Agro-Ecological Regions:

• Agro-ecology refers to the study of agricultural ecosystems and their

components as they function in themselves and as a part of the larger
ecosystem.

Agro-climatic zone homogeneous regions in terms of soil, climate and physiographic

and conducive moisture availability periods or length of growing period, is extremely
important for planning appropriate land use.

Agro-Ecological Regions of India

1. Western Himalayas, Cold Arid Eco-Region:

• It represents the area of the north-western Himalayas, covering Ladakh and

Gilgit districts.
• This region is characterized by mild summer and severe winter.
• The skeletal and calcareous soils occur on gently sloping to almost level
valleys.
• Apple and apricot are the major fruit crops grown in the area.

2. Western Plain, Kachchh And Part Of Kathiawar Peninsula, Hot Arid Ecoregion

• The western Plain, hot and arid agro- ecoregion, covers south western parts
of the States of Punjab and Haryana, western parts of Rajasthan, Kachchh
peninsula and northern part of Kathiawar peninsula in Gujarat State.
• The mean annual precipitation is less than 400 mm, annual LGP of less than
90 days.
 • Pearl millet, chari (fodder), and pulses are grown in non-saline areas.
• The natural vegetation comprises sparse, sporadic tropical thorn forest.

3. Deccan Plateau, Hot Arid Eco-Region:

• It comprises a part of the Deccan plateau, SW parts of Bijapur and Raichur of

Karnataka and Anantapur of Andhra Pradesh.
• The rainfall is erratic and ranges from 400 to 500 mm. The LGP is of less than
90 days.
• The soils are represented by gently sloping shallow and medium red
loamy and level to very gently sloping, deep, clayey black soils
• The traditional practice is rainfed farming.
• Groundnut, sunflower, sugarcane and cotton are intensively grown.
• The natural vegetation of the area comprises tropical thorn forest.

4. Northern Plain (And Central Highlands) Including Aravallis, Hot Semi-Arid

Ecoregion:

• It constitutes the parts of Gujarat, northern plains and central highlands.

• The climate of the region is characterized by hot and dry summer and cool
winter.
• The LGP ranges between 90 and 150 days.
• The soils are moderately to gently sloping, coarse to fine loamy.
• The area is intensively cultivated for both kharif and Rabi crops, such as rice,
millets, maize, pulses, berseem, wheat, mustard and sugarcane.
• The natural vegetation comprises tropical dry deciduous and thorn forests.

5. Central (Malwa) Highlands, Gujarat Plains And Kathiawar Peninsula Ecoregion

• The eco-region covers the Central highlands, Gujarat plains and Kathiawar
peninsula, western parts of Madhya Pradesh, south-eastern parts of
Rajasthan.
• The climate is characterized by hot and wet summer and dry winter.
• The LGP ranges from 90 to 150 days in a year.
• Loamy to clayey and nearly level to very gently sloping deep Black soils.
• Dry land farming is the common practice in the region. The Kharif crops are
sorghum, pearl millet, pigeonpea, groundnut, soybean, maize and pulses.
Rabi crops are sorghum, safflower, sunflower and gram.
• The natural vegetation comprises dry deciduous forest.

6. Deccan Plateau, Hot Semi-Arid Eco-Region:

• The eco-region with hot, semi-arid climate covers the Deccan plateau, central
and western parts of Maharashtra, northern parts of Karnataka and western
parts of Andhra Pradesh.
• The mean annual precipitation, ranges between 600 and 1000 mm.
• The LGP ranges from 90 to 150 days.
• The soils are loamy and clayey soils.
• The sorghum, pigeonpea and pearlmillet are major kharif season crops.
Cotton and groundnut are grown under irrigated conditions.
 • Tropical, dry deciduous and thorn forests.

7. Deccan Plateau (Telangana) And Eastern Ghats, Hot Semiarid Ecoregion

• Covers the parts of the Deccan plateau and major parts of Eastern Ghats of
Andhra Pradesh.
• The climate is characterized by hot and moist summer and mild and dry
winter.
• The LGP ranges from 90 to 150 days.
• The Black Cotton soils are clayey, calcareous and strongly alkaline in
reaction. The Red soils are non-calcareous and neutral in reaction.
• Tropical, dry deciduous and thorn forests.

