Class 12 Geography Unit 23 Assam Geography

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Class 12 Geography Chapter 23 Assam Geography

Class 12 Geography Unit 23 Assam Geography Question Answer | Guide for Class 12th Geography Chapter 23 English Medium Also Same NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Geography In this post we will explain to you what to try If you are a Student of English Medium then it will be very helpfull for you. NCERT/SCERT,AHSEC Class 12 Geography Chapter 23.

Unit 23 Assam Geography

(PART – C)

Location of Assam in Northeast India

A. MULTIPLE CHOICES QUESTION & ANSWERS:

Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below:

1. Which one of the following accounts the percentage figure of river built plain area of Assam?

(a) 5%

(b) 13%

(d) 80%

Ans: (d) 80%.

2. What is the total land area of the states of North-East India?

Ans: 2,55,083 sq.km.

3. Name the neighbouring countries, sharing common boundaries with the Northeast India.

Ans: China, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. 4. What is the total geographical area of Assam? Ans: 78,438 sq. km.

Physiography, Drainage and Climate of Assam

1. What type of climate prevails in Assam?

(a) Cwa or Cwg

(b) Mesothermal Rainy

(d) Tropical Monsoon.

Ans: (c) Tropical desert.

2. low In which place of the following the annual rainfall is very

(a) Dibrugarh

(b) Lumding

(d) Dhubri.

Ans: (b) Lumding.

3. Which one of the following is the high land between Dhansiri and Kopili rivers?

(a) Block mountain

(b) Part of the Deccan plateau

(d) Deposition of rivers.

Ans: (a) Block mountain.

4. The total number of important tributaries of the Brahmaputra within the territory of Assam is

(a) 110

(b) 90

(d) 33.

Ans: (b) 90.

5. Which of the following is not originated from the Himalayan range?

(a) The Subansiri

(b) The Manas

(d) The Burhi Dihing.

Ans: (d) The Burhi Dihing.

6. Which one of the following is a sub-tributary?

(a) Jia Dhansiri

(b) Champavati

(d) Daiyang.

Ans: (d) Daiyang.

7. The percentage of geographical areas of Assam to the total area of the countries in

(a) 3.29

(b) 9.23

(d) 2.39

Ans: (d) 2.39.

8. The hills of which district of Assam is the outlying segment of Deccan Plateau?

(a) Karbi Anglong

(b) North Cachar

(d) Cachar.

Ans: (a) Karbi Anglong.

9. The average slope gradient of the Brahmaputra Valley from Kundil Bazar area to Dhubri is

(a) 1.28 m per Km

(b) 8.12 cm per Km

(d) 21.08 cm per Km.

Ans: (c) 12.08 cm per Km.

10. The number of major north bank tributaries of the Brahmaputra is

(a) 33

(b) 57

(d) 90

Ans: (d) 90.

11. Which one of the following rivers is a north bank tributary of the Brahmaputra?

(a) Kopili

(b) Disang

(d) Subansiri.

Ans: (d) Subansiri.

12. The average annual rainfall in Assam is

(a) 150 cm

(b) 203 cm

(d) 320 cm.

Ans: (c) 230 cm.

13. Lumding-Lanka-Hojai area of Assam is the

(a) Wettest area

(b) Rain Shadow area

(d) Hottest area.

Ans: (c) Dry area.

14. In which part of Assam the interfluves swamp areas are seen?

Ans: Barak valley.

15. What is the total area of the Brahmaputra valley?

Ans: The total area of the Brahmaputra valley is 58,315 sq.km.

16. What are the longitudinal and latitudinal extensions of Assam?

Ans: 89°51-96°1 East longitudinal and 24°6 – 28°0 are North latitudinal of Assam.

17. What are the longitudinal and latitudinal extensions of Northeast India?

Ans: The extensions of Northeast India are 89°49 to 97°26 longitudinal and 22°1 to 29°26 latitudinal.

18. What is the total population of Northeast India in 2001?

Ans: The total population of Northeast India in 2001 is 3,15,47,314.

19. Name the two peaks of Karbi plateau.

Ans: The two peak of Karbi Plateau are Dumbakchu and Singhasan.

20. Where the Hamren plateau is situated?

Ans: The Hamrean Plateau is situated in the West path of Kopili river.

21. What is the pattern of rivers of Karbi plateau?

Ans: The pattern of rivers of Karbi plateau is centrifugal.

22. Name two tributaries of the Brahmaputra flows over the Karbi plateau.

Ans: The two tributaries of the Brahmaputra flows over the Karbi Plateau are: Dhiphlu and Namber.

23. Name the main peaks of the Borail range.

Ans: The main peaks of the Borail range is Thaipibang.

24. Name the hill range, which divides the two watersheds – the Brahmaputra and the Barak.

Ans: Borail the hill range, which divides the two watersheds the Brahmaputra and the Barak.

25. What is the length and breadth of the plain of the Brahmaputra valley?

Ans: The length and breadth is 720 km and 30 to 100 km of the plain of the Brahmaputra valley.

26. Name the northern tributaries of the river Brahmaputra. 2016

Ans: The northern tributaries of the river Brahmaputra are Subansiri and Jia-Bharali.

27. Name the southern tributaries of the river Brahmaputra.

Ans: The southern tributaries of the river Brahmaputra are Dhikhcu and Dhansiri.

28. Which is the biggest inhabited river island of the world?

Ans: Majuli is the biggest inhabited river island of the world.

29. What is the average annual temperature of Assam?

Ans: The average annual temperature of Assam is 30°-33° Celsius.

30. Name three tributaries of the river Barak.

Ans : The three tributaries of the river Barak are Jatinga, Jiri and Chiri.

31. Give the length of the river Brahmaputra within the geographical boundary of Assam?

Ans: 650 km the length of the river Brahmaputra within the geographical boundary of Assam.

32. What is the average width of the river Brahmaputra?

Ans: The average width of the river Brahmaputra is 1.2 to 15.6 km.

33. Name the source area of the river Barak.

Ans: Manipur hills of India, Liyai village of Poumai Naga, the river is known as the Barak river source.

34. Name the three physiographic units of Assam.

Ans: The three physiographic units of Assam are-the plain, the plateau and the hills.

35. Between which two rivers the Karbi Plateau is situated?

Ans: The two rivers the Karbi Plateau is situated between Dhansiri and Kopili.

36. What do you mean by Foot hills zone?

Ans: Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range.

37. What is the height of the highest peak of the Karbi Plateau and what is its area?

Ans: The height of the highest peak of the Karbi plateau is 1363m.

38. What is the main reason for temperature difference of Brahmaputra and Barak Valleys?

Ans: Latitudinal is the main reason for temperature difference of Brahmaputra and Barak Vaileys.

POPULATION STRUCTURE

1. Which one of the following districts shows the highest sex ratio as per 2001 census.

(a) Lakhimpur

(b) Goalpara

(d) North Cachar.

Ans: (b) Goalpara.

2. Which are of the following districts records the lowest rank in children below five years?

(a) Jorhat

(b) Kamrup

(d) Nagaon.

Ans: (a) Jorhat.

3. Which one of the following districts records the literacy rate highest?

(a) Jorhat

(b) Dibrugarh

(d) Cachar.

Ans: (a) Jorhat.

4. In which one of the following districts records the population density highest?

(a) Jorhat

(b) Kamrup

(d) Cachar.

Ans: (c) Nagaon.

5. In which one of the following districts records t population growth highest?

(a) Nalbari

(b) Kamrup

(d) Sivasagar.

Ans: (b) Kamrup.

6. In which one of the following districts records th population growth lowest?

(a) Dhemaji

(b) Tinsukia

(d) Golaghat.

Ans: (d) Golaghat.

7. What is the population of Assam in 2001′?

Ans: 26,638,407 is the population of Assam in 2001.

8. Give the sex-ratio figure of Assam as per 2001 Census.

Ans: 1000: 932 is the sex-ratio figure of Assam as per 2001 Census.

9. What is the literacy percentage figure in Assam as per 200 40. census?

Ans: 63.25 is the literacy percentage figure in Assam as per 200 Census.

10. What is the female literate percentage figure in Assam?

Ans: The female literate percentage fi are in Assam is 56.03 percent.

11. What is the male literate percentage figure in Assam?

Ans: The male literate percentage figure in Assam is 75.96 percent.

12. In which district the literacy percentage is highest in nam?

Ans: Jorhat district the literacy percentage is highest in Assam.

13. Religious structure of Assam’s population

Ans: As per 2001 census the total population of Assam includes 4.89% of Hindus, 30.92% of Muslim, 3.7% of Christian, 0.19% Buddha, 19% Jain and 0.05% of Sikhs and others caste of 1.3 percentage.

14. Occupation structure of Assam’s population.

Ans: The occupational structure of Assam’s population are industry, cottage industries, agricultural and other services.

15. Role of women in occupation in Assam.

Ans: The role of women in occupation in Assam cottage industries, transport and other services.

16. What is the percentage figure of total working population Assam as per 2001 census?

Ans: The percentage figure of total working population in Assam per 2001 census is 95,38,591.

17. What is the percentage figure of male working population Assam as per 2001 census?

Ans: The percentage figure of male working population in Assam as per 2001 census is 68,70,960 persons.

18. What is the percentage figure of female working population in Assam as per 2001 census?

Ans: The percentage figure of female working population is Assam as 2001 census is 26,67,631 person.

19. Write the diverse characteristics of the people of Assam.

Ans: (i) The people of Assam inhabit a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society.

(ii) They speak languages that belong to three main language groups Indo-Aryan, Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman.

(iii) The large number of ethnic and linguistic groups, the population composition and the peopling process in the state has led to being called an “India in miniature

20. Write a brief note on the Sex-ratio pattern in Assam.

Ans: In 2001, the sex ratio of female was 932 per 1000 males in Assam.

21. Write briefly on the literacy rate difference between hills and plain districts of Assam.

Ans: The hills district on the literacy rate is comparatively low on pi districts of Assam.

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY

1. Migration in Assam.

Ans: The most disturbing development in the twentieth century Assam has been that of spike in population arising out of influx of migrants. This influx was prevalent, right from the Colonial Era, when laborers from Odisha and Jharkhand were brought in to be recruited in the tea plantations Likewise, arrived the Marwaris or merchants of Rajasthan who has monopoly of trade, both wholesale and retail. These migrants came in and occupied tracts of land for settlement.

2. Causes of population increase in Assam.

Ans: (i) Migration

(ii) illiteracy.

3. How many villages are there in Assam?

Ans: There are 26,247 villages in Assam.

4. Which district of Assam records the lowest urbanization?

Ans: Nalbari.

5. What is the total number of census towns in Assam?

Ans: The total number of census towns in Assam is 125.

6. What is the percentage of urban dwellers in Assam?

Ans: 13 percentage of urban dwellers in Assam.

7. Which is the most densely populated district of Assam?

Ans: Nagaon is the most densely populated district of Assam.

AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY OF ASSAM

1. Which one of the following is a food crop?

(a) Coconut

(b) Orange

(d) Rice.

Ans: (d) Rice.

2. Which one of the following is the commercial crop?

(a) Oilseed

(b) Vegetables

(d) Tea.

Ans: (d) Tea.

3. Which one of the following is the plantation agriculture?

(a) Wheat

(b) Pulses

(d) Oilseed.

Ans: (c) Tea.

4. In which year tea was discovered in Assam?

(a) 1813

(b) 1823

(d) 1843.

Ans: (c) 1833.

5. How many oil refineries are there in Assam?

(a) 2 (two)

(b) 3 (three)

(d) 6 (six)

Ans: (c) 4 (four)

6. Which is the first oil refinery in the state of Assam?

Ans: Digboi is the first oil refinery in the state of Assam.

7. What is the main type of rice cultivation in Assam?

Ans: The main type of rice cultivation in Assam is in summer season. (cultivation of Shali rice).

8. In which district of Assam the Regional Agricultural Research Centre is located?

Ans: Jorhat district of Assam the Regional Agricultural Research Centre is located.

9. How many tea estates are there in Assam in 2002-032

Ans: There are 40,795 tea estates in Assam in 2002-03.

10. What type of soil is needed for tea cultivation?

Ans: The laterite type of soil is needed for tea cultivation.

11. In which district of Assam the tea estates are not seen?

Ans: The tea estates are not seen North Cachar district of Assam.

