CHAPTER

07
Lifelines of
National Economy

The modes of
transportation and communication like railways, airways, watenways,
newspapers, radio, television, cinema, internet, etc are contributing to India's
socio-economic progress by linking India with the
Chapter Sy
world. e Roacways

Transport
The movement of
Raiways
Pipelines
goods and services from supply locations to demand locations is Watenways
termed as transportation. The efficient means of transportation is a
condition for fast development of a necessary
country. There are different means of
Major Seapons=
through which movement of these goods and services is done over three transport Airways
domains of the earth i.e. land, water and air. important Communi
The means of transport can be
categorisedas follouws InternatonalT
Means of Transport Tourism as at

(Land Water Air

Roadways |Railways Pipelines Iniand Overseas Domestic Ainvays International
Aurways
Public Undertaking Private Airlines
eines of National Economy
215

Tiansport in India (Gi) National Highways

They link extreme parts of the country. National
Highways are the primary road systems and are
Roudways constructed and maintained by the Central Public
ndia has one of the largest road networks in the world Works Department (CPWD) under NHAI's
s about 54.7
lakh km.
ahich supervision.
Road transport is growing in imþortance as compared to number of National highways
because of the following reasons
India has a
connect the North-South and East West parts of the
which
aluays
Construction cost of roads is much lower than that of country.
railway lines. The National Highway No-l is a historical highway
Roads can be built in uneven surfaces like hills and which is known as Sher Shah Suri Marg. This
mountains.
highways connects Delhi and Amritsar.
.Roads can be built over higher slopes and can traverse
(cross) mountains such as the Himalayas. (ii) State Highways
Road transport is economical in transportation of few These are roads linking a capital
state
with its
district
headquarters. They are constructed and maintained by
persons and relatively smaller amount of goods over short
the State Public Works Department (SPWD) in States
distances.
and Union Territories.
Road transport also provides door-to-door service, thus,
the cost of loading and unloading is much lower. (iv) District Roads
Road transport links other modes oftransport like These roads connect the district headquarters with
between railway stations, air and sea ports. other places of the district. These roads are maintained
by the Zila Parishad of the district.
Classification of Roads on the Basis of
Copacity vOtherRoads
Rural roads, which link rural areas and villages with
In hdia, roads are classified in six classes according to their
capacity as given below
towns, are classified under this category. These are
constructed under Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak
i Golden Quadrilateral Super Highways Yojana (PMGSY). Under this scheme, special provisions
have been made to link every village to a major town in
This is an important road development project which has
the country by an all season motorable road.
been launched by the Government of India. These are six
lane super highways which connect Delhi-Kolkata, vi) Border Roads
Chennai-Mumbai and Delhi. Thèy have the follouwing comidors
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) constructs and
North-South coridors' linking Srinagar (Jammu and maintains roads in the border areas of the country.
Kashmir) and Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu). This organisation was established in 1960.
East-West corridors linking Silchar (Assam) and The objective of this organisation is to develop roads ot
Porbander (Gujarat). strategic importance in the Northern and
he major objective of these super highways is to save time North-Eastern border areas. Border roads have
and reduce distance between the above mega cities in India. improved accessibility in areas of difficult terrain and
(NHAI)' is the have helped in the economic development of these
National Highway Authority of India
areas.
gulatory which implements these highway projects.

North-South Corridor An ongoing National Highways project from Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) to Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadul. a distanoe
4000 km, with a spur from Salem (Tamil Nadu) to Kochchi (Kerala).
U
East-West Corridor An onqoing National Highways project from Silchar (Assam) to Porbandar (Gujarat). a distance of about 3300 km
3 National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) An autonomous ageney of the Govermment of India responsible for management of a networ

Over 7900 km of National Highways in India.

National Highways Highvways of national importance constructed and maintained by the Ccentral Public Works Department (CPND)
 Allinone Social Science
216 Class r.