8. Eastern Ghats And Tamil Nadu Uplands And Deccan (Karnataka) Plateau, Hot
Semiarid Eco- Region

• Covers EasternGhats, southern parts of Deccan plateau, Tamil Nadu uplands,

and western parts of Karnataka.
• The climate is characterized by hot and dry summer and mild winter.
• The LGP ranges from 90 to 150 days.
• The rainfed agriculture is the traditional practice in the region. The millets,
pulses, and groundnut are cultivated in kharif season, while sorghum and
safflower are grown in Rabi season.
• Tropical, dry deciduous and thorn forests.

9. Northern Plain, Hot Subhumid (Dry) Eco-Region

• Covers a part of the northern Indo-Gangetic Plain, including piedmont Plain of

the western Himalayas.
• The agro- climate is characterized by hot summer and cool winter.
• The region has LGP of 150 to 180 days.
• The soils of the region are generally deep and loamy. The crops grown are
rice, maize, barley, pigeonpea and jute in kharif season, and wheat, mustard
and lentil in Rabi season. Sugarcane and cotton are grown at places under
irrigated conditions.
• Tropical dry deciduous forests.

10. Central Highlands (Malwa And Bundelkhand), Hot Subhumid (Dry) Ecoregion

• Covers part of Malwa plateau and Bundelkhand uplands including

Baghelkhand plateau, Narmada valley, Vindhyan scarplands and northern
fringe of Maharashtra plateau.
• The mean annual rainfall ranges between 1000 and 1500 mm. The LGP
ranges from 150-180 days.
• Rice, sorghum, pigeonpea and soybean are common grown kharif crops.
Gram, wheat and vegetables are common Rabi season crops.
• The natural vegetation comprises tropical moist deciduous forest.

11. Chattisgarh/Mahanadi Basin Agro-Eco-Region

 • It covers Chhattisgarh region and southwest highlands of Bihar State.
• The climate is characterized by hot summers and cool winters. The LGP
ranges between 150 and 180 days in a year.
• Cultivation of rice, millets, pigeonpea, moong (green peas) and blackgram
(urid) in kharif season. At places wheat and rice are cultivated under irrigated
conditions during Rabi season.
• The natural vegetation comprises tropical moist deciduous forest.

12. Eastern Plateau (Chhotanagpur) And Eastern Ghats, Hot Subhumid Ecoregion

• The agro eco-region constitutes Chhotanagpur Plateau of Bihar, western

parts of West Bengal, Eastern Ghats of Orissa and Bastar Region of
Chhattisgarh.
• The climate is characterized by hot summers and cool winters. The LGP
varies from 150 to 180 days.
• Soils are fine loamy to clayey, non-calcareous, slightly to moderately acidic.
• Cultivation of rice, pulses and groundnut. In Rabi season, rice and wheat are
cultivated mostly under irrigated condition.
• Tropical dry and moist deciduous forests.

13. Eastern Plain, Hot Subhumid (Moist) Ecoregion

• Comprising eastern plains covers north-eastern Uttar Pradesh and Northern

Bihar.
• The climate is characterized by hot, wet summer and cool, and dry winter.
• The LGP ranges from 180 to 210 days in a year.
• The soils in the area are very gently sloping alluvium-derived soils.
• Sugarcane, tobacco, chillies, turmeric, coriander and potato are usually
grown.
• Tropical moist deciduous and dry deciduous forests.

14. Western Himalayas, Warm Subhumid (To Humid With Inclusion Of Perhumid)
Ecoregion

• The agro eco-region comprising western Himalayas covers Jammu and

Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and north-western hilly areas of Uttar Pradesh
• The rainfall in general varies from 1000-2000 mm.
• The soils are Brown Forest and Podzolic Soils.
• Rainfed farming is the traditional practice in the valleys and on terraces. The
common crops grown are wheat, millet, maize and rice. The terraced uplands
are cultivated for paddy and/or horticultural plantation crops, like apples.
• Himalayan moist temperature, subtropical pine and sub-alpine forests.

15. Assam And Bengal Plain, Hot Subhumid To Humid (Inclusion Of Perhumid) Eco-
Region

• The agro eco-region, comprising the plains of the Bramhaputra and the
Ganga Rivers, covers parts of the States of Assam and West Bengal.
• The intensity of precipitation increases in northern and eastern parts as
compared with the southern parts.
 • The LGP, in general, is more than 210 days in a year.
• The rice and jute are main crops grown.
• In northern foothills of eastern Himalayas plantation crops, such as tea and
horticultural crops like pineapple, citrus and banana are grown.
• tropical moist and dry deciduous forests.

