LIFELINES OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

Means of transport

®        Land- Roadways, Railways and Pipelines

®        Water- Inland and overseas

®        Air- Domestic and International

Roadways

            India has one of the largest road networks in the world, aggregating to about 2.3 million km at present.

            In India, roadways have preceded railways. The growing importance of road transport vis-à-vis rail transport is rooted in the following reasons;

            (a) construction cost is much lower than that of railway lines,

            (b) roads can traverse comparatively more dissected and undulating topography.

            (c) roads can negotiate higher gradients of slopes and as such can traverse mountains such as the Himalayas,

            (d) road transport is economical in transportation of few persons and relatively smaller amount of goods over short distances,

            (e) it also provides door-to-door service, thus the cost of loading and unloading is much lower,

            (f) road transport is also used as a feeder to other modes of transport such as they provide a link between railway stations, air and sea ports.

           

Classification of Roads

            In India, roads are classified in the following six classes according to their capacity

           

(1) Golden Quadrilateral ( Two Components )

         (a)   The government has launched a major road development project linking Delhi-Kolkata- Chennai-Mumbai and Delhi by six-lane Super Highways.

            (B) The North-South corridors linking Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) and Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu),

            East-West Corridor connecting Silcher (Assam) and Porbander (Gujarat) are part of this project.

            The major objective of these Super Highways is to reduce the time and distance between the mega cities of India. These highway projects are being implemented by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

Note: The famous Grand Trunk Road i.e GT Road was constructed by Sher Shah Suri.

(2) National Highways:

             National Highways link extreme parts of the country. These are the primary road systems and are laid and maintained by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

            National highway No. 7- Longest in India, Varanasi (UP) to Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu)

            National highway No. 15- longest in Rajasthan covers most Rajasthan from Punjab border to Gujarat border.

            National highway No. 5- Odhisa to Tamil nadu

            National highway No. 8- Delhi to Mumbai via Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat

            National highway No. 11- Agra to Bikaner via Jaipur

(3) State Highways:

             Roads linking a state capital with different district headquarters are known as State Highways. These roads are constructed and maintained by the State Public Works Department (PWD) in State and Union Territories.

(4) District Roads:

             These roads connect the district headquarters with other places of the district. These roads are maintained by the Zila Parishad.

(5) Other Roads: 

            Rural roads, which link rural areas and villages with towns, are classified under this category. These roads received special impetus under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana.

(6) Border Roads: 

            Apart from these, Border Roads Organisation a Government of India undertaking constructs and maintains roads in the bordering areas of the country. This organisation was established in 1960 for the development of the roads of strategic importance in the northern and northeastern border areas. These roads have improved accessibility in areas of difficult terrain and have helped in the economic development of these areas.

Road Density

            The length of road per 100 sq. km of area is known as density of roads. Distribution of road is not uniform in the country. Density of all roads varies from only 10.04 km in Jammu & Kashmir to 532.27 km in UP (2007-8) with the national average of 125.02 km

             (2007-8).

Problems:

             Keeping in view the volume of traffic and passengers, the road network both at national level and state level is inadequate.

             About half of the roads are unmetalled and this limits their usage during the rainy season.

            The roadways are highly congested in cities and most of the bridges and culverts are old and narrow.

Railways:

            The Indian Railways is the largest public sector undertaking in the country. The first train steamed off from Mumbai to Thane in 1853, covering a distance of 34 km.

            Railways are the principal mode of transportation for freight and passengers in India. Railways in India bind the economic life of the country as well as accelerate the development of the industry and agriculture.

           

Rail Network:

             The Indian Railway have a network of 7,133 stations spread over a route length of 64,460 km. with a fleet of 9213 locomotives, 53,220 passenger service vehicles, 6493 other coach vehicles and 229, 381 wagons as on March 2011.

           

Rail Gauge and Length of routes in India

®        Broad Gauge (1.676) – Total track-102,680

®        Metre Gauge (1.000) – Total track-8561

®        Narrow Gauge (0.762 and 0.610) – Total track-2753

            Source- Railway year book 2010-11, Ministry of Railways, Govt. of India

Development of Railways:

            The Indian Railway is now reorganised into 16 zones.

            Headquarter of Northwestern railways- Jaipur.

Railways distribution

            The northern plains with their vast level land, high population density and rich agricultural resources provided the most favourable condition for their growth. However, a large number of rivers requiring construction of bridges across their wide beds posed some obstacles.

