9th SA 2 Geography

CHAPTER – 5
NATURAL VEGETATION AND WILD LIFE
Q1. How can you say that India is one of the 12 mega biodiversity countries of the world?
• India occupies 10th place in the world and 4th in Asia in plant diversity with about 47000 plant species.
• There are about 15000 flowering plant in India i.e. 6 % in the world.
• India also has 89000 species of animals as well as a rich variety of fish.

Q2. What do you mean by virgin vegetation?
• Natural vegetation refers to a plant community which has grown naturally without human aid and has been left undisturbed by humans.

Q3. What are endemic and exotic plants?
• The virgin vegetation which are purely Indian are known as endemic or indigenous.
• Those species which have come from outside India are called exotic plants.

Q4. Name the factors that affect the flora and fauna.
Relief – land, soil.
Climate – temperature, photoperiod (sunlight), precipitation

Q5. How does land affect the natural vegetation?
• Land affects the natural vegetation directly and indirectly
• The nature of land influences the type of vegetation.
• The fertile land is used for agriculture.
• The rough terrain are areas where grasslands and woodlands develop.

Q6. “Different types of soils provide basis for different types of vegetation”. Explain.
• Different places have different soils which supports different types of vegetation.
• The sandy soil support cactus and thorny bushes while wet marshy deltaic soils support mangroves.
• The hill slopes have conical trees.

Q7. How does sunlight help in the growth of trees?
• The variation in duration of sunlight affects the growth of trees.
• The areas which receives sunlight for a longer period of time helps the trees to grow faster.
• The trees also grow faster in summer as duration of sunlight is for a longer period.

Q8. Why have the western slopes of the Western Ghats covered with thick forests and not the eastern slopes? In India almost the entire rainfall is brought by the advancing south west monsoons and retreating north east monsoons.
• Thus the areas of heavy rainfall that is the western slopes of the Western Ghats have more dense vegetation as compared to the eastern slopes.

Q9. Why forests are important for human beings?
• Forests are renewable resources and helps in enhancing the quality of environment.
• They modify local climate, control soil erosion, regulate stream flow, support a variety of industries and provide livelihood for many communities.
• It controls wind force and temperature and cause rainfall.
• It provides humus to the soil and shelter to the wild life.

Q10. Why has India’s natural vegetation undergone many changes?
• Growing demand for cultivated land.
• Development of industries.
• Mining, urbanization and overgrazing.

Q11. How has the greed of human beings led to over utilization of resources?
• The greed of human beings lead to over utilization of resources.
• They cut the trees and kill the animals creating ecological imbalance.
• As a result some of the plants and animals have reached the level of extinction.

Q12. Explain the major types of vegetation found in India.
The major types of vegetation found in India are:
a. Tropical rain forest
• They are found in areas receiving heavy rainfall like the western ghats, island groups of Lakshwadeep, Andaman and Nicobar, upper parts of Assam and Tamil Nadu coast.
• The trees up to a height of 60 meters and include trees shrubs and creepers.
• There is no definite time for trees to shed their leaves.
• Important trees are ebony, mahagony, rosewood, rubber and cinchona.
• Common animals are monkey, elephants, deer etc..
b. Tropical deciduous forest
• They are also called monsoon forest and spread over region receiving rainfall between 200 cm and 70 cm.
• The trees shed their leaves for about 6 to 8 weeks in dry summer.
• These forests are divided moist and dry deciduous.
• Moist deciduous are found in foothills of Himalayas, Jharkhand, West Orissa and Chattisgarh.
• Important trees are teak, bamboo, sal, sesame.
• Dry deciduous are found in rainier parts of peninsular plateau, plains of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
• Important trees are teak, sal, peepal.
• Important animals are lion, tiger, pig, deer and elephant.

c. Thorn forest and scrub
• Found in areas with less than 70 cm of rainfall.
• It includes thorny bushes and are found in semi arid areas of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
• Important trees, acacias, palm, euphorbias and cacti.
• Trees have long penetrating roots that helps to get moisture leaves are thick and small to minimize evaporation.
• Common animals are rats, rabbits, fox, camel.
d. Montane forest
• The natural vegetation in mountainous areas changes according to the decrease in temperature.
• The wet temperate type of forest are found between the height of 1000 and 2000 meters trees like oak and chestnuts
• Between 1500 and 3000 meters temperate forests are found containing trees like pine Deodar, Silver fir, spruce and cedar.
• At high altitude temperate grasslands are common and above 3600 mtrs are the alpine vegetation.
• The vegetation gets stunted as they reach the snowline.
• Common animals – Kashmir stag, spotted deer, wild sheep, yak etc..
e. Mangrove
• They are formed due to mud and silt accumulated on coastal areas.
• Dense mangroves are the common varieties with roots of plants submerged under water.
• Areas – The deltas of Ganga, Mahanadi, Krishna, Godavari and Kaveri.
• Trees – Sundari trees (Ganga –Brahmaputra delta), palm, coconut
• Animals – Royal Bengal tiger, turtles, crocodile, snakes.