16. Eastern Himalayas, Warm Perhumid Eco-Region

• The agro eco-region encompasses northern hilly parts of West Bengal,

northern parts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim States.
• The climate is characterized by warm summer and cool winter.
• The longest LGP (more than 270 days) in a year.
• Jhum cultivation is the traditional farming. Another type of traditional practice
is the cultivation of millets on upland terraces and potato, maize, millets and
paddy in valleys.
• Subtropical pine forest and temperate wet evergreen forests, subalpine
forest, etc.

17. North-Eastern Hills (Purvanchal), Warm Perhumid Ecoregion

• Comprises hilly States of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and

southern Tripura.
• The agro-climate is characterized by warm summer and cool winter. LGP
exceeds 270 days in a year.
• The major soil formations in the area include shallow to very deep, loamy,
Red and Lateritic and red and yellow soils.
• Jhum cultivation is the traditional farming. Rice is the dominant crop grown in
valleys and on hill terraces. Millets, maize and potatoes are cultivated on
terraces at higher altitudes.
• Wet evergreen and tropical moist deciduous forests.

18. Eastern Coastal Plain, Hot Subhumid To Semiarid Ecoregion

• The agro eco-region comprises the south-eastern coastal plain, extending

from Kanyakumari to Gangetic Delta.
• The LGP ranges from 90 to 150 days.
• This area represents semiarid climatic conditions.
• Both rainfed and irrigated agriculture are practiced in the region. The lead
crop cultivated in the area, both in kharif and Rabi season, is rice. Coconut is
a dominant plantation crop of the region.

19. Western Ghats And Coastal Plain, Hot Humid-Perhumid Eco-Region

• The agro eco-region comprises Sahyadris, western coastal plains of

Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala States, Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu.
• The mean annual temperature varies between 25°C and 28°C. The mean
annual rainfall exceeds 2000 mm in most of the areas.
• LGP ranging between 150 and 210 days.
• Red and Lateritic Soils along the leeward flank of Sahyadris and the alluvium-
derived soils in the coastal plains.
 • The area is intensively cultivated for rice, tapioca, coconut and spices.
• Tropical moist deciduous forests.

20. Islands Of Andaman-Nicobar And Lakshadweep, Hot Humid To Perhumid Island

Ecoregion

• The agro eco-region comprises Andaman and Nicobar in the east and that of
Lakshadweep in the west.
• The Lakshadweep Islands receives 1600 mm rainfall representing humid
climate, and the Andaman-Nicobar group of Islands receiving 3000 mm
rainfall representing per-humid climate.
• The LGP is more than 210 Days.
• The Andaman shows medium to very deep, Red loamy soils.
• Tropical rain (evergreen) and littoral and swamp forests.
• In Lakshadweep, rice is mainly grown under lowland conditions. Coconut is
the main plantation crop.

Agro Climatic Zones:

• Delineation of agro-climatic zones based on soil, water, rainfall, temperature

etc. is the first essential step for sustainable production.
• Agro-climatic regions were devised by planning commission in 1989. It was
based on land survey, soil survey and agricultural survey of rural India.
• An “Agro-climatic zone” is a land unit in terms of major climates, suitable for a
certain range of crops and cultivars. Agro-climatic conditions mainly refer to
soil types, rainfall, temperature and water availability which influences the
type of vegetations.

Agro-Ecological Zone: An Agro-ecological zone is the land unit carved out of

agro-climatic zone superimposed on landform which acts as modifier to climate
and length of growing period.

Delineation Of Agro-Climatic Regions: For the planning and development of

agriculture in 1989, the Planning Commission and the National Remote
Sensing Agency (NRSA) have divided the country into 15 agro-climatic regions.

