of goods.
(C) Freedom in social opportunities: Freedom in social opportunities without restrain that
Sen talks about may:
1. leads to imbalance and deepening social divide where a handful of people will get more
particularly the influential one, while majority will be left deprived.
2. unwise distribution of limited resources available satisfying greed of few
and not need of all.
(D) Freedom in transparency guarantees, and protective security:Complete transparency
without check
1.may hampers secrecy of works thus compromising with national security .
2.leads to unnecessary and excess scrutiny that may impede the progress and smooth
functioning .
3. it is likely to be misused to wilfully create political storm .
Thus, although freedom is requirement of development and progress but it's not a
necessity. There can be development without freedom. There should not be freedom
without checks and limitations. A balance is required between these two.

Topic: population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues,

Q) Discuss the recent trends in urbanisation in India and briefly describe the main
characteristics and problems of the major Indian cities. (200 Words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=4-12
Ans: The variation in the share of urban to total population across the states is high. A large
proportion is currently concentrated in six most developed states, namely Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab and West Bengal, accounting for about half of the
country's urban population.
NE states have recorded rapid pace of urbanization due to the process of their becoming
economically integrated with the national economy. The smaller towns in the backward
states, on the other hand, have languished economically and reported low or negative
demographic growth, many of them even failing to meet the criteria for being classified as
urban centre.
Characteristics of cities:
Most Indian cities have not separated residential and other functions to the same extent as
occidental towns.
Large numbers of towns are primarily administrative: they may have been local commercial
centres and market villages picked as headquarters of districts or their sub-divisions mainly
on account of centrality.
Problems of major cities:
1. Urban Sprawl
Indian cities have grown tremendouslynot only in population, but in geographic size. For
instance, Delhis urban area has almost doubled in the last 20 years. Sprawling cities and
reliance on automobiles have contributed to traffic congestion, air pollution, rising
greenhouse gas emissions, and poor public health.
2. Traffic Safety and Accessibility
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 10 percent of the worlds road fatalities
(130,000) occur in India alone. Safety and accessibility are key components of ensuring that
cities become secure, sustainable places to live.
3. Future Real Estate Development
Development of infrastructure by least pollutant methods is biggest challenge to future
estate development.

Topic: Population and related issues;

Q) Answer the following questions with in specified word limits.
a) What are the main factors for the location of villages in desert regions? (50 words)
b) What are census towns? What are the problems associated with them? (100 words)
c) Under what environments does one expect the presence of dispersed rural settlements?
(50 words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=4-12
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-12/news/54928900_1_townscensus-commissioner-dalip-singh
Ans:
A.
water resources plays important role in desert settlements. Hence we can see settlements
around oasis, lakes and rivers. The concentration of villages are more Around the rim of
desert again . Around major transport links a few more villages are located. economic
activity like mining has its own influence along with them.
B.
Census town has a legal definition. they are defined as towns those have more than 5000
population and density of 400 persons per square km or generating more than 75% of
employment our of non agricultural activity.
problems with them are- our definition is having flaws in it. we have never included any
criterion like critical infrastructure or basic standard of living in our definition. thus actually
this definition is inflating the figures of urbanization in India.
C.
environment for dispersed rural settlements.
wide forest ares. mountain areas. desert like conditions. conflict prone areas. and
unfavorable conditions like semi arid and arid climates are commonly associated with
dispersed rural settlements.

Topic: Issues relating to poverty and hunger.

Q) What are the reasons behind cities being considered as engines of economic growth?
Should government actively promote urbanization to boost economic growth? Critically
analyse. (200 Words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=4-12

Ans: Cities have been a catalyst in India's economic growth and development because of viz.
1. Better Physical infrastructure like roads, rails, airport etc.
2. Advanced technological capacity like Telecom, broadband etc.
3. highly developed & mature human resource pool.
4. A service sector boom worldwide where Indian cities like Gurgaon, Noida, Bangalore have
developed expertise.
5. Government special focus on city development like proposal of 100 smart cities.
6. Better education, health facilities and standards of living.
Challenges:1. Financial crunch for infrastructure development.
2. Overcrowding of cities.
3. Increased Slum dwellings and economic disparity between urban and rural divide.
4. Waste management and environmental issues like air and water pollution. (Delhi most
polluted in the world)
5. Increased traffic congestion.
City development is part of our overall economic growth but this should not come at the
expense of destroying our village life and culture. If cities are centre of country's service
sector then rural economy is centre of food security of nation. As a result a balanced
approach is required which seeks to provide urban facilities and economic avenues to stop
large scale migration and does not threatens agriculture security. For this, PURA, MNREGA
etc. are welcome steps and need to be strengthened further.