Classification of Roads on the Basis of Material Used For the administrative convenience
On this basis
Indian railways are divided into 16
of type of material used, roads are of two types There 3 of guages
(i) Metalled Roads They may be made of cement, concrete or even
are
types (railway
track) i.e. broad guage, metre guage
and
bitumen of coal. Therefore, these are all weather roads narrow guage.
(i) Unmetalled or Unpaved Roads They are made of clay, crushed
.Indian Railways is the largest
rock and can be used in dry season only. They have no use
public sector undertaking in the
during rainy season.
country.
The first train started from Mumba
to Thane in 1853, covering a
distance
of 34 km.
India
National Highways Challenges tor Indian Railway
JKishtwar
Pakistann
Manal It is difficult to lay railway lines in the
Pathankdt
Alan/ J a l a h d h a !
Firorpur
hilly regions of peninsular India. In thee
Fazika,6
Dehradunt regions railways tracts are laid through
( China
Dethi (Tibet ) low hills, gaps° or tunnels.
Gurgaon Pashgha
Baner
Jaisaime
Nopal 1anaga .The Himalayan mountainous regions
J a o r A g r a

Lucknow Guwahal , too are unfavourable for the

Jodhpur BewaJ wior .
hansi Kanpur
eunaa construction of railway lines. due to h
Mandy
Ughpur
Spun Allahabaon21( angladesh relief, sparse population and lack of
hmedabad economic opportunities.
rahot
Bilaspur Uiamanedpur Khapgpur It requires construction of bridges ovet
Surat
Jalgaon rivers in India.
thDhuleA
Raipu Myanmar
asik Bhubaneshwat 7Paradwip
Pun
It is difficult to lay railway lines on the
Punuamabad u Gopalpur Bay of
sandy plain of \Western Rajasthan,
Benga
Vizlanagaram
Solepu Hydenabnd Visakhapanam
swamps of Gujarat, forested tracks of

Bejday
BijapurVayawad
Kunoo AAuchilipauna" Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odsha
Pana and Jharkhand.
Golden Ouadrlateral
North-South Corridor There are problems of sinking of
Mangalore
Mengalore rigalura dgani East-West Corridor
alem goanj
-0 Naional Highway
with Number
railway tracks. For example, Sahyadi
Puducherry or Western Ghats has faced a
4 Tuphchirappalli number of problems such as sinking
Koch ard Andaman & Nicobar lslonds

(Indio)
of track in some stretches and
Thiruvananthapurarm /uticonin landslides.
Kanniyakumar
Lanka
The initial costs oflaying the tracksar
too high.
India National Highways
Problems of Indian Railways
Railways Many passengers travel without
tickets.
Railways are the principal mole of transportation for freight (goods)
and passengers in India. They carry bulky weight and are Theft and damaging of railway propem
excellent for has not yet stopped completely.
long distances. The Indian Railways network spread over a route length
of 66,687 km. Railways proviqle a number of different activities to Feople stop train by pulling the chin
people like basines5, sightseeipy, pilgrimage as well as transportation of unnecessarily that causes heavy dam
goods over longer distances, to the railway.

Pass or Gap A pass is a qap or break, in high, rugged terrain such as a mountain ridge.
 elines of NationalEconomy
217