• The main objectives of delineating agro-climatic regions are:

▪ To optimize agricultural production.
▪ To increase farm income.
▪ To generate more rural employment.
▪ To make a judicious use of the available irrigation water.
▪ To reduce the regional inequalities in the development of agriculture.
• There are 15 agro-climatic zones in India which are:-
▪ Western Himalayan Region
 ▪ Eastern Himalayan Region
▪ Lower Gangetic Plains Region
▪ Middle Gangetic Plains Region
▪ Upper Gangetic Plains Region
▪ Trans – Gangetic Plains Region
▪ Eastern plateau and Hills Region
▪ Central Plateau and Hills
▪ Western Plateau and Hills
▪ Southern Plateau and Hills
▪ East Coast Plains and Hills
▪ West Coast Plains and Ghats Region
▪ Gujarat Plains
▪ Western Dry Region
▪ The Islands Region.

I. Western Himalayan Region:

• Location and Topography:

▪ The Western Himalayan Region covers Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh and the hill region of Uttarakhand.
▪ It has snow- covered peaks, dissected topography, steep slopes,
perennial rivers, evergreen and deciduous forests, and thin cover of
soils on undulating slopes.
• Climate:
▪ There are micro level variations in temperatures and rainfall. It shows
great variation in relief.
 ▪ Summer season is mild (July average temperature 5°C-30°C) but the
winter season experiences severe cold conditions (January
temperature 0°C to -4°C).
▪ The low temperatures, snowing and inclement weather in winters
hinder the intensification of agriculture.
• Agricultural Information
▪ Agricultural activities in this region are largely confined to the valleys
(Kashmir, Dun, Chamba, etc.), river terraces and gentle slopes of the
Kandi tracts. Rice in the valley floors and maize in the hilly areas
dominate the kharif land use.
▪ Barley, wheat, oats, peas are sown in October in some areas show a
stunted growth during the winters when temperatures are generally
below the freezing point.
▪ This agro-climatic region is well known for the cultivation of orchards.
The apple orchards of Sopore, Srinagar and Baramulla (Kashmir),
Kulu-Manali, Shimla and Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), and Ranikhat
and Almora are famous all over the country. Apart from apples the
apricot, almond, walnut, litchis, laokawt, cherry, peach, pears and
superior quality of saffron are grown in this region.
▪ The high altitude alpine pastures situated above 2000 metres, locally
known as ‘Dhoks‘ or ‘Margs‘, are utilized by the Gujjars, Bakarwals and
Gaddis for the rearing of their sheep, goats, cattle and horses.
• Socio-economic aspects and suggestions:
▪ The economy is largely agrarian and over 80 per cent of the total
workforce of the region is directly or indirectly dependent on
agriculture.
▪ Poor accessibility, soil erosion, landslides, inclement weather,
inadequacy of marketing and storage facilities are the major problems
of the region.
▪ The agricultural potential of the region has not been utilized judiciously.
▪ The standard of living of the rural communities is poor and they could
not adopt the new agricultural technology like HYV of wheat and rice in
a big way. There is a great need of research and extension service for
the agricultural development and planning of the northwest
mountainous region of the country.

II. Eastern Himalayan Region:

• Location and topography:

▪ The Eastern Himalayan Region includes Arunachal Pradesh, the hills
of Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura,
and the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
▪ The topography is rugged.
 • Climatic Conditions:
▪ Temperature variation is between 25 °C and 30 °C in July and between
10 °C and 20 °C in January.
▪ Average rainfall is between 200- 400 cm. The red-brown soil is not
highly productive. Jhuming (shifting cultivation) prevails in the hilly
areas.
• Agricultural information
▪ The main crops are rice, maize, potato, tea. There are orchards of
pineapple, litchi, oranges and lime.
• Socio economic aspects and suggestions.
▪ Infrastructural facilities in the region need to be improved and shifting
cultivation needs to be controlled by developing terrace farming.

III. Lower Gangetic Plain Region:

• Location and topography:

▪ West Bengal (except the hilly areas), eastern Bihar and the
Brahmaputra valley lie in this region.
▪ The region has adequate storage of ground water with high water
table.
• Climatic Conditions:
▪ Average annual rainfall lies between 100 -200 cm. Temperature in July
varies from 26 °C to 41°C and for January from 9 °C to 24 °C.
• Agricultural information:
▪ Rice is the main crop which at times yields three successive crops
(Aman, Aus and Boro) in a year. Jute, maize, potato, and pulses are
other important crops.
• Socio economic aspects and suggestions:
▪ Planning strategies include improvement in rice farming, horticulture
(banana, mango and citrus fruits), pisciculture, poultry, livestock, forage
production and seed supply.