12. What type of climatic condition is needed for tea cultivation?

Ans: 20°-35° temperature is needed for tea cultivation.

13. Which are the main fruits cultivated in Assam? Ans: The main fruits are cultivated in Assam-banana, coconut, papaya, mango, orange, jack-furit, pineapple, guava, litchi etc.

14. Name some important cottage industries of Assam.

Ans: (i) Cane & Bamboo, (ii) Cane & Bamboo, (iii) Bell-Metal, (in Woodcraft, (v) Pottery, (vi) Masks.

15. In which place of Assam the best orange is produced?

Ans: Tinsukia.

16. Name some important small industries in Assam.

Ans: (i) Cane & Bamboo, (ii) Cane & Bamboo, (iii) Bell-Metal, (in Woodcraft, (v) Pottery, (vi) Masks.

17. In which year the Digboi Oil Refinery was established?

Ans: 1901 year

18. In which year the Bongaigaon Oil Refinery and Petrochemical industry was established?

Ans: 1979 year.

19. In which year the Numaligarh Oil Refinery was established?

Ans: 1993 year

20. Name two oil refineries of Assam.

Ans: The two oil refineries of Assam-Digboi oil refinery and are Noonmati oil refinery.

21. Where is the Jute Mills of Assam located?

Ans: Nagaon district of Silghat.

22. Name two silk fibers produced in Assam.

Ans: Muga and Eri şilk fibres produced in Assam.

23. Which one is the main silk textiles centre in Assam?

Ans: Kamrup is the main silk textiles centre in Assam.

24. How many sericulture villages are developed so far in ssam?

Ans: 138 nos.

25. Give the names of three handicraft bamboo products.

Ans: Juyali (yoke), Jakoi (bamboo scoop used in catching fish), Chepa.

26. Name two containers made of cane.

Ans: Chair and table.

27. Give a brief note on the Shifting Cultivation in the hill districts of Assam.

Ans: Shifting agriculture, system of cultivation that preserves soil fertility by plot (field) rotation, as distinct from crop rotation. In shifting agriculture a plot of land is cleared and cultivated for a short period of time; then it is abandoned and allowed to revert to its natural vegetation while the cultivator moves on to another plot.

28. Write briefly on the subsistence Peasant Farming in Assam.

Ans: Subsistence Peasant Farming in Assam means farming for own consumption.

29. Give a note on the use of High Yielding varieties of Rice by the farmers in Assam.

Ans: Assam is traditionally a rice growing area. Rice plays a pivotal role in the socio-cultural life of the people of the state. The crop has enormous diversity in the region, which has resulted due to highly variable rice growing ecosystems. Besides, the region is inhabited by a large number of ethnic groups whose preference also varies from one another. All these factors are responsible for evolution of a large number of varieties in the region. Most of these have been in use from time immemorial with traditional method of preparation. Unknowingly people have selected many useful cultivars, which have commercial value in the present day world in which people prefer to have varieties of tastes. Some of the special classes of rice in the state include joha or aromatic rice, bora or waxy rice and chokuwa or soft rice.

30. Write short note on the agricultural equipments used in Assam.

Ans: (i) Pumps and Pipes, (ii) Pipes, (iii) Chisel plow, (iv) Harrow, (v) Tractor, (vi) Cultivator, (vii)

31. Give the reasons why commercial fruit production in Assam has not yet developed.

Ans: Due to highly inadequate post-harvest handling facilities and under developed marketing system prevailing, the state is experiencing great problem in channeling the market surplus in fruits and vegetables.

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION OF ASSAM

1. In which one of the following districts records highest road length?

(a) Karbi Anglong

(b) Kamrup

(d) Sivasagar.

Ans: (a) Karbi Anglong.

2. Which one of the following pair of towns the facility of railways is lower than road ways?

(a) Guwahati-Bongaigaon

(b) Guwahati-Jorhat

(d) Guwahati-Tezpur.

Ans: (d) Guwahati-Tezpur.

3. How many International Airports are there in Assam?

(a) 1 (one)

(b) 2 (two).

(d) 4 (four).

Ans: (a) 1 (one).

4. Which are the two end points of the NH-31?

Ans: The two end points of the NH-31 are Jharkhand of Borhi and Guwahati Jalukbari.

5. Which are the two end points of the NH-37?

Ans: From the bank of Lohit river (Dhala) to Pancharatna of Goalpara the end points of the NH-37.

6. Which are the two end points of the NH-51?

Ans: Baihata Chariali to Jonai are the two end points of the NH-51.

7. Which are the two end points of the NH-53?

Ans: Jorabat to Tura district of Meghalaya are the two ends points of the NH-53.

8. Which are the two end points of the NH-54?

Ans: Badarpur to Imphal covers the two ends points of the NH-54.

9. What is the total road length in Assam till 2004.

Ans: 2,787 km is the total road length in Assam till 2004.

10. Where is the Northeast Frontier Railway headquarters located?

Ans: The Northeast Frontier Railway headquarters is located at Maligaon.

11. Name three airports of Assam.

Ans: The three airports of Assam are:

(i) Mohanbari airport

(ii) Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport.

(iii) Raraiya airport.

12. Name the only International Airport of Assam.

Ans: Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport.

13. In which year the first ropeway in Assam is established?

Ans: In 1964 year the first ropeway in Assam is established. .

14. Name the mais communication systems in Assam

Ans: Telecom service is the main communication systems in Assam.

15. Discuss the problems of road transport development in Assam.

Ans: Most of the Indian roads are unsurfaced (42.65%) and are not suitable for use of vehicular traffic. One major problem on the India roads is the mixing of traffic. There are multiple check-posts, toll tax2 octoroon duties collection points on the roads which bring down the spe of the traffic, waste time and cause irritation to transporters. There is very little participation of private sector in road development in Ind because of long gestation periods and low-returns.

16. Discuss why coordination in different means of transport is essential.

Ans: Greater access to transportation services for people wit disabilities, older adults, and individuals with lower incomes begins with coordination plan.

Elements of a plan include:

(1) an inventory an assessment of available transportation resources and community and customer needs;

(2) goals and strategies for meeting those needs, including better coordination of existing services, development of a “family o transportation services,” and a mechanism to measure progress; and

(3) a means to share and coordinate resources. A well-designed plan also prioritizes transportation services based on the availability of funding resources and the feasibility of implementation.

B. SHORT TYPE QUESTION & ANSWER: (MARKS – 3)

LOCATION OF ASSAM IN NORTHEAST INDIA

1. Why Assam is called the mini India?

Ans: ASSAM is a miniature India, a veritable melting pot of diverse races, creeds, cultures and religions making it an anthropologist’s delight. Many of the principal races of the world migrated to this region in course very it. But due to its geo-political remoteness, to this region world know gaane reserve at is located, where people frein the world over come to meet the celebrated one-horned India rhinoceros. Manas is another such location famous for the last bastions of the Golden Languor (now on the verge of extinction). Steam, of course, is very famous all over the world. The mighty Brahmaputra, the holy temple of Kamakhya, oil fields etc. are few images conjured up whenever Assam is mentioned. Culturally Assamese Bihu and Satriya dances are a part of great Indian national heritage. This state, along with Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya And Tripura; with which it has close cultural and other affinities, forms the easternmost sector of India, having borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh. Its physical geography is one of the most fascinating in the country, with its extremely rich landscape, endless tracts of dense green breasts, its blue mountains, lush grassy plains, and it’s deep, wide, rapid rivers.

2. Why Assam is called the highway connecting Northeast with rest of India?

Ans: Assam is a state of India in the north-eastern region. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys along with the Karbi Anglong and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles (78,438 km²). Assam is surrounded by six of the other Seven Sister States: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Meghalaya. Geographically Assam and these states are connected to the rest of India via a narrow strip of land in West Bengal called the Siliguri Corridor. Assam shares international borders with Bhutan and Bangladesh; and cultures, peoples and climate with South-East Asia.

3. Write a note on the major land use categories of North- East India.

Ans: Ethnolinguistic composition of the people of Assam reveals that there are 3 categories of people. They are Austro-Asiatic language speaking people, Tibeto-chinese language speaking people and Indo-

(a) Heavy rainfall belt includes Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Goalpara, Cachar and Karimganj.

(b) Medium rainfall belt includes Barpeta Nalbari, Bagsha, Kamrup, Sonitpur, Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Karbi Anglong.

4. Give an account on the atmospheric temperature condition in Assam.

Ans: In different districts of Assam the mean annual maximum temperature i.e. July-August ranges from 30°c to 33°c, the minimum temperature i.e. December-January ranges from 8°c to 15°c. The two valleys of the state experience highest temperature in July. They experience latest temperature during January. The highest temperature recorded in three different places i.e. Dibrugarh in the easternmost part, Tezpur in the central part of the Brahmaputra valley are 37°c, 36°c and 37°c respectively. The lowest temperature recorded in the three places are 6°c, 7°c and 8°c respectively..

Write short notes on:

5. Duars plain.

Ans: The Doors or Duars are the feet plains and foothills of the eastern- Himalayas in North East India around Bhutan. There are 18 passages or gateways through which the bhutanese people can communicate with the people living in the plains. The Duars plain in divided by the sankosh river into Eastern and western Duars consisting an area of 8,800 sq. km. The altitude of Duars are ranges from 90 to 1750m. Innumerable streams and rivers flow through these fertile plains from the mountains of Bhutan. The economy of Duars is based on Tea, Tourism and Timber.

6. The Karbi plateau.

Ans: The Karbi plateau generally belongs to the Meghalaya plateau and consists of two hilly lobes of unequal size, separated by the Kopili valley. The eastern lobe covered by Rengma hills span over the entire Diphu district. It is approximately double the size of its western. Counterpart and is dame shaped with altitudes ranging from 192 m to highest Dambak peak. The western lobe of the plateau spans to the Meghalaya on the other hand, covers the Haven subdivision of the district. The plateau has a general shape from the south west to the south east. All the streams and rivers found here are tributaries of the Kapili and all of them flow from south west to north east.

7. The Brahmaputra plain.

Ans: This plain has the Arunachal and Bhutan Himalayas to its north the patkai range and Arunachal hills to its east and Naga hills. Karbi Plateau and Maghalaya plateau to its south. It is the major physiographic unit of Assam. It is a narrow valley with an approximate east-west extension of about 720 km and Average width of 80 km. The plain is girdled by the Eastern Himalayas. It is open in the west merging with the plains of west Bengal and Bangladesh. The 640 km long reach of the Brahmaputra and its 32 mauza north and South Bank tributaries drain the plain which covers about 72 percent of the total area of Assam. The plain as a whole greatly shapes from north east to south west with an average gradient of 13 cm per Km.

8. The Barak valley.

Ans: The Barak Valley forms one of the important physiographic units of Assam. The valley comprising the Barak plain and the northern and southern foothills is the product of the fluvio geomorphic processes of the river Barak and its tributaries. The plain is enclosed by hill ranges on three sides – The Meghalaya Plateau and the Barail range of the NC Hills district on the North. Manipur Hills on the east and the Mizo Hills on the south. The Barak valley is the headward piedmont part of the Barak- Surama Kushıyara plain which lies largely in Bangladesh. The Barak plain shapes down gently to the west and river Barak flows sluggishly in meandering course through it leaving a series of ox-blow lakes and swamps.

9. Rain shadow zones of Assam.

Ans: Assam may be divided into 3 district rainfall belts on the basis of nature of distribution of rainfall.

These regions are as follows:

(a) Heavy Rainfall belt: It includes the districts of Lakhimpur Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sibsagar, Jorhat, Dubri, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Chirang BTAD, Goalpara, Cachar and Karimganj.

(b) Medium rainfall belt: It includes the districts of Barpeta, Nalbari, Baksa BTAD, Kamrup, Darrang, Udalguri BTAD, Sonitpur, Morigaon, Nogaon, Golaghat & Karbi Anglong.

(c) Low rainfall belt: It includes the southern part of Nagaon district which may includes the northern part of Meghalaya (Khasi and Jaintia districts), Hojai, Lanka and Lumding upto Bokajan the places are included in this belt.