Topic: GS1: changes in critical geographical features; GS 3: Major crops cropping patterns in
various parts of the country;
Q) Answer the following with in specified word limits:
(a) India is witnessing changes in land use pattern due to changing economy. Comment
(100 words)
(b) Why is the strategy of increasing cropping intensity important in a country like India?
(100 words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=5-12
Ans: http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1701/4947/original.jpg
Topic: GS1: changes in critical geographical features; GS 3: Major crops cropping patterns in
various parts of the country;
Q) Analyse critically whether the existing cropping in different parts of India would need any
change for better agriculture performance in future. (200 Words)

http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=5-12
Ans: Cropping pattern in India is related to below mentioned factors:
a) Resource [covering irrigation, rainfall and soil fertility].
b) Technology [covering not only seed, fertilizer, and water technologies but also those
related to marketing, storage and processing].
c) Household [covering food and fodder self-sufficiency requirement as well as investment
capacity].
d) Price [covering output and input prices as well as trade policies and other economic
policies that affect these prices either directly or indirectly].
e) Institutional and infrastructure [farm size and tenancy arrangements, research, extension
and marketing systems and government regulatory policies].
India is facing serious demand supply deficits in agriculture products. Because of this
inflation rises, investment decreases, burden of subsidy increases and farmers commits
suicides.
Change needed- one example:
Area sharing rapeseed and mustard, sunflower and soybean are increasing steadily, those of
sesamum, linseed and nigerseed are declining gradually. The area shift has favoured only a
sub-sector within the oilseed sector because of constant changes in the comparative
advantage of different oilseeds and change in consumers' preferences on the relative
demand of oilseeds.
Thus, there is need to change some cropping patterns and bring more diversification,
government initiated some schemes like:
1. Technology Mission for the Integrated Development of Horticulture
2. Implementing National Agriculture Insurance Scheme
3. Operationalizing Technology Mission on Cotton
4. Provision of Capital Subsidy of 25 percent
5. Creation of Watershed Development Fund
6. Infrastructure Support for Horticultural Development
7. Seed Bank Scheme
All above scheme must be implemented well, research on agriculture should be promoted
both through public and private partnerships.

Topic: GS1: Changes in critical geographical features; GS 3: Major crops cropping patterns in
various parts of the country;
Q) What are the reasons for low productivity in Indian agriculture? Give comprehensive
innovative solution to solve the problems faced by the sector. (200 Words)

http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=5-12
Ans: Agriculture accounted for about 15% of the GDP and 51% of the total workforce in
India.
Yet it is still the largest employment source and a significant piece of the overall socioeconomic development of India.
The average yield per hectare has been improved in the recent past but it is still behind its
full potential.
The reasons for the low productivity are :
1. Size of holdings: on average a farmer has less than 2 hectare of land. small size of land
gives less productivity. (can be historically related to land reform acts)
2. Technique : still old and inefficient. only in the recent years farmers have implemented
steel ploughs, fodder cutters, harrows, chemical fertilizers, etc. Farmers do not have enough
funds to purchase this equipment.
3. Irrigation: A vast area of land is rain dependent. Unreliable monsoon and lack of proper
irrigation facility harms productivity.
4. Soil erosion: heavy rain/wind erodes soil and the land loses its fertility.
5. Costly fertilizers and biocides.
6. Agriculture lacks a proper market and penetration of MSP offices. It also makes farmers
vulnerable to middle men and private traders.
7. Farmers prefer to grow rice and wheat because of the attractive MSP. it harms the coarse
cereals growth.
8. Procurement, storage and distribution problems faced by FCI.
Solutions:
1. Consolidation of land: institutions like farmer groups can help farmers work together on a
larger area of land.
2. Subsidies on chemical fertilizers and machinery.
3. Awareness campaigns to teach farmers the use of machinery, techniques and fertilizers.
4. Improve the irrigation system, interlinking rivers.
5. Meteorological department should inform farmers the climate situation in advance so
that they are not susceptible to flood and drought.
6. Reforms in FCI and transport.
7. Restoring the area which has suffered soil erosion so that it regains its fertility.
8. Make farmers economically sound - PMJDY, SHGs, etc.
9. Penetrating the MSP centers and govt's intervention in the market

Topic: Distribution of key natural resources across the world; changes in critical geographical
features (including water bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such
changes;
Q) Answer the following in 150 words.