IV. Middle Gangetic Plain Region:

• Location and topography:

▪ The Middle Gangetic Plain region includes large parts of Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar.
▪ It is a fertile alluvial plain drained by the Ganga and its tributaries.
• Climatic Conditions
 ▪ The average temperature in July varies from 26 °C to 41 °C and that of
January 9 °C to 24 °C average annual rainfall is between 100 -200 cm.
• Agricultural information
▪ Rice, maize, millets in Kharif, wheat, gram, barley, peas, mustard and
potato in Rabi are important crops.
• Socio economic aspects and suggestions:
▪ Alternative farming systems and utilizing chaur lands for pisciculture
are some measures to boost agricultural production.
▪ Reclamation of user lands, wastelands, and fallow lands for agriculture
and allied activities (agro-forestry, silviculture, floriculture etc.) should
be done.

V. Upper Gangetic Plains Region:

• Location and topography:

▪ In the Upper Gangetic Plains region comes the central and western
parts of Uttar Pradesh and the Haridwar and Udham Nagar districts of
Uttarakhand.
• Climatic Conditions:
▪ Climate is sub-humid continental with temperature in July between 26
°C to 41 °C and temperature in January between 7 °C to 23 °C.
▪ Average annual rainfall is between 75 cm-150 cm.
• Agricultural information:
▪ The soil is sandy loam. Canal, tube-well and wells are the main source
of irrigation.
▪ This is an intensive agricultural region wherein wheat, rice, sugarcane,
millets, maize, gram, barley, oilseeds, pulses and cotton are the main
crops.
• Socio economic aspects and suggestions
▪ Besides modernizing traditional agriculture the region needs special
focus on dairy development and horticulture.
▪ Strategies should include developing multiple mixed cropping patterns.

VI. Trans-Ganga Plains Region:

• Location and topography:

▪ This region (also called the Sutlej-Yamuna Plains) extends over
Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and the Ganganagar district of
Rajasthan.
• Climatic Conditions:
 ▪ Semi-arid characteristics prevail over the region, with July‘s mean
monthly temperature between 25 °C and 40 °C and that of January
between 10°C and 20 °C.
▪ The average annual rainfall varies between 65 cm and 125 cm. The
soil is alluvial which is highly productive.
▪ Canals and tube-wells and pumping sets have been installed by the
cultivators and the governments.
• Agricultural information:
▪ The intensity of agriculture is the highest in the country. Important
crops include wheat, sugarcane, cotton, rice, gram, maize, millets,
pulses and oilseeds etc.
▪ The region has the credit of introducing Green Revolution in the
country and has adopted modern methods of farming with greater
degree of mechanisation.
▪ The region is also facing the menace of water logging, salinity,
alkalinity, soil erosion and falling water table.
• Socio economic aspects and suggestions: Some steps that may be required
to make agriculture in the region more sustainable and productive are:
▪ Diversion of some rice-wheat area to other crops like maize, pulses,
oilseeds and fodder.
▪ Development of genotypes of rice, maize and wheat with inbuilt
resistance to pestsand diseases.
▪ Promotion of horticulture besides pulses like tur and peas in upland
conditions.
▪ Cultivation of vegetables in the vicinity of industrial clusters.
▪ Supply of quality seeds of vegetables and planting material for
horticulture crops.
▪ Development of infrastructure of transit godowns and processing to
handle additional fruit and vegetable production.
▪ Implementation of policy and programmes to increase productivity of
milk and wool.
▪ Development of high quality fodder crops and animal feed by stepping
up area under fodder production.

VII. Eastern Plateau And Hills:

• Location and topography: This region includes the Chotanagpur Plateau,

extending over Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Dandakaranya.
• Climatic Conditions:
▪ The region enjoys 26 °C to 34 °C of temperature in July, 10 °C to 27°C
in January and 80 cm-150 cm of annual rainfall.
 ▪ The region is deficient in water resources due to plateau structure and
nonperennial streams
• Agricultural information:
▪ Soils are red and yellow with occasional patches of lateritic and
alluviums.
▪ Rain fed agriculture is practiced growing crops like rice, millets, maize,
oilseeds, ragi, gram and potato.
• Socio economic aspects and suggestions: Steps to improve agricultural
productivity and income includes:
▪ Cultivation of high value crops of pulses like tur, groundnut and
soybean etc. on upland rain-fed areas
▪ Growing crops like urad, castor, and groundnut in kharif and mustard
and vegetables in irrigated areas.
▪ Improvement of indigenous breeds of cattle and buffaloes.
▪ Extension of fruit plantations.
▪ Renovation including desilting of existing tanks and excavation of new
tanks.
▪ Development of inland fisheries in permanent water bodies, and
adopting integrated watershed development approach to conserve soil
and rain water.