10. The ‘Chars’ of the Brahmaputra River.

Ans: The rapid monsoonal rain, easily erodible rocks, steep hills and high seismicity contribute a substantial amount of sediment to the Brahmaputra. The river with such a high volume of water discharge and sediment load, represents the most dynamic fluvial regime. Its wide alluvial channel in Assam having an average width of 6-8 km in dotted with more than 600 small and large sand bars, locally called as chars. The chars are formed due to the variability of flow of water, excessive sedimentation. The inhabitant who lived in the bank of river low preferring this char for cultivation and even for their habitat. In the district of Barpeta, Goalpara and Dhubri a number of chars are found in the Brahmaputra.

11. The river islands of the Brahmaputra River.

Ans: The Brahmaputra contains a member of islands but out of these My two is most significant. They are world’s largest river island called Majuli and world’s smallest river island called Umananda.

Umananda is the smallest river island in the midst of river Brahmaputra flowing through the city of Guwahati Assam.

Majuli is bounded between 26°44′ and 27°15’N latitudes and 93°39′ and 94°35′ longitudes is situated within the river Brahmaput. Majuli has its own history of genesis of the southward migration of the Brahmaputra which is an important fluvio-geomorphic process of the river. In fact, Majuli was an integral part of the Jorhat district of Assam on its south bank.

12. The Barak river basin.

Ans: The river Barak has its origin in the high Hill complex of Mao and south east of Java Peak. It runs westward for some distance forming the boundary of Nagaland and Manipur and then takes a sudden southward turn and flows through Manipur until it reaches Tipaimukh at the South western corner of the state. It then takes a sharp U-turn and forms firstly the boundary between Manipur and Mizoram and then Manipur and Cachar district of Assam. Thus, flowing for about 60kms it again turns sharply westward at Jirimukh and flows through the cachar plain sluggishly. In the western part of Cachar Plain the river gives out two branches near Bhanga. While the northern branch is known as the Surma, the Southern branch is called Kusiyara. The total length of Barak is 85 Km in Assam an it has a catchment area of about 50,000 sq. Km within North-East India of which about 8000 sq. km falls within Assam.

13. Give a short description of the Barail Range.

Ans: The Barak river originates from the Barail range in the boarder areas of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur and flowing through the district of cachar. The Barail range is located between 92°52°50 Easto 25°0.17 North. It is covering an area of about 80000 hectares and the altitude Ranges from 100-1,959 m. The Barail is the highest hill range in Assam. It includes the North Cachar Hill reserve forest of Cachar Hill. The Barail range is the watershed between Brahmaputra and Barak rivers. The climate is tropical monsoon type. The highest peak is Laika (1959 m). The annual rainfall varies from 2000 mm to more than 6000 mm. The westernmost part of the range receives the heaviest rainfall in Assam.

14. Give the reasons why river erosion is maximum in the Barait Range than that of the other highlands of Assam.

Ans: The rivers erosion is found to be maximum in the Baran Range because:

(a) The annual rainfall varies from 2000 mm to more than 6000mm. The westernmost part of the range receives the heaviest rainfall in Assam.

(b) The people of Barail foot hills practices mainly Jhum cultivation which may had to soil erosion.

15. Which are the common landforms developed by river erosion in the Barail Range?

Ans: The ranges in North Cachar Hills are known as the Barail Ranges The successive parallel ranges become lower both to the Brahmaputra plain in the North and to the Barak plain in the South. The main Barail range acts as the common watershed of Brahmaputra basin and Barak Basin. Because the area is under hot and humid climate conditions, the processes of weathering and erosion are very active leading to the development of deep valleys and gorges and stereo slopes. There are many rivers and streams on both sides of the Barail ranges. The Barak Plain is Horse-shoe shaped with about 85 km of East West extension.

16. What are the characteristics of mid channel bars of the Brahmaputra River?

Ans: The Brahmaputra has two important channel each of which branches out from the river Brahmaputra and joins it about 100 km downstream. The first one is the Kharikatia-Luhit, which appears to separate from the main river in the right bank, opposite to Disangmukh and meets it again at Luhitmukh, east of Kaziranga, forming the northern boundary of Majuli Island. The Sound channel is Kolang the branches out at Arikatimukh western part of Kaziranga (near Silghat) flows through the Nagaon-Morigaon plain, meet with the Kapili and the Digaru and falls into the Brahmaputra again at Kazalimukh east of Chandrapur.

17. What are the characteristics of Trans Himalayan Rivers?

Ans: The trans-Himalayan originate beyond the Great Himalaya. These are the Indus, the Sutlez and the Brahmaputra rivers. The Indus system situated to the North of Ladakh range and Kailash Range, it rises near the Mansarovar Lake at an altitude of 5180 m. It enters the Indian Territory in Jammu and Kashmir where it receives Himalayan tributaries such as Gartang, Zaskar, Dras, Shyok, Shigar, Nubra etc. Indus with a length of 2880 km is considered as one of the largest rivers of the world. Many urban colonies are located beside the Indus river in Ladakh such as Moral Leh, Bunji and Skardu. The Sutlej river originates from Kailash closed to the most sacred lake of Mansarovar. In Kinnaur district the river flows side by side with the Hindustan Tibet lead at Karcham in Kinnaur, the Barpa river meets, the sutlej with its bheem and crystal clear water.

18. Discuss the characteristics of the Plateau zone of Assam.

Ans: The Plateau region which has developed on the old crystalline massif of Gondwanaland now termed as Karbi plateau.

The Karbi plateaus can be found in two separate parts:

(a) Central Karbi Plateau: It is looking like a guava with its stalk towards the south. This is because, as it is isolated from the Hamren side by the Kapili and its headstreams. So also it is isolated from Naga Hills by the Dhansiri River and its headstreams like Deepani, Bokajan, Naojan etc. It has the Dhansiri plain (Golaghat) to its east and the Kalong-Kapili plain (Nagaon) to its west. The plateau is eroded and fairly subdued by age-old weathering and erosion under Hot and Humid tropical monsoon condition. The main features of this plateau is (i) There is a series of water falls. (ii) It has a low lying east west corridor in its middle part.

(b) Hamren plateau: It rises in height from Lanka, Hozai, Jogijan, Garubat and shahari foothills of Nagaon towards Jaintia Hills. The important rivers of this plateau from the west are Umiam or Killing, Karbi Langpi, Umkhim or Barapani, Umud, Amlong or Kolonga, Amring and finally the Kapili which forms the eastern boundary of the Plateau. The highest peak of this region lies in between Karbi Langpi and Umiam rivers.

19. Discuss the characteristics of the hills and hillocks of the Barak Valley.

Ans: The Southern part of Assam is occupied by the Barak Plain, which is relatively a small one. It is encircled on the north by the North Cachar (Barail) Hills, on the east by the Monipur Hills and on the south by the Lusai (Mizoram) Hills. The hill ranges which lie in the north in North Cachar Hills and in Mizoram in the south area of north south alignment. Following the same alignment one can locally known as ’tila’s. These tiles are made of sedimentary rocks of Tipen (Miocene) series.

POPULATION STRUCTURE

1. Why the women population is less in the Dima Hasao district?

Ans: The number of woman or woman population is found to be very less in Dima Hasao district. Of all the districts of Assam, Dima Hasao has the least sex ratio. It has been seen that total local population is very less. The male workers, labourers, business and service holders are also from outside the district. The two hill districts of Karbi Anglong and North cachar are sparsely populated because of their hilly topography with limited cultivable land and underdeveloped transport and communication system.

2. Give an account on the literacy rate in Assam.

Ans: Literacy and educational attainment are considered to be the basic ingredients of socio-economic development of any society. But unfortunately, Assam is logging much behind in respect of literacy and education than any other parts of the country. According to 1991 Census, the literacy rate in Assam is found to be 52.88% as against country’s 52.21%. Although the literacy rate in Assam appears to be slightly higher than that of the national average, it is notably lower than the states like kerala (89.91%), Mizoram (82.27%) Goa (75.5%) and so on.

In fact like many other parts of the country the progress of literacy in Assam was slow prior to independence. Increase in literacy in Assam had attained a momentum after independence. During a period of four decades the literacy rate increased from 21.73% to 52.89%. Satisfactorily, as a result of the rise in literacy rate the prevailing male-female differential in this respect has also come down to a great extent.

3. Write the importance of Silk industry in Assam.

Ans: Silk Industry is the only identity of Assam. Silk Industry is a traditional and the largest cottage industry in Assam which occupies a place next to agriculture. It has both cultural and economical impact on the people of Assam. About 8 lakh persons both male and female, are engaged in this industry. This is practiced as both part time and full time activity.

There are about 7 lakh of looms of different kinds in Assam. The looms may be of ‘Hat Sal’, (Hand operated loom), Tat Sal (Hand-Auto operated loom) and power loom (Auto-electrical loom). Though this industry is distributed is almost all parts of the state, undivided Kamrup district occupies the top position in number of weavers as well as the production of fabrics. The Soalkuchi is called the thickly populated village and also called as Manchester of Assam for the silk Industry.

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY

1. Give an account on the pattern of urbanization in Assam in the recent years.

Ans: Urbanisation has been very slow in Assam. There has been a very slow progress of it in the first half of the 20th century. In 1901 there were only 10 towns in the state with 2.34% of the population living in them. In 1951, the number of towns doubled and the urban population accounted for only 4.29%. It was immediately after independence that the number of towns rose from 24 in 1951 to 52 in 1961 and the urban population increased by 126.57% during that decade to account for 7.16% of the states total. The post independence developmental activities and the influx of refugees from the then East Pakistan who settled in the Suburban areas, commercial centres and railway station, junctions etc.

From 1961 onward, there has been a slow but steady progress of urbanization. Between 1961 and 2001, the total number of towns more than doubled and few towns emerged as large ones. Between 1971 and 2001, the urban population increased by more than 4 times from 7.8 lakhs to 33.89 lakhs, while the total population grow by only 2.6 times during the corresponding time period of all the districts, Kamrup with 7 towns and a city is the most urbanised with 35.81% urban population followed by N.C. Hills (31.19%), Tinsukia (19.49%), Dibrugarh (18.77%) & Jorhat (16.99%) The least urbanised district of Assam are Nalbari (2.41%), Morigaon (4.91%), Darrang (4.91%), Kokrajhar (6.84%) and Dhemaji (6.91%)

2. Give an account on the settlement pattern of the Brahmaputra plain.

Ans: The settlement pattern in the Brahmaputra plain is of linear type.Settlements are found by the side of the roads and rivers. In the urban areas, of this plain people are mostly engaged in manufacturing and service sectors. But the settlements of the rural areas are mostly engaged in primary activities specially in agriculture.

The proportion of the population engaged in economic activities and the occupational structure of the workers indicate to a great extent the overall economic development scenario of the plain.

3. Give an account on the rural settlement pattern in Assam.

Ans: Assam is still a region largely of agricultural economy. The rural population constitutes 87.28% of the total population of the state (2001). There are, in Assam, new 26.247 villages. The villages are generally small. In fact, about 4/5 of the total number of villages have less then 1000 population in each.

The rural settlements of the state like anywhere else in the developing countries across the world vary in form and pattern from place to place.

The settlement factors influencing the rural settlement pattern of Assam are the following:

(a) Physiography of the village site.

(b) Alignment of the river flowing near a village.

(d) Density of population of the area in which the village is situated.

(e) Socio-cultural factors like religion, caste etc.

(f) Availability of perennial source of water in the Hills etc.

Write short notes on:

4. Causes of uneven distribution of population in Assam.

Ans: The distribution of population is not uniform throughout Assam. The variation in physical condition, economic advancement and degree of transport accessibility is largely responsible for population distribution in the state.

The built up plain areas are considerably densely populated and the hill areas sparsely populated. Availability of productive land and better transport and communication facilities combined with ongoing process of urbanization and Industrialization have been greatly associated with high concentration of population in the Brahmaputra and Barak Valleys of the state.

With an area of about 72% and 9% of the state they represent 85.30% and 11.10% of the state’s population. The narrow terai belt of Brahmaputra valleys are thinly populated. Again, due to better mode of transportation and communication, high rate of immigration, the districts of lower Brahmaputra valley are densely populated.

