Water resources: 10th CBSE Geography

Question:Who proclaimed the dams as the temples of modern India? Give reason.

Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru proudly proclaimed the dams as the ‘temples of modem India’; the reason being that it would integrate development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid industrialisation and growth of the urban economy.

Question: ‘Multipurpose projects and large dams have also been the cause of many social movement’. Name any two such movements. Why these movements were launched?

Answer: Multipurpose projects and large dams have also been the cause of many new social movements like the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’ etc. Resistance to these projects has primarily been due to the large – scale displacement of local communities. Local people often had to give up their land, livelihood and their meagre access and control over resources for the greater good of the nation.

Question: How do the dams create conflicts between the people?

Answer:

1. The dams have created conflicts between people wanting different uses and benefits from the same water resources.
2. Inter-state water disputes are becoming common with regard to sharing the costs and benefits of the Projects.
3. The landowners, the rich farmers, industrialists and urban centres are benefiting at the cost of local communities.
   In Gujarat, the Sabarmati – basin farmers were agitated and almost caused a riot over the higher priority given to water supply in urban areas, particularly during droughts. Inter – state water disputes are also becoming common with regard to sharing the costs and benefits of the multipurpose project.

Question: How has irrigation changed the cropping pattern? What is its impact on the social landscape?

Answer: Due to irrigation facilities many farmers have shifted to water intensive and commercial crops. For example, Punjab has become major producer of rice in-spite of low rainfall.

Impact on social landscape:- This transformation has widens the gap between rich and poor. The rich and mighty who can afford higher inputs has become more rich whereas the poor have failed to get benefit due to lack of capital.

Question: Explain three ways in which irrigation schemes have changed the social landscape of the region.

Answer:

1. Displacement of the local people: Local people often had to give up their land, livelihood and their meagre access and control over resources for the greater good of the nation.
2. Social movements: Multipurpose projects and large dams have also been the cause of many new social movements like the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’, etc.
3. Widening the gap between rich and poor: Multipurpose projects have widened the gap between rich and poor. The landlords, large farmers and industrialist are getting benefit at the cost of poor.

Question: “Multipurpose projects have failed to achieve the purpose for which they were built”. Justify by giving reasons.

Answer:

1. These dams were constructed to control floods but they have triggered floods due to sedimentation in the reservoir.
2. Moreover, the big dams have mostly been unsuccessful in controlling floods at the time of excessive rainfall.
3. Many a time authorities are forced to release water from dams during heavy rainfall.

Question: What is rainwater harvesting? What is its importance?

Answer: It is a technique of increasing the recharge of ground water by capturing and storing rainwater by constructing structures such as percolating pits, check dams, etc.
Importance:

1. Rainwater harvesting is the need of hour as demand for water is increasing day by day.
2. Rainwater harvesting reduces pressure on existing water resources.
3. It is cheap source of water supply.
4. It helps in recharging groundwater.
5. The rainwater store is extremely reliable source of drinking water when all other sources are dried up.

Question: (1) What is a multipurpose project?
(2) Why did Pandit Jawahar Lai Nehru proclaim the river dams as the ‘Temples of Modem India?’ Explain the main reason.

Answer:

1. A multipurpose project is that which fulfils a variety of purposes at the same time, for example – irrigation, generation of electricity, flood control, fish breeding, soil conservation, etc.
2. It would integrate development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid industrialisation and the growth of urban economy.

Question: Explain the rooftop rainwater harvesting technique.

Answer:

1. Rooftop rainwater is collected using a PVC pipe.
2. Collected water is filtered using sand and bricks.
3. Underground pipe is used to take the water to the sump for immediate usage.
4. Excess water from the sump is taken to the well.
5. Water from the well recharges the underground water.

Question: Why are different water harvesting systems considered a viable alternative both socio economically and environmentally in a country like India?

Answer:

1. Water harvesting is a very cheap and affordable method of conservation of water.
2. Indian people have in-depth knowledge of rainfall regime and soil type. They have developed techniques to harvest rainwater, groundwater, rain water and flood water in keeping with the local ecological conditions and their water needs.
3. Rainwater harvesting techniques are more environmental friendly as compare to multipurpose river projects.