VIII. Central Plateau And Hills:

• Location and topography: This region is spread over Bundelkhand,

Baghelkhand, Bhander Plateau, Malwa Plateau, and Vindhyachal Hills.
• Climatic Conditions: Semi-arid climatic conditions prevail over the region with
temperature in July 26°C to 40°C, in January 7°C to 24°C and average annual
rainfall from 50 cm-100 cm. Soils are mixed red, yellow and black.
• Agricultural information: There is scarcity of water. Crops grown are millets,
wheat, gram, oilseeds, cotton and sunflower.
• Socio economic aspects and suggestions: In order to improve agricultural
returns, measures to be adopted are water conservation through water saving
devices like sprinklers and drip system; dairy development, crop
diversification, ground water development, reclamation of ravine lands.

IX. Western Plateau And Hills:

• Location and topography: Comprising southern part of Malwa plateau and

Deccan plateau (Maharashtra), this is a region of the regur (black) soil
• Climatic Conditions: July temperature between 24 °C and 41 °C, January
temperature between 6 °C and 23 °C and average annual rainfall of 25 cm-75
cm.
 • Agricultural information: Wheat, gram, millets, cotton, pulses, groundnut, and
oilseeds are the main crops in the rain-fed areas, while in the irrigated areas,
sugarcane, rice, and wheat, are cultivated. Oranges, grapes and bananas are
also grown.
• Socio economic aspects and suggestions: Attention should be paid
to increasing water efficiency by popularizing water saving devices like
sprinklers and drip system. The lower value crops of jowar, bajra and rain fed
wheat should give way to high value oilseeds. Five per cent area under rain-
fed cotton and jowar could be substituted with fruits like ber, pomegranate,
mango and guava. Improvement of milk production of cattle and buffalo
through cross-breeding along with poultry development should be
encouraged.

X. Southern Plateau And Hills:

• Location and topography: This region falls in interior Deccan and includes
parts of southern Maharashtra, the greater parts of Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu uplands from Adilabad District in the north to
Madurai District in the south.
• Climatic Conditions: The mean monthly temperature of July varies between
25 °C and 40 °C, and the mean January temperature is between 10 °C and
20 °C. Annual rainfall is between 50 cm and 100 cm.
• Agricultural information: It is an area of dry-zone agriculture where millets,
oilseeds, and pulses are grown. Coffee, tea, cardamom and spices are grown
along the hilly slopes of Karnataka plateau.
• Socio-economic aspects and suggestions: Some of the area under coarse
cereals may be diverted to pulses and oilseeds. Horticulture, dairy
development and poultry farming should be encouraged.

XI. Eastern Coastal Plains And Hills:

• Location and topography: This region comprises of the Coromandal and

northern Circar coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.
• Climatic Conditions: The mean July temperature ranges between 25 °C and
35 °C and the mean January temperature varies between 20 °C and 30 °C.
The mean annual rainfall varies between 75 cm and 150 cm.
• Agricultural information: The soils are alluvial, loam and clay and are troubled
by the problem of alkalinity. Main crops include rice, jute, tobacco, sugarcane,
maize, millets, groundnut and oilseeds.
• Socio-economic aspects and suggestions: Main agricultural strategies
include improvement in the cultivation of spices (pepper and cardamom)
and development of fisheries. These involve increasing cropping intensity
using water-efficient crops on residual moisture, discouraging growing of rice
on marginal lands and bringing such lands under alternate crops like oilseeds
and pulses; diversifying cropping and avoiding mono-cropping; developing
horticulture in upland areas, social forestry and dairy-farming.
XII. Western Coastal Plains And Ghats:

• Location and topography: This zone extends over the Malabar and Konkan
coastal plains and the Sahyadris.
• Climatic Conditions: The region is humid with the mean July temperature
varying between 25 °C and 30 °C and mean January temperatures between
18 °C and 30 °C. The mean annual rainfall is more than 200 cm.
• Agricultural information: The soil is lateritic and coastal alluvial. Rice, coconut,
oilseeds, sugarcane, millets, pulses and cotton are the main crops. The region
is also famous for plantation crops and spices which are raised along the hill
slopes of the Western Ghats.
• Socio-economic aspects and suggestions: The agricultural development must
focus attention on raising of high value crops (pulses, spices, and coconut).
Development of infrastructural facilities and promotion to prawn culture in
brackish water should be encouraged.