5. Lower development of urban areas in Assam.

Ans: After about 5 decades of independence Assam still remains as one of the least urbanized states in the country. On the other hand, Assam is well endowed with mineral and forest resources, fertile soil, high potential for hydel power development and extensive cultivation of tea and Jute. It is discouraging to note that only Kamrup district in the state has got the higher proportion of urban population (32.4%), Guwahati, the state capital. of Assam and the Headquarters of Kamrup district, alone accounts for 23.4% of the total urban population of Assam. The least urbanized district (Dhemaji) has an urban population of only 1.88%.

So far the Level of urbanization is concerned, it is found unequai, uneven across the state. It varies from least urbanization level i.e 1.88% in Dhemaji to the highest urbanization level i.e 23.4% in Kamrup district.

6. Types of rural settlement in Assam.

Ans: Based on the layout of the village the rural settlement pattern of the state can be divided into the following categories:

(a) Linear pattern: The pattern of settlement in which the homesteads are laid out one after another in one or two parallel rows is known as linear. Such a pattern may be affected by various physical and socio economic factors.

(b) Rectangular pattern: In this type of settlement, the homesteads of a village are so arranged that overall pattern of the village appears to be rectangular. Such settlement are seen in the thickly populated areas of the plains of the Brahmaputra and the Barak.

(c) Isolated pattern: In the hills and foothills plains of Assam, one comes across habitations with only one two or few homesteads. Such a settlement grows up near a perennial source of water. Surrounded by forested or desolate areas lacking means of transport and communications.

(d) Amorphous settlement: In the flood plains and the riverine islands of the middle and lower Brahmaputra Valley, there are settlement of the immigrants from the east Bengal (Now Bangladesh). Their homesteads are often situated in low lying areas amidst crop fields.

(e) Estate Settlement: The tea gardens of Assam which number more than 850 support more than half a million labourers and their families and the members of supervisory and managerial staff.

7. Urbanization in Assam.

Ans: From the view point of urbanization Assam is one of the backward states of India. Because of lakh of Industrial and commercial activities and because of underdeveloped transport and communication, the state has remained less urbanised. In fact there emerged only nine towns in the later part of the nineteenth century. These are Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Guwahati, Tezpur, Nagaon, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh and Silchar with the turn of the century now towns like Jorhat, Nazira, Tinsukia, Digboi, Lakhimpur, Golaghat etc came up. In 1901 urban population in the state accounted for 2.34% of the total population. It rose to 7.21% in 1961 and further 12.72% in 2001. In 1991 Assam had 85 towns but in 2001 the number rose to 109.

Urbanization develops on the basis of one or two social, cultural and economic functions. The towns of Assam has given up on the basis of Administrative activities (Guwahati) communicable transport (Tinsukia), Educational (Tezpur, Jorhat), Paper Industry (Jagiroad), Ply industry (Margherita), oil industry (Digboi, Duliajan, Numaligarh, Noonmati. Bongaigaon), Tea industry (Doomdooma, Golaghat) Silk industry (Sualkuchi), Jute industry (Silghat) centre of pilgrimage (Bageribari. Kamakhya, Hazo, Bardewa, Tilinga mandir) etc.

8. Latifundium settlement.

Ans: The tea gardens of Assam which member more than 850 support more than half a million laborers and their families and the members of supervisory and managerial staff. A standard tea garden contains a large tea processing plant, an office, a warehouse, a primary school, a dispensary. bungalows for the managerial staff, residential quarters for the supervisory and office staff and rows of huts for the laborers, all included in the spacious tea estate. Such a compact and regulated arrangement of homesteads has given rise to a pattern, which is different from the ones stated above. These may be termed as the estate settlement or latifundia settlement.

9. Density of population in Assam.

Ans: The distribution and density of population is not even over the whole of Assam. The plains have high density of population. As per census of 2001, Nagaon is the most densely populated district of Assam with a density 604 persons per km², followed by Dhubri (584), Kamrup (579) Karimganj (555), Barpeta (506), Nalbari (504), Morigaon (455), Goalpara (451) and Darrang (432). Each of these nine districts has a density of more than that of state’s harm (340), while the remaining 14 districts have lower density of population. It may be noted that each of the above districts, except Karimganj has large immigrant population, while Karimganj has a large refugee population.

Kamrup’s higher density is partly explained by the rapid growth of Guwahati whose present population (2005) is estimated at 1.5 million. The least densely populated districts are Dhemaji (176) Karbi Anglong (78) and North Cachar Hills (38). Dhemaji is the only plain district where density is relatively low. This is because the district is ravaged by changing river channels (Like Gai, Jai Dhol etc) and frequent floods. Besides the transport and communication are poorly developed into it. The two hill districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar are sparsely populated because of their hilly topography with limited cultivable land and underdeveloped transport and communication system.

10. What are the main problems of urbanization in Assam?

Ans: Although the pace of urbanization has been quite slow in the state, the urban problems like shortage of housing, lack of adequate educational and health services, lack of proper drainage and sewage system, lack of adequate employment, opportunity, traffic congestion, lack of proper garbage management and shrinking open and public spaces etc are not so uncommon in most of the urban centers.

As a matter of fact, a sizable amount of financial support and infrastructures are essential for minimum maintenance of the 87 urban centers in the state with a population of about 2.5 million. The maintenance of the urban roads drainage and garbage disposal becomes crucial in most of the large urban centers particularly during the summer monsoon season. Because of lack of proper planning and management, the living condition in the urban areas gets extremely deplorable.

The shortage of shelter and housing is another growing problem of the urban areas.

11. Give an account on the characteristics of census towns of Assam.

Ans: The census of Assam categories the towns of the state into six categories on the basis of population size. This growing helps to understand the development pattern in any area. The towns with population 1 lakh and above are grouped as Class-1, 50 thousand to 1 lakh as Class-II, 20 thousand to 50 thousand as Class-III, 10,000 to 20,000 as Class-IV 5000 to 10,000 as Class-V and below 5000 as Class-VI. It may noted that the census of Assam recognizes the places with a minimum population 5000, population density of 400 person/ km², 75% of male workers in non- agricultural activities and municipal committee or town committee as towns or urban centers.

AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY OF ASSAM

1. Why is agriculture in Assam mostly seasonal?

It is disheartening to note that the gross irrigated area in Assam constitutes only 15.06 of the state’s gross cropped area. It is worth mentioning that about 3.5-4.0 lakh hectare of land in the state are annually affected by flood and the standing kharif crops (rice) are usually damaged by floods. Under such circumstances the only alternative left for the farmer of the flood-prone area is to take up rabi cropping in order to compensate the loss caused by flood during the summer. Extensive rabi cropping, however, not economically viable because of inadequate supply of irrigation.

2. Why is the tea in Upper Assam more flourished?

Ans: Tea is more flourished in the upper Assam because the different conditions for growing of tea are mostly favourable in this part of Assam. The yield per hectare and quality mainly depend upon climate soil, topography, plucking practice etc. Besides, the cost of production is also influenced by some other factors like labour, adoption of Modern Tea culture technique etc.

It requires high amount of water which should not be standing. This part of Assam provides sloping hills with enough rain water for its growth. Large labour group is also available in upper part of Assam which is also helping for the flourishing of Tea industry.

3. Why is the Jute in lower Assam grown more?

Ans: Jute is mostly grown in lower part of Assam because of the adequate conditions for the growth of jute plant.

Jute requires large amount of water from its starting up to the harvesting time which is available throughout its growing season from the Brahmaputra and its tributaries. Extension of its cultivation to lower part of Assam was a direct impact of large scale immigration of peasants from the neighbouring over crowded districts of Mymensingh, Rangpur of Bangladesh.

Write short notes on:

4. Types of agriculture in Assam.

Ans: Two types of farming have been in practice in Assam – small scale peasant and large scale tea plantation farming. Between the two, the peasant farming is more important in sense that it alone contributes slightly less than half of the state’s domestic product. Moreover, while it covers 65% of the state’s total working people. The tea plantation shares less than 10%. Besides the peasants farming is more problem ridden and emigratic, then the tea plantation. As the mode of production, management and the nature of problems of plantation farming are quite different from those of the wide space cum people covering peasant farming.

5. Crop production in Assam.

Ans: Of the crops raised, food crops are by far the most important in Assam. It is found that the food crops occupy 71% of the total cropped area. Of the food crops again, rice, which farms the staple food of the people of the region, is the most important and occupies about 64.82% of the cropped area. Next to rice come pulses followed by maize.

Among the food crops has the highest demand in Assam as it is the staple food crop of the people of Assam. Presently the foremost challenge before the state is the appalling increase in population and a corresponding upsurge in the demand for food. The state would be able to meet this challenge only through properly sustainable agricultural development programmes.

In 2000-2001, the total area under food crops in Assam was 2858 thousand hectares and production of food crops was 4167 thousand tonnes. Yield per hectares was 1290 kg. In 2001-2002 total production of rice was 3854 thousand tonnes, total cereals 3957 thousand tonnes and total pulses was 66 thousand tonnes.

6. Rice cultivation in Assam.

Ans: Rice is the most important food crops of Assam. It is grown both in the plains and in the hills. It is said that China and South East Asia, is the original homeland of rice.

Depending on the season of cultivation, the rice grown in Assam can be divided into three varieties:

(a) Amon or Sali

(b) Aus or Ahu

The Amon rice is transplanted in summer from late may to september in the wet field and harvested in the period from late November to early January.

Aus or Ahu rice is broadcast in the months of March and April in dry fields and harvested in the summer.

The Bao rice is essentially a variety of long stemmed rice that can withstand a long period of deep and stagnant water. Its seeds are broadcast in spring season when the ground remains dry and it is harvested in winter when the water that accumulates over the ground in summer has dried up.

Besides these three varieties another variety, known as ‘Boro’ is grown in the low lying area of Assam. It is transplanted in the months of December and January in the low lying areas where water level goes down to a few centimeters by this season. It is a quite variety and can be harvested in April and May before the water level rises.

7. Tea cultivation in Assam.

Ans: Tea plants used to grow naturally in the upper Brahmaputra Valley and its adjoining Arunachal foothills. In fact Robert Bruce, an official of the British empire, who is credited with the discovery of tea in Assam in 1823, only saw the Singphos drinking tea. The drink was locally known as Final and Fanap. Between 1836 and 1838 the potentiality of tea plantation could be proved beyond doubt and in 1839 a private British entrepreneurs started a tea garden near chabua in the present Dibrugarh district. In 1840, a group of British planters formed Assam company at Nazira for commercial plantation of tea at a large scale. At the initial stage, the companies faced with labour shortage as the local people did not come forward to work in the tea gardens. However, that problem was overcome by bringing in labourer from Chotanagpur and surrounding region. In 1850, there was only one tea estate covering an area of 809 hectare with 99 thousand kg production. In 1900 the number of tea estate was 804 while in 1950 it became 999. In 1900, the production was 14012 thousand kg. while in 1950, it became 1,52,459 thousand kg and in 2001 it rose upto 4,50,132 thousand kg.

8. Sugarcane production in Assam.

Ans: Sugarcane has been grown in Assam since long. In the historic past also the people of the state knew the art of producing various types of molasses from sugarcane.

Sugarcane is a traditional crop of Assam. It is growing relatively high and fertile flat or rolling ground. Very heavy rainfall and flooding often limits its growth. However, the crop is grown over about 30,000 hectares of land in the state.

Assam has favourable physical condition for sugarcane cultivation. In 1991-92, Assam produced about 1522.0 metric tonnes of sugar cane over 35.8 thousand hectares of land. The yield per hectare according 1970-71 was 37217 kg, in 1990-91 it was 42514 kg and in 2005-2004 it is 38589 kg

9. Fruit production in Assam.

Ans: A number of fruit is produced in Assam. But out of all, Banana is an important fruit of Assam. It is grown as an orchard crop in the compound of almost every homestead in the plains of foothills. There are many varieties of banana in Assam. Althouglı almost all the plains districts of the state produce banana, Goalpara and kamrup districts are leading producer of good varieties of Banana. The area of west Chaygaon in the South bank of Kamrup district upto Agia of Goalpara district and the adjoining Garo foothills is traditionally famous for a variety of banana called ‘malbhog’ which is highly priced. In fact Dhupdhara and Darang giri are very important centre of banana collection and distribution. Every day, scores of truckloads of banana move out from these two centres to different parts of Assam, Northern West Bengal, Eastern Bihar, Nepal. In 1990-91 Assam produced 444,000 tonnes of Banana and the whole of North East India produced 552,960 tonnes.

