Geographical Perspective on Selected Issues

About this unit

This unit applies geographical understanding to important problems facing India: environmental pollution, urbanisation and migration with the growth of slums, and land degradation. It shows how human activities affect the environment and the quality of life, and how communities can respond.

Key ideas

• Pollution is the release of harmful substances or energy into air, water or land, harming living beings.
• Types of pollution include air, water, land and noise pollution; urban waste is a growing concern.
• Rapid urbanisation, driven partly by rural-urban migration, leads to slums and pressure on services.
• Land degradation reduces the productivity of land and can be caused by natural and human factors.
• Community-based management, as in watershed programmes, can restore degraded land.

How to prepare

Learn the sources and effects of each type of pollution, the push and pull factors behind migration, and the classification of wastelands. Study the Jhabua watershed case study. Expect cause-and-effect and situation-based questions.