             In the hilly terrains of the peninsular region, railway tracts are laid through low hills, gaps or tunnels. The Himalayan mountainous regions too are unfavourable for the construction of railway lines due to high relief, sparse population and lack of economic opportunities.

            Likewise, it was difficult to lay railway lines on the sandy plain of western Rajasthan, swamps of Gujarat, forested tracks of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand.

            The contiguous stretch of Sahyadri could be crossed only through gaps or passes (Ghats). In recent times, the development of the Konkan railway along the west coast has facilitated the movement of passengers and goods in this most important economic region of India. It has also faced a number of problem such as sinking of track in some stretches and landslides.

           

Problems:

            Rail transport suffers from certain problems as well. Many passengers travel without tickets. Thefts and damaging of railway property has not yet stopped completely. People stop the trains, pull the chain unnecessarily and this causes heavy damage to the railway.

Pipelines:

            Pipeline transport networks are used for transporting crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas from oil and natural gas fields to refineries, fertilizer factories and big thermal power plants. Solids can also be transported through a pipeline when converted into slurry. The far inland locations of refineries like Barauni, Mathura, Panipat and gas based fertilizer plants could be thought of only because of pipelines. Initial cost of laying pipelines is high but subsequent running costs are minimal. It rules out trans-shipment losses or delays.

           

            There are three important networks of pipeline transportation in the country.

            • From oil field in upper Assam to Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), via Guwahati, Barauni and Allahabad. It has branches from Barauni to Haldia, via Rajbandh, Rajbandh to Maurigram and Guwahati to Siliguri.

            • From Salaya in Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab, via Viramgam, Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat. It has branches to connect Koyali (near Vadodara, Gujarat) Chakshu and other places.

            • Gas pipeline from Hazira in Gujarat connects Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh, via Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. It has branches to Kota in Rajasthan, Shahajahanpur, Babrala and other places in Uttar Pradesh.

Waterways

            Waterways are the cheapest means of transport. They are most suitable for carrying heavy and bulky goods. It is a fuel-efficient and environment friendly mode of transport. India has inland navigation waterways of 14,500 km in length. Out of these only 3,700 km are navigable by mechanised boats.

            The following waterways have been declared as the National Waterways by the Government:

            • The Ganga river between Allahabad and Haldia (1620 km)- N.W. No.1

            • The Brahmaputra river between Sadiya and Dhubri (891 km)- N.W. No.2

    • The West-Coast Canal in Kerala (Kottapurma-Komman, Udyogamandal and Champakkara canals-205 km) – N.W. No.3

           

            The other viable inland waterways include the Godavari, Krishna, Barak, Sunderbans, Buckingham Canal, Brahmani, East-west Canal and Damodar Valley Corporation Canal.

Sea Ports

            With a long coastline of 7,516.6 km, India is dotted with 12 major and 187 notified non-major (medium/intermediate) ports. These major ports handle 95 per cent of India’s foreign trade.

Major sea ports on west coast                                     

Kandla in Kuchchh was the first port developed soon after Independence to ease the volume of trade on the Mumbai port, in the wake of loss of Karachi port to Pakistan after the Partition. Kandla is a tidal port. It caters to the convenient handling of exports and imports of highly productive granary and industrial belt stretching across the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Mumbai is the biggest port with a spacious natural and well-sheltered harbour. The Jawaharlal Nehru port was planned with a view to decongest the Mumbai port and serve as a hub port for this region.

Marmagao port (Goa) is the premier iron ore exporting port of the country. This port accounts for about fifty per cent of India’s iron ore export.

New Mangalore port, located in Karnataka caters to the export of iron ore concentrates from Kudremukh mines. Kochi is the extreme south-western port, located at the entrance of a lagoon with a natural harbour.

Major sea ports on east coast

           

Tuticorin, in Tamil Nadu. This port has a natural harbour and rich hinterland. Thus, it has a flourishing trade handling of a large variety of cargoes to even our neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, etc. and the coastal regions of India.

Chennai is one of the oldest artificial ports of the country. It is ranked next to Mumbai in terms of the volume of trade and cargo.

Vishakhapatnam is the deepest landlocked and well-protected port. This port was, originally, conceived as an outlet for iron ore exports.

Paradip port located in Orissa, specialises in the export of iron ore.

Kolkata is an inland riverine port. This port serves a very large and rich hinterland of Ganga- Brahmaputra basin. Being a tidal port, it requires constant dredging of Hoogly.

Haldia port was developed as a subsidiary port, in order to relieve growing pressure on the Kolkata port.