9. Tea industry in Assam.

Ans: The tea industry of Assam is the largest export-oriented sector and biggest foreign exchange earner employing about 5.5 lakh worker. Assam occupies a prominent position in tea industry. It accounted for 55.3% of the total area and 53.9% of the total production of tea in India. In Assam, tea industry was the first capitalist enterprise introduced by British in the early part of the 19th century.

There was a tremendous growth of tea industry during the last three decades of the 19th century. The total amount of capital invested in the industry increased from Rs 5 million or even less than that in 1872 to an estimated Rs.210 million by 1903.

The ownership pattern of the tea industry of Assam has undergone basic changes since 1947. A large chunk of the capital invested in the tea industry has passed from British to Indian hands. The formation of Assam Tea Corporation Ltd. in 1972 is an important land mark in the history of the tea industry of Assam.

10. Silk industry of Assam.

Ans: Sericulture is an old tradition of Assam. Assam produces 3 types of silk i.e. pat, muga and Eri.

Pat worms are fed on the leaves of mulberry or Sowelu, Muga worms fed or soma and Eri worm fed on Era and Kesheru.

Pat or pure silk industry is essentially confined to Assam. Assam produces about 10% of total national silk of India. Production of pat palu is done by a member of tribes of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Nagaon, Darrang, Goalpara. It is one of the most important collage industry. Karbi Anglong has opened 20 and N.C. hills 13 mulberry gardens for raising silk worm. In 1985-86 the two districts produced about 500 kg of Natural silk. Assam in 1991-92 had 1763-92 hectare of land under mulberry and it produced 1.97 lakh silk cocoons.

Muga, the golden silk is produced mainly in Assam. Assam produced 4,995 lakh muga cocoon in 1991-92. In Assam Muga cocoons are produced in Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Jorhat, Golaghat and Sontipur. Sualkuchi of kamrup district is famous for silk industry.

Eri is produced in Assam in the year 1991-92 which is about 4,995 lakh kg of eri cocoon. The food plant of eri worm is castor plant which is commonly growing in Brahmaputra valley and in karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills. There is also an endi production centre at Uparhali in South Kamrup plain.

11. Jute industry in Assam

Ans: Jute milling is an agro-based industry. Assam provides suitable agro-climatic conditions for the cultivation of jute. In jute production, Assam occupied second position. Its production in 1992-93 was 10.3 lakh bales. (1 bale 180 kg). Jute cultivation in the state is mainly concentrated in Nagaon, Morigaon, Darrang, Barpeta, Kamrup, Nalbari district which covers an area of about 1 lakh hectares.

The first jute mill in the state was established under the cooperative sector in 1970 at Silghat in Nagaon district with 100 looms for the production of sacks and 50 looms for sessions. Two major jute mills in the private sector were established in the state.

12. Bamboo and cane industry of Assam.

Ans: Bamboo and cane work is another important cottage industry of the whole of Assam. Household gadgets such as containers of various shapes and sizes, big and small round plate like structure for drying grains, sieves, winnows, various fishing devices etc. are made of bamboo and cane at home for domestic use. Various agriculture implements are also made at home with bamboo and cane. Wicker hats (Japi) are made of bamboo and the leaf of palm tree. Various sorts of bags for carrying domestic necessities are made of bamboo and cane, especially in the hills. Different items of furniture industry has also been declining in the face of competition from cheap plastic goods on the one hand, and giving scarcity of bamboo, cane and wood on the other hand. The state government through the agencies like khadi Board, Small Industries.

Development corporation, District Rural Development Authority etc. have been giving impetens to this industry and some artisan have, in recent years, engaged themselves in production of decorative item and furniture of bamboo, cane, wood, leaves etc.

13. Oil industry in Assam.

Ans: Oil is known as the liquid gold of Assam. Its Existence in upper Assam was recorded as far back as 1825. Oil and Petroleum fields in Assam are concentrated in several places of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sibsagar and Jorhat.

The first oil-refinery was set up at Digboi in 1901 by the Assam Railway and Trading company. During 1952-54 new oil fields were discovered at Naharkatia, Hugrijan and Moran, near the Digboi fields. To process the newly found crude oil, the second refinery in Assam was set up in 1962 at Noonmati in the public sector.

The third refinery and petrochemical complex was set up at Bongaigaon in 1979. The fourth one is also being constructed at Numaligarh of Golaghat district with a capacity of 3 million tonnes.

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION OF ASSAM

1. Give an account on the major transport means of Assam.

Ans: It is the rail transport system of the state which is instrumental in channelizing the flow of commodities and people at inner state level. Unfortunately, this system of transport has been operating with negative het earnings since a long period of time. The major railway tracks of the state were constructed before independence and were oriented basically towards the growth of oil and Tea industries. The creation of link between other production and consumption centres was not properly looked into. However the recent addition of feeder lines in the state is expected to fulfill these shortcoming.

2. Describe the problems of transportation in Assam.

Ans: The problems of transportation in Assam are:

(a) The problems of transport linking the state with the rest of the country has gradually been declining due to upliftment of river system specially the Brahmaputra.

(b) So far as the road transport system of the state is concerned There is abnormal gap between the existing and expected length and efficiency of the roads. Quite a large number of villages are yet to be connected by all weathered roads.

(c) The major railway tracks were constructed before independence and were oriented basically towards the growth of oil and tea industries

(d) The air transport system of the state is yet to reach the expected level. Its expansion as well as improvement especially in the hilly parts needs due attention.

As a whole, the existing means of transport in the state need better Co- ordination and management in order to optimise the flow of goods and people for integrated growth and development of the state.

3. Describe the potentialities of transport and communication in Assam.

Ans: The potentialities of transport and communication in Assam are:

(a) Railways are the fastest mode of transportation in Brahmaputra Valley and in Barak Valley.

(b) Assam în 2001 had about 32865 km of roads. They are of 3 types National Highway (2036 Km), State P.W.D. road (2137 Km) District and Panchayat Road (28692 Km) Panchayat roads are mainly Kacha and sometimes geavelled. For the betterment of Assam these roads should be upgraded.

(c) The inland water transportation system is not developed and well functional. The number of river is found maximum and hence, inland water transportation system has the potentiality for the future.

(d) Air transport system is well developed and well connected to all the state of India and abroad.

4. Why the island water transport system in Assam showing a decreasing trend?

Ans: The inland water transport system of the state is providing facility basically for the intra state flow of goods and people. The glorious tradition of the water transport linking the state with rest of the country has gradually been declining. The constant upliftment of the beds of the major rivers of the state due to silting every year has badly affected the waterways. Besides this, the expansion of the roads and railways in the state has also reduced the importance of the water transport.

5. Give an account on the air transport in Assam.

Ans: Air transport has a special role to play for the movement of passengers and goods in an area like Assam with peculiar topography and geographic location. Of course, its potentiality came to the light only often 1949 when Pakistan prohibited transhipment of Cargo to Assam by waterways. Consequently, the government of independent India became more attentive towards the expansion of the air transport in the state. At present, Assam is well connected with the other parts of the country through air link. The Indian airlines are instrumental in establishing air connection between Assam and the rest of the nation.

6. Why the ropeways are important in Assam?

Ans: The ropeway is a cheap made of transportation especially in the hilly terrain of industrial raw materials like limestone, coal etc from the Phines to the road or railways heads and industrial sites. Assam is hilly area and compare to other mode of transportation, rope way is the cheapest one.

7. Give an account on the communicator system in Assam.

Ans: Transport and communication are important elements of infrastructure based on which the progress of a region may take place. There are some physical and socio economic causes for the backwardness of transport and communication in this region.

(a) Assam has about th of its area under hills and plateaus. The hills and plateaus have steep slopes, deep gashes where made and railway is very expensive and difficult in position.

(b) Assam is isolated in its location with respect to the rest of the country.

(c) As the region has very heavy rainfall for about six months of a year, the roads and railways suffer from the surface and gully erosion

(d) The region, annually experiences devasting floods which often breach and damage roads and railways. On the other hand, heavy deluges cause landslide and soil creep in the hills damaging the roads.

(e) The region has numerous turbulent rivers and hillstreams which flow with fury during the rainy season.

(f) The state government, is not financially will off to afford sufficient expenditure to construct and maintain a well knit transport system.

Write short notes on:

8. Ropeways in Assam.

Ans: In recent years, the ropeways are the cheap mode of transportation especially in the hilly terrain of industrial raw materials like limestone, Coal etc from the mines to the road or railway station and industrial sites. It is the most effective mode of transportation in the state like Assam because it is hilly in nature.

9. Development of Railways in Assam.

Ans: The age of rail transport system of the state is now 100 years. Its history started with construction of a 80 km long Dibru-Sadiya meter- gauge railway line constructed by the Assam Railway and Trading Company in 1882.

Since the beginning of the present century rail transport has been getting changed in its structure. It is observed that since 1902 railway development in Assam was meaningful in the sense that Assam was connected with the two great ports by two lines, one the Eastern Bengal Railway extended from Calcutta to Dhubri in 1902 and the other, the Assam Bengal Railway extended from Chittagong to Dibrugarh in 1904. The first railway line to be constructed was the Dibru-Sadiya line between 1882 and 1884 connecting the tea, timber, coal and oil producing areas specially in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh district. It was followed by Construction of Jorhat Provincial Railway in 1885 between Mariani and Titabor area with Kokilamukh. In the same year Balipara tea producing area was connected to Tezpur. The railway line from Guwahati to Lumding began to constructed in 1897. Dhubri was connected to Calcutta in 1902.

10. Scope for water transport in Assam.

Ans: It is estimated that the North-Eastern region has about 1800 km of river routes that can be used by steamers and large country boats. The inland water transport departments of both the state and central governments have been trying to improve the water transport system in the region. The river Brahmaputra now has several small river-ports like Dibrugarh, Disangmukh, Nemati, Biswanath, Silghat, Guwahati, Goalpara and Dhubri. Besides, there are more than 30 pairs of ferry ghats on the Brahmaputra, transporting men and materials between its two banks. The river Barak also has small ports at Karimganj, Badarpur and Silchar and Ferry services at several places across it. At present the state Tourist Department has started Luxury cruises over the Brahmaputra as a commercial proposition.

11. Airports in Assam

Ans: A few aerodromes were built up in this region during World War II when the eastern war front reached the Indo-Myanmar border. The Allied Forces built up small aerodromes at Kahikuchi (near Guwahati). Mohanbari (Dibrugarh), Salonibari (Tezpur), Rowraiya (Jorhat) and Lilabari (North Lakhimpur). After independence, some of these air-fields were used by private companies like Bharat Airways and Indian Airways for commercial services. After the nationalization of commercial air transport in India, Indian Airlines Corporation took over the services and new airport were opened at Kumbhirgram (near Silchar). The airport near Guwahati was also shifted to Borjhar. However, regular air transport to Guwahati Tezpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Kumbhigram and North-Lakhimpur began in 1946. The services to these airports are to and from Kolkata and Delhi The smaller airports are rarely used by smaller air transport companies The Borjhar (Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport is the only large one in this region and its was upgraded to an international airport in 1901. Some of these airports (e.g. Borjhar, Salonibari and Rowriah) are also shared by the Indian Air force.

C. LONG TYPE QUESTION & ANSWERS (MARKS – 5)

LOCATION OF ASSAM IN NORTH EAST INDIA

1. Give an account of the locational peculiarities of Assam.

Ans: Assam is located in the tropical Latitudes (24.3°N and 28°N) and eastern longitudes (89.5°E and 96.1°E) is the most populous state in North East India. It is surrounded by hills on 3 sides. The major river system are Brahmaputra and Barak. The state has the Brahmaputra valley in the northern part bordering Arunachal pradesh in the north and Barak valley in the south. In between these two valley plains there lies an outwardly hilly region consisting of old pre-cambrian Karbi Plateau and the yang Tertiary folded hills of the North Cachar Hills. To the east of the plains lies the Patkai range and the hills of Nagaland and Manipur. To the south of the Barak Plain lies the hills of Mizoram.

In fact, Assam along with the rest of North East India is a transitional zone between South Asia and SouthEast Asia. This fact is authenticated not only by the region’s human types and their social and cultural patterns but also by its flora and fauna.

politically Assam is surrounded by two foreign countries i.e. Bangladesh and Bhutan and seven Indian states i.e West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. The position and location of Assam is strategically very important. It has an area of 78,438 km² representing 2.39% of the total area of the country and a population of 26655528 (2001) according for 2.59% of total population of India.