CheckPoint 0 The waterways declared

glven In the table below
as the National Waterways are

organlsatlon Is responslble for Implementatlon of the

Natlonal
Gelden Quadrlateral Hlghways Praject. Waterways Descrlptlon
Natonal Highway-1 (NH-1) connects. NW-1 Allahabad to Haldla (1,620 km) on the Ganga river
Border Road Organlsation (BRO) was establshed In whleh year?
8ystem.
Into how mary zones is Indlan Rallway dlvMded?
NW-2 Sadlya to Dhubri (891 km) on the Brahmaputra
river
Pipelines NW 3 West-Coast canal In Korala (206 km),
(Koltapuram-Komman, Udyogamandal and
Pipelines are used for transporting crude oll, petroleum
nroducts and natural gas and solids like iron ore when Champakkara canals).
NW-4 Parts of Krlshna and Godavarl rlvers along with
converted into slurry. Kaklnada-Puducherry 8tretch of oanals (1,078
Inland locations of refineries like Barauni, Mathura, km).
Panipat are viable because of pipelines. NW 5 Parts of Brahmanl rlver along with Matal river, delta
Initial costoflaying pipelines is high (especially for channels of Mahanadl and Brahmanl rivers and
Easl coast canal (588 km).
underground pipelines), but subsequent running costs are
minimal. There are some other inland waterways on which
Pipelines control transshipment losses or delays. substantial transportation takes place. These are
Mandavi, Zuari and Cumberjua, Sunderbans, Barak
Important Pipeline Networks and backwaters of Kerala.
Important pipeline ransportation networks for oil and gas are
Pipeline from Oil Fields in Upper Assam to Kanpur
Major Sea Ports
(Urtar Pradesh) via Guwahati, Barauni and Alahabad It has The country's 95% foreign trade is moved by sea that
branches from Barauni to Haldia, via Rajbandh, Rajbandh constitute 68% in terms of value. With a long
to Maurigram and Guwahati to Siliguri. coastline of about 7516.6 km, India has 12 major and
200 intermediate and minor ports.
Pipeline from Salaya in Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab,
via Viramgam, Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat It has Some prominent sea þorts of India are discussed below
branches to connect Koyali (near Vadodara, Gujarat) Kandla Ie is located in the Gulfof Kuchchh. It was
Chakshu and other places. the first port which was developed soon after
Gas Pipeline from Hazira in Gujaratto Jagdishpur (Utar independence when the Karachi port went to
via Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) It has branches to Pakistan due to partition.
Pradesh) I t was developed to facilitate the volume of trade on the
Kota in Rajasthan, Shahajahanpur, Barbala and other
places in Uttar Pradesh. Mumbai port. It is also known as the Deendayal port.
It is atidal port'. It handles exports andimports of
Waterways highly productive granary and industrial belt stretching
across the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal
Waterways are the cheapest means of transport. It is Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Tuelefficient, environment-friendly and suitable for
Mumbai lt is the biggest port in India with natural
arying heavy and bulky goods.
harbour" Jawalhar Lal Nehru port developed nearby
hland Waterways off the decongestion in Mumbai port.
to ease

Marmagao (Goa) It is the premier iron ore exporting

india has inland navigation waterways of about 14,500 km
n port in India. This port account for about 50% of
length out of which 5,685 km are navigable by
India's iron ore export.
mechanised boats.
Sumy A thin mixture of semi solid with liquld, especially water and any of several finely crushed substances, sueh as cement, clay or mineral
ore particles.
d a l Port The water levels within tidal port are subjected to change with the ocean tides. Tdal ports are usualy in coastal regions.

port When goods are sent to another country it is called export.

mport When goods come from another country be sold In Inda, It ls caled Import.
Natural Harbour A landform where a part of a body of water is protecled and deep enough to furnish anchorage for ships.
 218 Allinone Soclal Science Close

New Mangalore lt is located in Karnataka. It caters to Communication

eport ot ironore from Kudrenmukh mines.
Kochehi lt It is an act of exchanging information. Personal
is
the extreme South-Western port
located communication and mass comnunication includin.
at the entrance
of a lagoon with a natural lharbour.
television, radio, press, films, etc are the major me
Tuticorin lt is located in Tamil Nadu. It is the
communication in the country.
extreme South-Eastern
port with a natural harbour and
hinterland". It caters cargocs to Sri Lanka, Maldives
ctc. Personal Communication
Chennai It is the oldest artificial port It is a process of transferring or transmitting message
ranking
Mumbai in terms of cargo, volume of trade.
next to
berween two people. Mobile plhones, postal letters are
the
Vishakhapatnam t is the deepest landlocked and well examples of personal communication.
protected port for exporting iron-ore.
Paradwip lt is located in Odisha and specialises to Indian Postal Network
export iron-ore. The Indian Postal Network is the largest in the world
Kolkata It is a tidal port and inland riverine handles parcels as well as personal written
port". It
communications.
serves as a very
large and rich hinterland of
Ganga-Brahmaputra basin. Mails in India categorised viz, first-class mail and
are
Haldia It was developed to relieve second-class mail.
pressure from
Kolkata port. Post cards and envelopes are considered as firstclass
mai
These mails are airlifted between stations
covering both
Airways
The
land and air.
travel is the fastest, most comfortable and
air
Second-class mail includes book packets, registered
prestigious mode of transport. It can cover very newspapers and periodicals. These mails are carried by
difficult terrains like high mountains, vast surface mails, covering land and water
dense forests and long oceanic stretches with
deserts, transport.
great
ease. Mail Channels
Air transport was nationalised in 1953. Air India These facilitate quick delivery of mails in
provides domestic and international air srvices. There are six mail channels i.e. large cities.
Rajdhani Channel, Metmo
Pawanhans Helicopters Limited
provides helicopter Channel, Green Channel, Business Channel, Bulk Mail
services Oil and Natural Gas
to Channel and Periodic Channel.
to
Corporation (ONGC)
inaccessible areas and difficult terrains
the North-Eastern states and the like Telecom Networks
interior parts of
Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and India has of the largest telecom
one
networks in
Uttarakhand. improve telephonic communications from the Asia. l
the higher level, the grassroot
Check Point 02 government has made special
provision to extend 24 hours Subscriber Trunk Dialing
(STD)
Pipelines are used to transporl.. facility to every village in the country.
2 Name any one refinery which became Excluding urban places more than
villages in India have already been two-thirds the
viable due to pipelines. of
National Waterway No-I is..km
long. Trunk Dinlling (STD) covered with SubTI
Name any one inland waterway other than National
telephore facility.
5After
waterways. There
has
is a uniform rate of STD facilities all over Inuta
independence Karachi port became been made
country?
a part of which possilble by integrating the developme
sace technology with
communication technology