Q13. Name a few medicinal plants found in India and also mention their uses.
• Sarpagandha – To treat blood pressure (found only in India)
• Jamun - To control diabetes
• Arjun - Ear ache, also to regulate blood pressure.
• Babul - leaves used for eye sores, gum is used as a tonic.
• Neem - has high antibiotic and antibacterial properties.
• Tulsi - To cure cough and cold.
• Kachnar - Used to cure asthma and ulcers.

Q14. Name a few important animal species found in India along their habitats.
• Elephants – Assam, Karnataka and Kerala.
• One horned Rhino – Swampy areas of Assam and West Bengal
• Wild Ass - Rann of Kachchh
• Camel - Thar desert
• Lion - Gir forest of Gujarat
• Tiger - Madhya Pradesh, Sundarbans and Himalayan regions.
• Yak - Ladhak
Q15. Mention the steps taken by the government of India to protect the flora and fauna.
• 14 biosphere reserves have been set up to protect flora and fauna. Example – Sundarbans, Simlipal, Gulf of Mannar, Dihang – Dibang, Nilgiris, Dibru Saikhowa, Nanda Devi, Nokrek, Great Nicobar, Manas, Pachmari, Kanchenjunga, Agasthyamunimalai, Amarkantak
• Financial and technical help provided too many botanical gardens.
• Eco - development projects like project tiger, project rhino, project great Indian Bustard have been introduced.
• 89 national parks, 49 wildlife sanctuaries and zoological gardens have been set up.
Q 16. What are migratory birds?
• Some of the wetlands of India are popular with migratory birds.
• During winters birds like Siberian crane come to Rann of Kachchh, the desert are house for flamingoes.
• These birds migrate from far off places in search of food and shelter.