2. Explain why Assam occupies the most advantageous location amongst the states of Northeast India?

Ans: Assam occupies the most advantageous location amongst the states of North East India because:

(a) The state is surrounded by seven Indian states.

(b) The state is bounded directly two foreign countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh.

(d) The state has two major river system i.e. Brahmaputra and Barak and their tributaries. The two valleys are fertile, productive and favourable for human habitation.

(e) Agriculture is the only economic activities in this state. Being plain area among all the north-eastern states it makes life easy for the people.

PHYSIOGRAPHY, DRAINAGE AND CLIMATE OF ASSAM

1. What are the physiographic divisions of Assam? Give an account on the characters of one of them.

Ans: The relief and drainage features of Assam are the outcome of tectonic and geological activities on the one hand and climatic characters and activities on the one hand and climatic characters and activities on the other hand. All these have given rise to three district physiographic units.

These are:

(a) Plateau region which has developed on the old crystalline massif of Gondwana land now called as Karbi Plateau.

(b) Tertiary folded hills of North Cachar hills including Barail Range.

The Brahmaputra Valley: The Brahmaputra valley is the major physiographic unit of Assam. It is a narrow valley with an approximate east-west extension of about 720 km and average width of 80 km. The valley is girdled by the eastern Himalayas on the north and west, and the Naga hills, Karbi and Meghalaya plateaus on the south. It is open in the west merging with the plains of West Bengal and Bangladesh. The 640 km. long reach of the Brahmaputra and its 32 major north and south bank tributaries drain the valley which covers about 72% of the total area of Assam.

The valley as a whole gently slopes from north-east to south-west with an average gradient of 13 cm/km. In which upper reach, near Dibrugarh, the gradient is 17 cm/km while the same is about 10 cm/km near Guwahati.

Geologically the Brahmaputra is a very young river and its present cor iguration took shape only during the Pleistocene and recent times.

Physiographically, the brahmaputra valley may be divided into two parts near Guwahati. The western lower part and the eastern upper part.

The Brahmaputra valley in its east-west direction has four distinct physiographic units, viz- the northern foothills, the north and south bank plains, the floodplains and charland and the southern foothills.

2. Write the characteristics of the folded mountain ranges of Assam.

Ans: The Barail hills of Assam covering the N.C. hill district are the west and continuation of the Barail range stretching from Tuensang across Nagaland. The Barail range is a tertiary mountain range topographically bridging the Archaean Meghalaya plateau with the tertiary Naga Hills which is the South western projection of the Himalayas. The Barail range divide the NC Hills into two parts. The Northern part falling under the Brahmaputra basis and the Southern part of the Karbi plateau attains a maximum height of 1866m in the Theipibung peak of NC Hills district.

The other notable peaks of the Barail Range in the district are the Hemeolowa (1679 m), the Mahadeo (1739 m), The Kankala (1736m) and Tukbai (965 m) peaks. The southern range of the Barail range is steeper than the northern face due to faulting. The North flowing rivers like Kapili and Dhansiri and their headstreams have dissected the range by their headword erosion and thus have subdued the northern face to lower elevations with gentle slopes.

3. Write the characteristics of the major river basins of Assam.

Ans: The major river basin of Assam are:

(a) The Brahmaputra river basin

(b) The Barak river basin.

(a) The Brahmaputra river basin: The Brahmaputra is one of the largest rivers in the world. From the source to the mouth, the river is 2880 km long. It passes through 3 countries. Its total length within Tibet of China is about 1700 km. In India it means far 920 km and in Bangladesh its length is 260 km. The entire Basin of the Brahmaputra inside and outside India is about 580,000 km², within North East India its basin covers an area of 165.000km². The river has a catchment area of 70635 km² within Assam. In India the Brahmaputra basin lies in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Sikkim and West Bengal. This Basin of the state accounts for 72% of its total geographical area. The basin shows marked variations in geology, geomorphology, physiography, relief, precipitation and soils of the southern and northern region of Brahmaputra valley.

(b) The Barak Basin: The Barak basin covers the southern part of the state which includes the districts of Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi and the Southern portion of NC Hills. They valley has width of 25-30 km and it covers an area of 6962 km² accounting for about 9% of the total geographical area of the state.

The basin is a narrow one and gently slopes to west. Through this basin, the river flows sluggishly for a distance of 125 km and exhibits a highly meandering pattern. The Barak creates recurring floods in the cachar plain during summer.

This basin is characterised on both the banks by depressed tracts developed between the levees along the river and the gradually rising plains merging with northern and southern foot hills.

4. Write the basin characteristics of the Barak river.

Ans: The river Barak has its origin in the high hill complex east of Mao and south-east of Japvo peak. It runs westward for some distance forming the boundary of Nagaland and Manipur and then take a sudden southward turn and flows through Manipur until it reaches Tipaimukh at the South- Western corner of the state. If then takes a sharp u-turn and forms firstly the boundary between the Manipur and Mizoram and then between Manipur and Cachar district of Assam. Thus flowing northward for about 60 km, it again turns sharply westward at Jirimukh and flows through the cachar plain sluggishly. In the western part of cachar plain the river gives out two branches near Bhanga. While the northern branch is known the Surma, the southern branch is called Kusiyara. The total length of the Barak within Assam is 85 km. It has a catchment area of about 50,000 km² within North East India of which about 8000 km² falls within Assam.

5. Discuss the impact of seasonal rainfall on atmospheric temperature condition of Assam.

Ans: Assam is experiences an average annual rainfall of 230 cm. During the winter, the average annual rainfall is 6 cm and in summer it is about 64cm. The maximum fall is experienced in June to september i.e. 146cm. The rainless months in the state generally are December January and February.

In different districts of the state the mean annual maximum temperature i.e. July-August ranges from 30°C to 33°C, the minimum temperature i.e. December to January ranges from 8°C to 15°C. The two valleys of the state experience highest temperature in July. They experience lowest temperature during January. The highest temperature recorded in three different places i.e. Dibrugarh in the easternmost part, Tezpur in the central part and Dhubri from the westernmost part of Brahmaputra valley are 37°C, 36°C and 37°c respectively. The lowest temperature recorded in these three places are 6°C, 7°C and 8°C respectively.

The rainy season in Assam starts during the month of june and continues through July, August and September. This is the largest season of the year. Along with the northward march of the sun the landmass of India is heated as a result of which low pressure system develops. Temperature in this season, in Assam is quite high (20°C-29°C). Average July temperature shorts upto 27°C. So the low pressure system over Assam becomes intense. In the hill districts, because of elevation, the temperature is slightly lower.

6. Write the characteristics of the Climate of Assam.

Ans: Among all the factors of geographical environment to which man is subjected climate is of prime importance. Climate governs not only the agricultural activities but also natural vegetation, water, supply, human settlement and industries.

In general the climate of the state of Assam characterised by:

(a) Relative coolness: The state is experienced with maximum temperature i.e. July-August ranges from 30°C to 33°C, the minimum temperature i.e. December-January ranges from 8°C to 15°C. The Lowest recorded temperature is found in January.

(b) Relative Humidity: The climate of the state with more humidity. According the Vadimir Koppur, Assam enjoys Humid Mesothermal Gangetic type climate. But local observation reveals that the climate of the state varies considerably from the normal ‘CWG’ climate of the Gangetic valley. Moreover, the winter is dry which the summer is wet. The average humidity of Assam is about 80% (summer) which slightly drops to 65% to 70% from January to April.

(c) Rainfall: Assam experiences an average annual rainfall of 230 cm. During winter (December to February) the average annual rainfall is 6 cm and in Summer (March to May) it is about 64 cm. The Maximum fall is experienced in June to September i.e. 146 cm and about 14 cm in October and November. The average rain fall in Assam is more than 230 cm. There is a district drought period. Number of rainy days with more then 2.5 mm is 122 days in the eastern part, 106 days in the central part and 130 days in the western part of the state.

7. Discuss the effect of Monsoon Wind on the Climate of Assam.

Ans: The monsoon winds enter India through two tracks one over the Arabian Sea and the other over the Bay of Bengal. The Bay of Bengal current in its north-eastward course through southern part of the Bay of Bengal reaches the Arakan Yoma range of Myanmar and being obstructed by the range it blows towards the north and get obstructed again by the Meghalaya Plateau. Because of this obstruction heavy down pour takes place from this moisture laden winds. In this way Cherrapunjee (25°17′ N and 9°44′ E) and Mowsynram (25°19′ N and 91°36′ E) on the southern slopes of the Meghalaya receive the highest rainfall in the world. The annual rainfall of these two places is 1080 cm and 1240 cm respectively. After causing heavy rainfall some portions of this current cross the Khasi and Jaintia hills and move towards the Brahmaputra valley. As the wind descents to the Brahmaputra Valley along the northern slopes of the Khasi and Jaintia hills it become dry and yields little precipitation and creates a rain-shadow area over the Hojai, Lanka-Lumding region in Nagaon district, which is located just on the leeward slope of the Meghalaya Plateau.

In this rain shadow area the average annual rainfall is only 106 cm. This is the driest part in Assam. In this context it may be mentioned that Shillong (25.34 N and 91.56E) the capital city of Meghalaya receives and average annual rainfall of only 215 cm. Guwahati (26.11 N and 94.47 E) in the extreme west of this rain shadow area receives the annual rainfall of only 163.4 cm. Lumding receives only 131.8 cm. Another belt of low rainfall is to be found from the Champamati river of Kokrajhar district to the Panch Nai running along the boarder of Sonitpur and Darrang districts. This is because of the fact that the clouds of the belt gets no benefits from the clouds of the Barak valley.

Some portions of Bay of Bengal current move towards north across Myanmar and Bangladesh and get divided into two branches. One of them moves eastward after yielding rainfall in the western Assam districts. On its way, it meets the current which crosses the meghalaya Plateau, and the combined current strike against the Himalayas just north of Tezpur (26.37 N and 92.50E). As a result very heavy rainfall occurs over the Sonitpur-Lakhimpur foot hill region. The combined current then moves northeastward towards the locally formed low pressure area over eastern Assam region. As a result of this very heavy rainfall takes place over this region. This is because of the fact that the combined current is obstructed by the hills and mountains of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Karbi Anglong.

This it is seen that the characteristics of this season are cloudy weather, high humidity and light surface wind. The weather becomes sultry and unbearable because of high relative humidity but temperature is arrested by the incessant rainfall. Rainfall occurs for about 18-20 days in each of June, July and August and for about 14 days in September. Usually, the number of days with thundershower is 10-12 in each of the above months. Sometimes the sky remained completely overcast for days together. Rain fall is more in this season and the average rain all in this period is 146cm in Assam. The eastern part of the Brahmaputra Valley receives more rainfall then the western part. A branch of the Bay of Bengal current of the monsoon wind enters the Barak Valley and is obstructed by the hills on the northern, eastern and southern sides. As a result of this there occurs heavy downpour in that valley in this rainy season.

POPULATION STRUCTURE

1. Discuss the influence of population of Assam on the social composition.

Ans: The state of Assam exhibits a great diversity in respect of population composition. The population of Assam composed of such a diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic stocks that the state is often regarded as a living anthropological museum. Its population composition, in fact, hardly differs from that of the country as whole. It may be mentioned here that the constitution of India has scheduled the tribal people and certain low caste people among the Hindus and Sikhs as scheduled tribes and scheduled castes respectively for their socio-economic upliftment. Accordingly, besides religions and linguistics composition, the population of Assam as also in the country may broadly be divided into three groups – scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and non-scheduled population.

2. Write an account on the district wise population growth and density.

Ans: It is significant to note that growth rate of population varies spatially within the state depending upon the nature and extent of migration, and a number of socio-cultural factors influencing the natural growth. Before independence, growth rates of population have been considerably high in the districts of middle and lower Brahmaputra Valley due to obvious reactions of immigration mainly from East Bengal and Nepal. There has been significant variation in the district wise growth of population in Assam during the last few decades. However during 1991-2001, the district of Kamrup experienced highest rate of growth of 25.75%. Followed by N.C. Hills (23.47%), Dhubri (23.42%) Goalpara (23.07%), Karbi Anglong (22.57%), Nagaon (22.30%) and Karimgan; (21.35%). In all these districts, the growth rate has been higher than the National norm (21.34%). In the remaining 26 districts, the rate of growth of population during the period 1991-2001 was less than the national norm.