XIII. Gujarat Plains And Hills:

• Location and topography: This region includes the hills and plains of
Kathiawar, and the fertile valleys of Mahi and Sabarmati rivers. It is an arid
and semi-arid region.
• Climatic Conditions: The mean July temperature reads 30 °C and that of
January is about 25 °C. The mean annual rainfall varies between 50 cm and
100 cm.
• Agricultural information: Soil is regur in the plateau region, alluvium in the
coastal plains, and red and yellow soils in Jamnagar area. Groundnut, cotton,
rice, millets, oilseeds, wheat and tobacco are the main crops. It is
an important oilseed producing region.
• Socio-economic aspects and suggestions: The main strategy of development
in this region should be canal and groundwater management, rain water
harvesting, dry land farming, agro-forestry development, wasteland
development and developing marine fishing and brackish/back-water
aquaculture development in coastal zones and river deltas.

XIV. Western Dry Region:

• Location and topography: This region spreads over Rajasthan, West of the
Aravallis.
• Climatic Conditions: This region has an erratic rainfall of an annual average of
less than 25 cm. The desert climate further causes high evaporation and
contrasting temperatures—28 °C to 45 °C in June and 5 °C to 22 °C in
January.
• Agricultural information: Bajra, jowar, and moth are main crops of kharif and
wheat and gram in Rabi. Livestock contributes greatly in desert ecology.
 • Agricultural information: The main areas needing a thrust for development are
rainwater harvesting, increasing yield level of horticultural crops like water
melon, guava and date palm, adopting high quality germplasm in cattle to
improve their breed; and adopting silvi-pastoral system over wastelands.

XV. Island Region:

• Location and topography: The island region includes Andaman-Nicobar and

Lakshadweep which have typically equatorial climate
• Climatic Conditions: Annual rainfall less than 300 cm; the mean July and
January temperature of Port Blair being 30 °C and 25 °C respectively.
• Agricultural information: The soils vary from sandy along the coast to clayey
loam in valleys and lower slopes. The main crops are rice, maize, millets,
pulses, areca nut, turmeric and cassava. Nearly half of the cropped area is
under coconut. The area is covered with thick forests and agriculture is in
backward stage.
• Socio-economic aspects and suggestions: The main thrust in development
should be on crop improvement, water management and fisheries. Improved
variety of rice seeds should be popularized so as to enable farmers to take
two crops of rice in place of one. For fisheries development multi-purpose
fishing vessels for deep sea fishing should be introduced, suitable
infrastructure for storage and processing of fish should be built up, and
brackish water prawn culture should be promoted in the coastal areas.

LINGUISTIC CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA: Language in its literary

meaning is a system of communication through speech, a collection of
sounds that a group of people understand to have the same meaning.
Dialect is a form of language spoken in a local area.

Classification of Indian Languages

1. Indo-Aryan Group
2. Dravidian Group
3. Sino-Tibetan Group
4. Negroid Group
5. Austric Group
6. Others

The Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian are the dominant groups and together
comprises all the major languages of India. They have influenced each
other and have, in turn, been influenced by the Austric and SinoTibetan
tongues.
Indo-Aryan Group of Languages: It is part of the Indo-European family of
languages, which came to India with the Aryans. It is the biggest of the
language groups in India and accounts for about 74% of the total Indian
population. It comprises of all the principal languages of northern and
western India such as Hindi, Bengali, Marathi , Gujarati, Punjabi, Sindhi,
Rajasthani, Assamese, Oriya, Pahari, Bihari, Kashmiri, Urdu and Sanskrit.

This language group is again sub-divided into three groups depending

upon the time period of their origin. There are:

▪ (i) Old Indo-Aryan Group

▪ (ii) Middle Indo-Aryan Group
▪ (iii) Modern Indo-Aryan Group

Old Indo-Aryan Group (1500-300 BCE): This group had its development
around 1500 BCE and Sanskrit was born out of this group. It is the most
ancient language of our country and is one of the 22 languages listed in the
Constitution.