Airways:

®        The air transport was nationalised in 1953.

®        On the operational side, Indian Airlines, Alliance Air (subsidiary of Indian Airlines), private scheduled airlines and non- scheduled operators provide domestic air services.

®        Air India provides international air services. Pawanhans Helicopters Ltd. Provides helicopter services to Oil and Natural Gas Commission in its off- shore operations, to inaccessible areas and difficult terrains like the north-eastern states and the interior parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal.

®        Indian Airlines operations also extend to the neighbouring countries of South and south-east Asia and the Middle east.

®        It can cover very difficult terrains like high mountains, dreary deserts, dense forests and also long oceanic stretches with great ease.

Important Airports

                (1) Delhi- Indira Gandhi International Airport

            (2) Mumbai- Chatrapati Shivaji

            (3) Kolkata- Netaji subhash Chandra Bose Airport (Dum Dum Airport)

            (4) Amritsar- Raja Sansi Airport

            (5) Chennai- Meenambakkam Airport

           

Communication

            Personal communication and mass communication including television, radio, press, films, etc. are the major means of communication in the country.

Indian Postal network:

®        The Indian postal network is the largest in the world.

®        Cards and envelopes are considered first–class mail and are airlifted between stations covering both land and air.

®        The second–class mail includes book packets, registered newspapers and periodicals. They are carried by surface mail, covering land and water transport.

®        To facilitate quick delivery of mails in large towns and cities, six mail channels have been introduced recently. They are called Rajdhani Channel, Metro Channel, Green Channel, Business Channel, Bulk Mail Channel and Periodical Channel.

Telephone:

             India has one of the largest telephone networks in Asia. In order to strengthen the flow of information from the grassroot to the higher level, the government has made special provision to extend twenty-four hours STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling) facility to every village in the country. There is a uniform rate of STD facilities all over India. It has been made possible by integrating the development in space technology with communication technology.

Mobile:

             Till March 2010, 548.32 million mobile connections were in India. Make a comparison      with any other country of your choice.

Mass Communication: 

            Mass communication provides entertainment and creates awareness among people about various national programmes and policies. It includes radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books and films. All India Radio (Akashwani) broadcasts a variety of programmes in national, regional and local languages for various categories of people, spread over different parts of the country. Doordarshan, the national television channel of India, is one of the largest terrestrial networks in the world. It broadcasts a variety of programmes from entertainment, educational to sports, etc. for people of different age groups.

Newspapers: 

            India publishes a large number of newspapers and periodicals annually. They are of different types depending upon their periodicity. Newspapers are published in about 100 languages and dialects. Largest number of newspapers published in the country are in Hindi, followed by English and Urdu.

Films:

             India is the largest producer of feature films in the world. It produces short films; video feature films and video short films. The Central Board of Film Certification is the authority to certify both Indian and foreign films.

International Trade

            Trade between two countries is called international trade. It may take place through sea, air or land routes. Advancement of international trade of a country is an index to its economic prosperity. It is, therefore, considered the economic barometer for a country.

Export:

®         When the goods are sent to other country for sale it is called as export.

®        Among the major commodities of export (2010-11) the share of:

®        Agriculture and allied products has been 9.9 per cent,

®        Ores and minerals 4.0%,

®        Gems and jewellery 14.7 per cent,

®        Petroleum products (including coal) 16.8 per cent

Import: 

®        When the goods come from other country to be sold in India it is called import.

®        The major commodities imported to India (2010-11) include:

®        Petroleum and petroleum products (28.6 per cent),

®        Pearls and precious stones (9.4 per cent),

®        Chemicals (5.2 per cent),

®        Coal, coke and briquettes (2.7 per cent),

®        Machinery (6.4 per cent)

Balance of Payment: 

            This is the difference between export and import of a country. When export is higher than import then this is a situation of favourable balance of payment. On the other hand when the import is higher than export then this is a situation of unfavourable balance of payment.

Tourism as a Trade

®        Foreign tourist’s arrivals in the country witnessed an increase of 11.8 per cent during the year 2010 as             against the year 2009, contributing Rs 64,889 crore of foreign exchange in 2010.

®        5.78 million foreign tourists visited India in 2010.

®        More than 15 million people are directly engaged in the tourism industry.

®        Foreign tourists visit India for heritage tourism, eco tourism, adventure tourism, cultural tourism, medical tourism and business tourism.

®        Rajasthan, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and temple towns of south India are important destinations of foregin tourists in India.