CHAPTER – 6
POPULATION
Q1. Define census.
A census is an official enumeration of population done periodically. In India the first census held in the year 1872. The first complete census however was taken in 1881. Census is held every 10th year..
Q2. Why do we need census?
We need census to the know the following:
• Population size and distribution – How many people are there and where are they located.
• Population growth and processes of population change – How has the population grown and changed through time.
• Characteristics or qualities of the population – What are their age, sex composition, literacy level, occupational structure and health conditions.
Q3. Explain India’s population size and distribution.
• Population as on march 2001 – 1028 million
• Accounts for 16.7 percent of world’s population.
• Uttarpradesh -166 million people - The most populous state
• Sikkim - 0.5 million
• Lakshwadeep – 6000 people
Q4. “ The density of population of India is unequal”. Justify with examples.
• Population density refers to number of persons per unit area i.e. number of people
Km. per sq.
• India is one of the most densely populated countries of the world.
• The population density of India in 2001 was 324 persons per sq. km.
• West Bengal has 904 persons per sq. km while Arunachal Pradesh has only 13 persons per sq. km.
FACTORS AFFECTING POPULATION DENSITY
(1) Rugged terrain and unfavourable climatic conditions are responsible for sparse population.
(2) Assam and most of the peninsular state have moderate density.
(3) Hilly, dissected and rocky terrain, moderate to low rainfall, less fertile soil have influenced population densities in these areas.
(4) The northern plains and Kerala have very high population density because of flat plains with fertile soil and abundant rainfall.
Q5. What are three processes that have resulted in the change in population.
The three process are birth rate death rate and migration.
Q6. What do you mean by population growth?
• Growth of population means change in the number of inhabitants of a country during a specific period of time i.e. last 10 years.
• It can be expressed in two ways – absolute numbers and in terms of percentage change per year.
Q7. Explain absolute number and percentage change.
• Absolute number is obtained by simply subtracting the earlier population from the later population that is subtracting the population of 1991 from 2001. It is also called as absolute increase.
• Rate of population increase is studied in percent per annum. Example: a rate of increase of 2 percent per annum means that there was an increase of 2 persons for every 100 persons in the base population. This is also called as annual growth rate.
Q8. Explain the main process of population change.
• Birth rate: The number of live births per thousand persons in a year. Birth rates in India has always been higher than death rate.
• Death rate: Number of deaths per thousand persons in a year. Main cause of growth of population has been the rapid decline in death rates. This is due to higher literacy rate and better medical facilities.
• Migration: (i) Movement of people across regions and territories. It can be internal within the country or international (between the countries)
(ii) Internal migration does not change the size of population but influences the distribution of population within the country. In India most migrations are from rural to urban because of the push factor in rural areas. Moreover conditions of poverty and unemployment in the rural areas and the pull of the society due to employment opportunities and better living conditions.
Q9. Explain dependent population and working populations. (productive population)
• The part of population which is not engaged in any productive activity and is dependent on the working population is called the dependent population. This includes children below 15 i.e. age group – 0 to 14 and above 60 years. They comprise 41.3 percent of the total population which is quite high.
• The population which is engaged in productive activities for earning is called the productive or working population. These people are of the age group 15 – 59. Percentage of working population is 59.7.
Q10. Define sex ratio.
• It is defined as number of females per thousand males.
• India has an unfavourable sex ratio. 2001 - 933 female per thousand male.
• Kerala has a sex ratio of 1058 females, Pondicherry – 1001 females, Delhi – 821 females, Haryana – 861.
Q11. Define literacy rate.
• A person aged 7 years and above who can read and write with understanding in any language is treated as literate.
• The literacy in India as per 2001 is 64.84 %. 75.26% for males and 53.67% for female.
Q12. How does rise in female literacy help in planning a family?
• Growth rate of population in India is about 1.97 per annum. It has increased because the death rate has fallen and there is not much fall in the birth rate.
• The use of modern science and technology has helped in bringing down the death rate, the same can help us to bring down the birth rate also.
• So women must be educated so that they may limit the size of family through different means available. Educated women can easily adopt the family planning programmes.
• Education helps to increase the age of marriage.
Q13. Explain the occupational structure of India.
• The percentage of population i.e. economically productive is an important index of development.
• Distribution of population according to type of work is called occupational structure. It can be categorized primary, secondary and tertiary.
• Primary activities include agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, mining etc..
• Secondary activities include manufacturing industries, building and construction work.
• Tertiary activities include transport, communication, commerce etc..
Q14. “The proportion of people working in different activities varies in developed and developing countries”. Explain.
• Developed countries have a high proportion of people in secondary and tertiary activities.
• Developing countries have a higher proportion of their workforce engaged in primary activities.
• In India 64% of the population is engaged in agriculture. The proportion of population dependent on secondary activities is 13 and tertiary sector it is 20%.
• Occupational shift has taken place is in favour of secondary and tertiary sectors because of growing industrialization and urbanization.
Q15. Explain the concept of optimum population.
• It is the size of population which produces the maximum number of goods and services which the help of available resources in that country.
• The production improves with the increase in population but after that the production of goods and services would decline because of the non availability of resources.
Q16. How does health affects the process of development?
• Health is an important component for the process of development.
• Healthy population can work in a better way.
• The government of India has undertaken several programmes to improve the health conditions of the people.
• Death rates have declined from 25 per thousand in 1951 to 8.1 per thousand in 2001.
• Life expectancy at birth has increased from 36.7 years in 1951 to 64.6 years 2001.
• This improvement is the result of many factors like improvement in public health, prevention of infectious diseases and use of modern medical facilities.
• Yet the health situation in India is a matter of concern. The per capita calorie consumption is very less and a large percent of population suffers from malnutrition.
• Safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities are available to only one third of the rural population.

Q17. Write short notes on adolescent population and national population policy.
Adolescent population : It constitutes one fifth of the total population of India. They are generally grouped in age group of 10 to 19 years. They are most important resources for future. Nutrition requirement of adolescent are higher than that of child or adult. A large number of adolescent girls suffer from anemia. Their awareness can be improved through the spread of literacy and education.
National population policy: (NPP – 2000) The object is to promote development of the country and improve the quality of life for people. We have achieved then success in reducing the death rates. Family planning and birth control measures were the focus of attention of this policy. It lays emphasis on economic growth, social development, and environment protection. The policy states that it will achieve this goal by raising the age of marriage, making school education compulsory up to age of 14 years and reducing drop outs of primary and secondary level.
NPP- 2000 and Adolescents:
• Besides nutritional requirement, the policy emphasis on other important needs of adolescents in including protection from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
• It also aims towards encouraging delayed marriage and child bearing, and education of adolescents and strength and strengthening legal measures to prevent child marriage.