Middle Indo-Aryan Languages: The Middle Indo-Aryan stage in the

evolution of Indo-Aryan languages is thought to have spanned more than a
millennium between 600 BCE and 1000 CE, and is often divided into three
major subdivisions.

• The early stage is represented by the Edicts of Ashoka (c. 250 BCE)
and by Pali (used by Theravada Buddhists) and Ardha Magadhi
(used in Jainism).
• The middle stage is represented by the various literary Prakrits,
especially the Shauraseni language and Maharashtri and Magadhi
Prakrits.
• The late stage is represented by the Apabhra as of the 6th century
and later that preceded early Modern Indo-Aryan languages.
The apabhramsa language developed from Prakrits.

Modern Indo-Aryan Languages: The languages belonging to this group

are Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujrati, Marathi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sindhi,
Odia, Urdu etc. These languages are mainly spoken in the northern,
western and eastern parts of India.
Dravidian Group: This group comprises mainly of languages spoken in the
Southern India. The Dravidian language came into India centuries before
the Indo-Aryan. It covers about 25% of the Indian population. Proto-
Dravidian gave rise to 21 Dravidian Languages. They can be broadly
classified into three groups: Northern group, Central group, and Southern
group of Dravidian languages.

• (i) The Northern group consists of three languages i.e. Brahui, Malto
and Kudukh. Brahui is spoken in Baluchistan, Malto spoken in Bengal
and Odisha, while Kurukh is spoken in Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and
Madhya Pradesh.
• (ii) The Central group consists of eleven languages viz., Gondi,
Khond, Kui, Manda, Parji, Gadaba, Kolami, Pengo, Naiki, Kuvi and
Telugu. Out of these, only Telugu became a civilized language and
the rest remained tribal languages.
• (iii) The southern group consists of seven languages viz., Kannada,
Tamil, Malayalam, Tulu, Kodagu, Toda and Kota.

However, Among these 21 languages of the Dravidian Group, the major

languages of the Dravidian group are: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam.

Sino-Tibetan Group: Sub-Himalayan tracts, covering North Bihar, North

Bengal, Assam up to the north-eastern frontiers of the country. These
languages are considered to be older than the Indo-Aryan languages and
are referred to in the oldest Sanskrit literature as Kiratas. Around 0.6% of
the Indian population speaks languages belonging to this group. The Sino-
Tibetan group is further divided into two subgroups:

▪ Tibeto-Burman
▪ Siamese-Chinese

Tibeto-Burman: The Tibeto-Burman languages are divided into four broad

groups: Tibetan, Himalayan, North-Assam, Assam-Burmese.

Siamese-Chinese: Ahom is one of the languages belonging to this group.

However this language has now been extinct from the Indian sub-continent.

Austric Group: The Austric languages of India belong to the Austro-Asiatic

sub-family, which are represented by languages of the Munda or Kol
Group, spoken in the central, eastern and north-eastern India and
languages of the Mon-Khmer group like Khasi and Nicobarese. These
are very ancient languages which have been in existence much before the
advent of Aryans and were referred in ancient Sanskrit literature as
Nisadas.

The most important language of the Austric group is Santhali, which

is spoken by over 5 million Santhals and is the largest spoken among the
Adivasi languages. Mundari, spoken by about a million Mundas, is another
important language of this group.

Others: There are several Dravidian adivasi languages like Gondi, Oraon
or Kurukh, Mal-Pahariya, Khond and Parji.

Official Languages of India: Part 17 of the constitution of India (Articles

343 to Article 351) makes elaborate provisions dealing with the official
language of the Republic of India. Hindi written in Devanagari script is the
Official Language of the Union.

• The Constitution of India has also made a provision for each of the
Indian States to choose their own official language for
communications at the State level. There are many languages listed
in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution which may be used by the
States for official purpose. At present there are 22 languages in total
listed under the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution.
• Assamese, Bodo, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkari, Malayalam, Marathi,
Odia, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Telugu, Bengali, Dogri, Hindi, Kashmiri,
Maithili, Manipuri, Nepali, Punjabi, Santhali, Tamil, Urdu.