11 Hinterland Remote areas of a country away from

12 Riverine Port A place on a waterway
the coast or tlhe banks of maljor rivers
with facilitles for
louding and unloading shlps.
elines of Notional Economy
219

Digital India International trade is very essential and no country can

r s a programm mme to prepare India for a knowledge based survive without it. It is because the resources are
andormation The tocus ot Digital India Programme is on being
distributed unevenly over the earth's surface and no
mansiormative to realise (Indian Talen)+ IT (Onformation
country is selfsufficient in every kind
of resources.
Tchnology) IT dndia Tomorrow) and is on making technology
central to enabling change. Balance of Trade (BOT)
Mass Communication Export and import are the components of trade. The
balance of trade is the difference between export and
tsa process of transterring or transmitting a message to import of a country
large group of people,
It
which requires the use of some When the value of export exceeds the value of imports,
ms of media. provides entertainment and creates it is called a favourable balance of trade.
wareness among people about various national On the other hand, if the value of imports exceeds the
krocrammes and policies. It includes radio, television,
value of exports, it is termed as unfavourable balance
peuspapers, magazines, books and films. of trade. India has trade relations with all the major
Television and Radio trading blocks and all geographical regions of the world.
AIl India Radio (Akashwani) broadcasts a variety of for Exported and Imported Commodities
programmes in national, regional and local languages
anous categories of people. The commodities exported from India to other
and
countries include gems and jewellery, chemicals
Doordarshan, the national television channel of India
related products, agriculture and allied products, etc.
sone of the largest terrestrial nerworks in the world. It international
a variery of programmes from entertainnment,
India has emerged as a software giant at the
broadcasts the
aducational to sports, etc for people of different age level and it is earning large foreignm exchange through
export of information technology.
oups The commodities imported from other countries of
and
Newspapers, Periodicals and Magazines India include petroleum crude and products, gems
chemicals and related products, base metals,
h India, alarge number of periodicals and newspapers jewellery,
allied
electronic items, machinery, agriculture and
r published annually. They are of different rypes products.
depending upon their periodiciry.
languages and dialects.
published in 100
TOurism as a Trade
Neaspaper are
in the
The largest number of newspapers published
the last
and Undu. Tourism in India has grown substantially over
ountry are in Hindi, followed by English directhly
three decades. More than 15 million people are

India.
Films engaged in the tourism industry in
and provides
films in the Tourism promotes national integration
India is the largest producer of feature cultural pursuits.
feature films and to local handicrafts and
World. It produces short films, video support
Board of Film in the development of international
wdeo short films. The Centralto It also helps
Cerufication the authority
is certify both Indian and understanding about our culture and heritage.
foreign films exhibited in India. tourists visit India for heritage tourism,
Foreign
cultural tourism,
ecotourism, adventure tourisnm,
International Trade medical tourism and business
tourism.

states and
ne
exchange of goods among people,
untTies is referred to as trade. Trade
ountries is called international trade.
between two
Check Point 03
take place. S a new way oftransportation system.
market is a place where
such exchanges
e through sea, air Which is the cheapest means of transport?
international trade may take place
C
or land routes.
Air transport was nationalised in..
authority that certifies films in India.
towns and villages. State 4 Name the
trade carried in cities,
al is
rwo or more
stares. ,BOT stands for .
eel trade is carried between