(a) It is said that the water resources in India have been depleting very fast. Discuss the
factors responsible for depletion of water resources?
(b) The depleting water resources may lead to social conflicts and disputes. Elaborate it with
suitable examples?
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=6-12
Ans: Most important thing for life to sustain is Water. Water is life for a planet and land.
Recently worldwide the ground and surface water is depleting at fast rate, but India is more
concerned because of its population density and diversed land forms.
Reasons for depletions of water resources:
(1.) Indiscriminate use of water resource by factories, industries in river basin and later
disposing the used water in nearby area only. This leads to toxic swamp and ground water
recharging with toxic heavy metals.
(2.) Subsidised diesel and electricity to farmers led to vast scale use of pumpset and
tubewell pumps to irrigate land led to ground water fall. Deeper ground water contains
heavy metal like arsenic, molybdenum, mercury etc which affects pregnant women and
nervous system.
(3.) Urbanisation and population rise in scattered area led to overuse of water in certain
pocket.
(4.) Falling greencover leading to lesser and scattered monsoon and hence less
rechargement of river system. This is also one reason for rise in sea level as water in water
cycle is going toward ocean.
(5.) Urbanisation led to dumping of lake and ponds.
(6.) Deliberate dumping in river to get extra land piece alongside bank.
Answer(b): Water is finite resource and but with rising population and water intesive
mechanism of agriculture, production and industrial process led to its rising demands than
ever. Also with rise in number of states in our fedral structure, Water sharing has become a
reason for interstate conflict and social disputes. For this Interstate water dispute Act 1956
is also passed in Parliament. Some of the Recent disputes are:
(1.) Kaveri water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which also includes several
wildlife sanctuary areas water requirement as well as rice belt of Tamil Nadu for
irrigation.(Politics between TN and Karnataka led to many riots between people.)
(2.) Krishna Water dispute among Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh(Telengana
and AP also led to social conflict between these two provice people.)

(3.) Indus Water treaty for water sharing is also becoming more important as Pakistan
ground water system are depleting fast.

Topic: Distribution of key natural resources across the world; changes in critical
geographical features (including water bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the
effects of such changes;
Q) What is watershed management? Do you think it can play an important role in
sustainable development? Discuss. (200 Words)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=6-12
Ans: Watershed management basically refers to efficient management and conservation of
surface and groundwater resources. It involves prevention of runoff and storage and
recharge of groundwater through various methods like percolation tanks, recharge wells,
etc. However, in broad sense watershed management includes conservation, regeneration
and judicious use of all resources natural (like land, water, plants and animals) and human
with in a watershed. Watershed management aims at bringing about balance between
natural resources on the one hand and society on the other. The success of watershed
development largely depends upon community participation.
The Central and State Governments have initiated many watershed development and
management programmes in the country through people's participation
1. Haryali is a watershed development project which aims at enabling the rural population
to conserve water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and afforestation.
2. Neeru-Meeru(Water and You) programme (in Andhra Pradesh) - water harvesting
structures
3. Arvary Pani Sansad (in Alwar, Rajasthan) - water harvesting structures
4. Tamil Nadu has made water harvesting structures in the houses compulsory.
Watershed development projects in some areas have been successful in rejuvenating
environment and economy and through this integrated water resource management
approach water availability can be ensured on sustainable basis.

Topic: Distribution of key natural resources across the world; changes in critical geographical
features (including water bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such
changes;
Q) Highlight the main features of Inter-linking of rivers (ILR) project while throwing light on
the advantages it can incur to India. Also add a note on grounds which it is being opposed.
(200 Words)

http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?legy2=6-12
Ans: ILR project is an idea to transfer water from surplus river basins to ease the water
shortages in western and southern India.
It comprises of 30 links to connect 37 himalayan and peninsular rivers.
Main features of ILR :
linking the river basins in 2 components
himalyan component
1. linking ganga-brahmaputra-mahanadi-godavri-krishna-pennar and cavery.
2. linking eastern ganga tributaries to western ganga tributaries and sabarmati basin
peninsunal component
linking-mahanadi-godavri-krishna-cavery and ken-betwa
ILR project is supposed to
1. diminish water scarcity in western and peninsular India
2. help in irrigation and storage as a large part of indian agriculture is rainfall dependent
3. mitigate droughts and floods
4. reduce diversity between the water surplus and water scarce parts of India
5. will create employment
6. will help in socio - economic development of people
why is it being opposed?
1. Huge capital requirement.
2. project may take 50 years to complete
3. can cause seismic hazards in himalya
4. execution is difficult as 21/30 links are dependent on other links.
5. displacement of tribal and poor.
6. Inter state water disputes (political)
7. loss of forest and biodiversity
ILR project is itself a half century long project with a huge capital requirement. India needs
to slowly start implementing these projects, see there are consequences and learn from the
mistakes before starting to work on the other links.
Topic: changes in critical geographical features (including water bodies and ice-caps) and in
flora and fauna and the effects of such changes;
Q) How are coral reefs formed? Assess the impact of climate change and anthropogenic
factors on coral reefs. (200 Words)
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/great-barrier-reef-decides-queensland-election
Ans: Coral reefs are reefs and the ecosystem attached to it. It is formed when a coral larvae
come flowing from somewhere attaches to some hard surface where it can attach itself
against sea waves. This hard surface could be submerged rocks in the shorelines or the

continental shelf sea bed. Once the larvae attaches itself along the edges of island,
continent of shoreline rocky system, Slowly lots of coral starts growing in rocky surface
forming colonies, As the coral dies their skeleton are deposited on the surface forming a
rocky structure. It is a slow process, With time it develops into a complete ecosystem
containing corals, exotic fishes, algae and other organism.
Coral reefs are very useful in maintaining diversity and useful in shoreline against violent sea
waves. But they are getting harmed by anthropogenic factors and climate change. Some
impacts on Coral reefs are:
(1.) Corals and polyps are very sensitive to Temperature. Human activities of shipping,
tourism, diesel boats led to rise in temperature on shoreline. Hence, there is decrease in
around 40% coral reefs across world.
(2.) Corals and Polyps are sensitive toward salinity and acidity of water. With increased
pollution, Carbon Dioxide is absorbed by Ocean leading to rise in Carbonic acid in water. As
Coral has Calcium carbonate as main component, it reacts with Carbonic acid and slowly
dissolves down.
(3.) With rise Eco-tourism, snorkeling activities, cyanide fishing, oil spills and disposing of
marine wastes in sea, the harmful effect are evident.
(4.) Exploitation of coral reefs ecosystem for artificial aquarium, photography, deep water
ports construction, pearl culturing, waste disposing to sea. All these leads to destruction of
coral reefs.
(5.) Global warming leads to rise in ocean temperature. Also it leads to lesser glacial melts
and hence more silt deposition in shoreline which causes coral destruction.
Coral are important part of marine ecosystem as it provides habitat to many varities of
aquatic life. It also protects shoreline and hence its protection is sign of biodiverse health.

Topic: Indian Society;

Q) Recent reports indicate that communal violence has many layers of caste , community,
administrative and patronage networks which have played a role in fostering it. Critically
comment. (200 Words)
http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2015_50/5/Caste_Community_and_Crime.pdf

Ans: India since long past has co-habited by many communities, ethnicities and
religions etc. such as Sikhs, Parsi's, Shia-Sunnis, Dravidians, Buddhists; beautifying
our socio-cultural fabric immensely. However our long history of tolerance has
been marred by regularly intermittent clashes often violent among such

communities; often different communities have slightly different opinion, outlook

and interests; which aggravates into clashes.
Communal clashes are fostered by:
1.
Caste: historically lower castes have suppressed by upper castes. After independence
various factors have lead to rise of so-called "lower castes"; so upper castes feel threatened;
competition for resources has made both sides assertive leading to clashes.
2. Community: recent decades have seen an aggressive rise of "Hindutva" forces; their
attempt to paint entire society under one "hindu brush"; their ways and means to topple
the secular structure of Indian society are perceived as a threat by minorities; with
majorities adopting an aggressive stance clashes are inevitable.
3. Administration: administrative authorities adopt a lackadaisical approach towards early
resolution of building up communal tension; as seen in Muzaffarpur riots; ultimately
tensions bursts into violence.
4. Patronage: often individuals particularly local politicians aspiring to make a mark in
politics; fuel sectarian issues to gain community acceptability and eventually obtain votes in
polls. as seen in Muzaffanagar riots.
Thus communal violence must be tackled at each of these layers individually.