The plains have high density of population. As per the census of 2001, Nagaon is most densely populated district of Assam with a density 604 person per km² followed by Dhubri (584), kamrup (579), Karimganj (555), Barpeta (506), Nalbari (504), Morigaon (455), Goalpara (451) and Darrang (432). Each of these nine district has a density of more than that of the state’s norm (340) while the remaining 14 districts have lower density of population. The least densely populated districts are Dhemaji (176), Karbi Anglong (78) and North Cachar hills (38) Dhemaji is the only plain district where density is relatively low.

3. Describe the religious structure of population of Assam.

Ans: Assam has a substantial number of Population belonging to each of the major religious pursued in India. Besides, it has a large population pursuing side by side, their own tribal religious right and rituals. As per census of 2001, out 26.66 million people of Assam, Hindus (17.29 million) account for 64.9 percent, Muslims (8.24 m) 30.9%, Christian (0.98 m), 3.7%, Buddhists (51,029) 0.2%, Sikh (22,519) 0.1%, Jains 0.1% and others 0.1%. The corresponding figures of India are 80.5%, 13.4%, 2.3%, 0.8%, 109%, 0.4% and 0.6%. Thus it is seen that Assam has higher proportions of Muslim and christians than the national norms.

The people following different religious are not evenly distributed over different districts of the state. The Hindus are in majority in 17 districts. In fact, in each of Dhemaji, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sibsagar, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong they account for more than 80%. The Muslims predominate in the districts of Dhubri (74.29%) Barpeta (59.36%), Hailakandi (57.6%), Karimganj (52.30%). Nagaon (50.99%) and Goalpara (5000%). The numbers of Christian, Sikh and Buddhist populations in Assam are 986.589. 22,159 and 51,029 respectively. Kokrajhar (1.24 lakhs). Karbi Anglong (1.17 lakhs), Sonitpur (1.15 lakhs), Darrang (97,306), Goalpara (64,662), Tinsukia (32,403), Golaghat (52,277) and North Cachar Hills (50,183) have substantial Christian population. The Largest Sikh population (47.47), in Assam is found in Kamrup (Guwahati) are largely from northern India, those of Nagaon district are mostly local in origin. The largest number of Buddhists (13,695) are found in Tinsukia district where there are some Khamtis, Khamyangs and Phakes. Tinsukia is followed by Karbi Anglong (6402) with Khamyang, and Aiton population. Dibrugarh (4152), Sibsagar (4020 and Sontinpur (3864). Members pursuing the Jain faith are practically absent among the indigenous people of Assam. However in Assam there is quite a number of Rajasthani families who pursue Jainism. Such families are mainly found in the cities and towns of Kamrup and Nagaon.

4. Write briefly about the occupation pattern of Assam.

Ans: The proportion of population engaged in economic activities and occupational structure of the workers indicate to a great extent the overall economic development scenario of the state. According to 1991 census data, the total work participation rate in the state is found to be 36.09% as against the country’s average of 37.46%. It is however, satisfactory to that the work participation rate has witnessed a significant rise during the last two decades. As per the 1971 census data, the work participation rates in the state and the country were 27.96% and 32.93% respect.vely. But there is still significant gender disparity in work participation.

Within the state again, the work participation is considerably higher in the rural areas (36.71%) than that of the urban areas (30.92%). Further, it is found that the gender differential in work participation in urban areas of the state noticeably higher than rural counterparts.

Of the whole, a low work participation rate in the state, as in other parts of the country, is largely associated with lack of development of the non agricultural sector. Besides, the considerably high proportion of non working population in the age group 0-15 is also no less important in keeping the work participation low in the state.

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY

1. Give an account on the urban population of Assam.

Ans: According to 1991 census data, as high as 11% of the state’s population lives in the urban centres numbering 87. Just after independence in 1951, the proportion of urban population in Assam was only 4.03% as against India’s 17.30%. Assam is in fact, lagging far behind may of the states of the country in respect of urbanization. The root causes associated with this are the state’s extremely marginal location combined with very slow pace of transport and Industry development with a population of 5.84 lakhs Guwahati turns out to be the largest city in the state. With a high primacy it is gradually emerging as a city of metropolitan character in the entire North-East region. Guwahati city alone constitutes 23.5% of the state’s total urban population.

During the period 1971-91, the urban population growth in Assam has been 93% as compared to 53.26% for the entire population. Although there has been a high growth rate population. Although there has been a high growth rate of population in the already existed urban centres during 1971-91, the formation of 15 new laws during the period has been primarily responsible for considerably high urban population growth during 1971-91 in the state.

The study of occupational structure and characteristics of urban population also reflects the behaviour of different urban centres in the state. Due to lack of industrialisation most of the urban centres in the state that have emerged are based on administrative and trade and commerce functions.

2. Give an account on the population growth pattern of Assam.

Ans: The decadal variation of population, between 1901 and 1951 was around 20%. Even that was much higher then that in India. In fact between 1901 and 1951, Assam experienced an increase of 144% against the country’s 51%. Subsequently, during the period 1951 and 2001, while Assam saw a growth of 232% against the country’s growth of 184%.

The causes of high growth of population in Assam may be:

(a) Firstly reason may be attributed to immigration.

(b) Secondly, it may be noted that the health and hygiene condition has improved since independence following a check on epidemies like cholera, Kala Azar, small pox etc.

(d) Fourthly, the practice of holding marriage of the girls at their tender ages of 12-13 yrs among some group of people, leading to a greater number of children in their family.

(e) In some families, polygamy is very common.

(f) In some families parents are expecting boy child but giving birth of girl child. More girl childs are produced unexpectedly and the family size is increased.

There has been significant variation in the district wise growth of population in Assam during the last few censual decades. However, during 1991- 2001, the district of kamrup experienced highest rate of growth of 25.75% followed by N.C. Hills (23.47%), Dhubri (23.42%), Goalpara (23.07%) Karbi Anglong (22.57%), Nagaon (22.30%) and Karimganj (21.35%) In all these districts the growth rate has been higher than the national norm (21.34%). In the remaining 26 districts, the rate of growth of population during the period 1991-2001 was less than the national norm.

3. Discuss the density variation of population in Assam.

Ans: The plains have high density of population. As per the census of 2001, Nagaon is most densely populated district of Assam with a density 604 person per km² followed by Dhubri (584), Kamrup (579), Karimganj (555), Barpeta (506), Nalbari (504), Morigaon (455), Goalpara (451) and Darrang (432). Each of these nine districts has a density of more than that of the state’s norm (340) while the remaining 14 districts have lower density of population. It may be noted that each of the above districts, except karimganj has large immigrant population, while Karimganj has a large refuge population. Kamrup’s higher density is partly explained by the rapid growth of Guwahati, whose present population is at 1.5 million. The least densely populated districts are Dhemaji (176), Karbi Anglong (78), and N.C. Hills (38). Dhemaji is the only plain district where density is relatively low. The two hill districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar are sparsely populated because of their hilly topography with limited cultivable land and underdeveloped transportation and communication system.

4. Discuss the pattern of Social Composition of the people of Assam.

Ans: While discussing ‘people of Assam’, it is noticed that migrants from different ethnolinguistic, social, cultural, economic and geographical backgrounds came to build up the present population of the state. In course of time, therefore, many of their racial, social and cultural traits have merged with one another, while some remain still identifiable. Besides, on reaching north-east India different migrant groups may have lived under different ecological conditions for long. As such the socio-cultural traits of different groups of people are found to be somewhat different. Ethno Linguistically the people of Assam may be divided into Austro-Asiatic Tibeto-Chinese and Indo-Aryan groups. The Khasi and Jaintia people living in the Meghalaya foothills in Kamrup, Morigaon, Hamren sub-division (K.A.), and N.C. Hills belong to the Austro-Asiatic group. The Tibeto Chinese group of people can be divided into the Tibeto-Burman language speaking and Sino-Siamese language speaking groups. The Tibeto-Burman speaking people in Assam include almost all the tribal groups of the state like the Bodo. Mishing, Karbi, Tiwa, Dimasa, Rabha etc. The people of the Sino-Siamese group includes the Ahom, Khamti, Khamyang, Aiton, Turung and Phake. Of these six groups the Ahom’s mother tongue is Assamese, while other five small groups speak their own Tai dialects, although they can speak also Assamese.

The Indo-Aryan groups of people of the state are found to be divided into four linguistic groups. They are Assamese speaking non-tribal people, Bengali speaking people, Hindustani speaking people and Nepali speaking people.

A part from ethnolinguistic division, there are many other religious, social, cultural and economic criteria on the basis of which the people are divided in India. The constitution of India, in order to bring all the citizens of the country into a homogeneous socio-economic level, has listed the backward communities of the country under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The scheduled castes are traditionally so called ‘low casts’ in the Hindu social hierarchy. The scheduled Tribes are those people who have their own traditional language and who traditionally have been living in economically less productive areas and eke out their living in more archaic manner.

There are altogether 17 scheduled castes in Assam. Some of them are Assamese speaking, some Bengali speaking and some Hindustani speaking. The highest proportion of the scheduled castes can be found in cachar 15.24% followed by karimganj (12.99%), Morigaon (12.91%) Hailakandi (10.91%), Bongaigaon (10.27%) and Nagaon (9.29%)

5. Give an account on the urbanization in Assam.

Ans: Urbanization: From the view point of urbanization, Assam is one of the backward states of India. Because of lack of industrial and commercial activities and because of underdeveloped transport and communication, the state has remained less urbanized. In fact, only nine towns emerged in the later part of the nineteenth century. These are Dhubri. Goalpara, Barpeta, Guwahati, Tezpur, Nagaon, Sibsagar. Dibrugarh and Silchar. With the turn of the century new towns like Jorhat, Nazira, Tinsukia, Digbei, Lakhimpur, Golaghat, etc came up. In 1901 urban population in the state accounted for 2.34 percent of the total population It rose to 7.21 percent in 1961 and further to 12.72 percent in 2001. In 1991 Assam had 85 towns (93 including 8 census towns attached to some neighboring old towns). In 2001 the number fose to 109 (125 including census towns). Out of these 80 are statutory (notified by state government) towns and 45 are outgrowths and census (as per census criteria) towns

Generally a town grows up initially on the basis of one or two social, cultural and/or economic functions. But as a town grows, some other functions also come to contribute towards its growth. A large number of towns of Assam have grown up on the basis of administrative activities. coupled subsequently with commercial, transport and educational ones. Guwahati, Dhubri, Silchar, Nagaon, Sibsagar, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Hailakandi, Diphu, etc are the examples of this category of towns. Second category of small towns grew up in the state on the basis of industries like tea, oil, plywood, paper, etc. Original tea towns of Assam include Doom Dooma, Chabua, Nazira, Dergaon, Biswanath Chariali, Dhekiajuli, Tangla etc. Towns based on the oil industry are Digboi, Duliajan, Numaligarh, Noonmati and Dhaligaon. While Margherita grew up on the basis of plywood industry, Jagiroad has grown up on paper and pulp industry. Sualkuchi has grown up on silk-weaving industry. Tinsukia, Mariani, Lumding Badarpur, Rangia, Bongaigaon and Golokgani are transport (railway) towns Sorbhog, Pathsala, Tihu, Kharupetia, Mairabari, Daboka, ste grew up as commercial centers of the local agricultural products. Assam also has two centres of pilgrimage that have grown up into towns. They are Kamakhya and Hajo.

Most of the towns of Assam are small based, as mentioned above, on tertiary sector of activities such as commerce, service etc. In fact, out of 109 towns of the state, only six belong to class I having a population of 1 lakh or more in each. Guwahati is the largest town not only of the state but also of whole of north-east India. It has a population of 814,575 (2001) followed by Silchar (184,285), Dibrugarh (137,879), Jorhat (135,091), Nagaon (123,054) and Tinsukia (108, 102). There are 8 towns belonging to class II, with a population of 50,000-99, 999 in each, 22 belonging to class III (20000-49999), 31 belonging to class IV (10,000-19,999), 40 to class V (5000-9,999) and 4 to class VI (less than 5000 persons in each). The class II towns are Tezpur, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, Sibsagar, North Lakhimpur, Karimganj, Diphu and Lumding. All of these, except Lumding are primarily administrative centres (district headquarters) and then commercial and transport centres. Lumding is an important railway junction and commercial centre.

AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY OF ASSAM

1. Describe one of the causes of poor agricultural system in Assam.

Ans: It has been realised by all concerned that there is no alternative of mechanisation for agricultural growth at this moment. No field can be properly irrigated unless water is raised by electrically driven pumps or diesel generators. No pesticides can be applied properly to the plants excepts by means of manually or mechanically operated sprayers. Soil moisture cannot be conserved unless the soil is ploughed deep with iron- made soil scratchers.

Thus, it is now commonly agreed that a farmer has to make use of modern implement and machines of some form in order to boost his agricultural output.

Machines are superior and efficient as compared to manual labour and drought power. In Assam, the strong attachment of the farmers to the wooden plough, an ancient soil scratcher, prevents him from using other means of ploughing. The wooden plough, however can be improved upon to increase its efficiency without much difficulty and expense. Agriculture for further improvement, appliances which make it possible to reduce harvest losses and enable farmers to complete farm operation within a short span of time which may help them in intensifying the farming practice.

Thus, using of old traditional tools and implements is one of the major causes of poor agricultural system in Assam.

2. Write the role of rice cultivation on the agriculture of Assam.

Ans: The cropland of Assam is dominated by the cultivation of foodgrains, viz, rice, wheat, maize, gram and small millets. Among these, rice as the stable food crop continues to dominate the state’s agriculture.

Since the introduction of high yielding varieties of rice in the last part of 1960’s, the area under rice in the state noticeably increased.

Considering the growing and harvesting period, rice of Assam is categorized into three main groups – autumn rice (ahu), winter rice (sali) and summer rice (Boro). An important variety of winter rice locally known as Bao is cultivated in the low-lying areas where floods and waterlogged conditions make cultivation of other rice difficult.

It is interesting to note that among the three groups of rice a trend of taking over others idea has recently emerged which may be attributed to the growing awareness among the farmers to select the varieties best suited to a particular ecological set-up.

3. What are the geographical factors, which favours the tea cultivation in Assam.

Ans: Tea is more flourished in the upper Assam because the different conditions for growing of tea are mostly favourable in the upper part of Assam. The yield per hectare and quality mainly depend upon climate. soil, topography, plucking practice, etc. Besides, the cost of production is also influenced by some other factors labour, adaptation of moder techniques etc. It requires high amount of water which should not be standing. This part of Assam provides sloping hills with enough rain water for its growth. Large labour force is also available in this part of Assam.

4. Give an account on the fruit production in Assam.

Ans: Banana is an important fruit of Assam. It is grown as an orchard crop in the compound of almost every homestead in the plains of foothills. There are many varieties of banana in Assam. However, Assam is by far the most important producer of it. Although almost all the plains district of the state produce banana, Goalpara and Kamrup districts are leading producers of good varieties of Banana. The area west of Chhaygaon in the south bank of kamrup district upto Agia of Goalpara district and the adjoining Garo foothills is traditionally famous for a variety of banana called ‘malbhog’ which is highly priced. In fact, Dhupdhara and Daranggiri are very important centre of banana collection and distribution. Every day scores of truckloads of banana move out from these two centre to different parts of Assam, northern West Bengal, eastern Bihar and Nepal. In 1990-91 Assam produced 444,000 tonnes of banana, and the whole of North-East India Produced 552,960 tonnes (including Assam).

5. Discuss about the characteristics and potentialities of the bamboo and cane crafts in Assam.

Ans: Bamboo and cane work is another important cottage industry of the whole of Assam. Household gadgets such as containers of various shapes and size, big and small round plate-like structures for drying grains, sieves, winnows, various fish catching devices, etc. are made of bamboo and cane at home for domestic use. Various agricultural implements are also made at home with bamboo and cane. Wicker hats (japis) are made of bamboo and the leaf of a variety of palm. Various sorts of bags for carrying domestic necessities are made of bamboo and cane, especially in the hills. Different items of furniture industry has also been declining in the face of competition from cheap plastic goods on the one hand, and growing scarcity of bamboo, cane and wood, on the other. The state government, through the agencies like Khadi Board, Small Industrial Development Corporation, District Rural Development Authority etc have been giving impetus to this industry and some artisans have, in recent years, engaged themselves in producing decorative items and furniture of bamboo, cane, wood and leaves.

5. Write a brief note on the condition, which favour the growth of petroleum industries in Assam.

Ans: Assam is rich in petroleum deposits. In fact, until the middle of the 1960, Assam was the only state in India producing some amount of oil. The presence of oil in the forests and fields of upper Assam was detected as back as in 1822. Subsequently on the advice of Mr. H.B. Medlicott, an oil well was mechanically drilled in 1867 near Nandang river between Margherita and Joypore by Mr. Goodenough oil could be struck there at a depth of only 37 metres. On further probe it was found that the quantity of oil there was not much and hence its exploitation or further drilling were not taken up. Meanwhile, Assam Railway and Trading Company started laying railway track between Margherita and Makum mainly to transport coal from the Ledo-Margherita region and it was in the course of their cleaning and digging works that the Company engineers detected many oil seepages in the Digboi area in 1889, The Company engineers then drilled a well at Barbeel in 1890 which produced about 900 litres (200 gallons) of oil every day. During the period 1890-1899 the A.R.T. Company drilled 14 oil wells and having found them productive, a new company under the name of Assam Oil Company was constituted in 1899. A refinery was set up at Namdang, near Margherita and the crude produced in the surrounding wells began to be refined. The A.O.C. was a small Company and had limited resource. It could drill only 80 wells in 20 years. The Burma Oil Company then took over the A.O.C. in 1920 as a subsidiary and the former set up a new large refinery at Digboi in 1921.

Up till 1920 the average annual production of petroleum was less than 20,000 tonnes annually. But after the take-over of the A.O.C. by the B.O.C. production started increasing. The B.O.C. explored oil in the Barak valley also during the first two decades of this century and found oil and natural gas in Masimpur-Badarpur area. In the Badarpur and Patharia fields as many as 80 oil wells were dug and from there wells as much as 250,000 tonnes of oil was extracted. After that the wells run dry in the early nineteen thirties. The Digboi oilfields, however, continued to produce and between 1934 and 1953, these produced on the average 600 million litres annually. They yield began to decrease after that and the A.O.C. had to explore the neighbouring areas for more source and between 1952 and 1956 oil was struck at Naharkatia, Moran and Hoogrijan.

The Oil India Limited constituted in 1958, subsequently developed and operated these fields. The oil bearing deposits of these fields belong to the Barail and Tipam sandstone beds and lie at a depth of 3000 metres. The crude yields paraffin wax, lubricating oil, bitumen and various other by-products. A part from the oil India Limited, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission reconstituted in 1959, also stared exploring for oil and natural gas from 1960 and many deposits of oil and natural gas were found. The areas where these two valuable resources were discovered during the three decades following 1950, are Tengakhat, Moran, Tarajan, Rudrasagar, Galeki, Lakwa, Longsai (Dikhoumukh), Amguri and Barhola. In almost all these areas oil and natural gas have been found in the Barail and Tipam beds. In Barhola, however, these are found to be trapped in the gaps between the blocks of granitic gneiss at a depth beyond 3500 m. Among all the oil fields of Assam, the Galeki fields is found to be the largest.

Being encouraged by the success in exploitation in Upper Assam, the O.N.GC. and the Oil India Limited searched for oil in other parts of Assam and North-East India. The geological investigations have from Upper Assam through Barak Valley. Tripura and Chittagong Hills to further south, there occurs the Assam-Arakan Basin bearing immense hydro- carbon potential. The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in 1988 struck oil at Masimpur (at a depth of 1318 metres), Panchagram and Badarpur of Barak Valley. Although commercial exploitation has not been started here, it is hoped that these will turn out to be commercially viable fields.

In 1985-86, Assam produced 4.97 million tonnes of crude oil. In that year Assam’s production accounted for 16 p.c. of the national total production of 30.16 million tonnes.

6. Give an account on the oil refineries of Assam.

Ans: Oil is known as the ‘liquid gold of Assam. It existence in upper Assam was recorded as far back as 1825. Oil and petroleum fields in Assam are concentrated in several places of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sibsagar and Jorhat districts.

The first oil-refinery was set up at Digboi in 1901 by the Assam Railway and trading company. During 1952-54 new oil fields were discovered at Naharkatia, Hugrijan and Moran near the Digboi fields. To process the newly found crude oil, the second refinery in Assam was set up în 1962 at Noonmati (Guwahati) in the public sector, which was stands with the assistance of the Government of Romania. Subsequently several oil companies were formed.

The third refinery and petrochemical complex was set up at Bongaigaon in 1979. The fourth one is also being constructed at Numaligarh of Golaghat district with a capacity of 3 million tonnes.

7. Give an account on the Tea Industry of Assam.

8. Give a note on how the agricultural development in Assam could be made faster.

Ans: Agriculture in Assam is mostly seasonal because Assam is the state where the farmers still depends upon the erratic monsoons for water to carry on their agricultural activities. Also, the farmers of the state give special emphasis on the cultivation of rice, the most dominant crop in the state in terms of both percentage and productivity.It is disheartening to note that the gross irrigated area in Assam constitutes only 15.06 of the state’s gross cropped area. It is worth mentioning that about 3.5-4.0 lakh hectare of land in the state are annually affected by flood and the standing kharif crops (rice) are usually damaged by floods Under such circumstances the only alternative left for the farmers of the flood-prone areas is to take up rabi cropping in order to compensate the loss caused by flood during the summer. Extensive rabi cropping, however not economically viable because of the inadequate supply of irrigation.

Agricultural development in Assam could be made faster by adopting modern irrigation agricultural technique with high yield variety of plants, vegetables and crops.

9. Give the reasons why setting up of heavy industries in Assam is difficult.

Ans: Setting up of heavy industry in Assam is difficult due to:

(a) Assam is located at the north-east corner of India with a narrow corridor.

(b) Assam has poor development of transportation and communication.

10. Give reasons why Assam as a whole suitable for rice cultivation.

Ans: Rice is the most important food crop of Assam. It is grown both in the plains and in the hills. It is often said that the North-Eastern region along with southern China and South East Asia, is the original homeland of rice. That rice is intimately connected with the life of the people of the region is obvious from the fact that it not only forms the staple food for them but also many of their rituals and festivals are associated with sowing and harvesting of the crop. The Bihu festivals of Assam are closely associated with rice cultivation and harvesting.

Depending on the season of cultivation, the rice grown in Assam can be divided into three varieties : Aman or Sali, Aus or Ahu and Bao. The Aman rice is transplanted in summer from late May to September in wet fields and harvested in the period from late November to early January Of the three varieties, this is the most important from the view point of area cropped and output. Aus or Ahu rice is broadcast in the months of March and April in dry fields and harvested in summer.

This variety is grown either in very low lying areas where Aman rice cannot be grown due to the presence of standing water in summer, or on the comparatively high land where enough water does not accumulate even in summer for Aman rice. The Bao rice is essentially a variety of long stemmed rice that can withstand a long period of deep and stagnant water. Its seeds are broadcast in spring when the ground remains dry and is harvested in winter when the water that accumulates over the ground in summer has dried up. Besides these three varieties, another variety, known as “Boro’ is grown in the low lying area of Assam. It is transplanted in the months of December and January in the low lying areas where water level goes down to a few centimetres by this season. It is a quick-growing variety and can be harvested in April and May before the water level rises.

Climatically and pedologically, the river valleys of Assam are suitable for production of rice. It, being the most important staple, is grown not only on the plains but also on the hills. In face, rice occupies more than two- thirds of the total land under cultivation in Assam. Of the four varieties of rice grown in the plains of the state, the Ahu or Aus or Autumn rice is broadcast in spring, while all the other three varieties., viz. Sali or Aman, Boro and Bao are transplanted. Over the hills, however, varieties of upland rice is grown. Some of these, like Ahu in the plains, are broadcast in the jhum-fields, while others are grown on the terraced hill slopes or at the narrow valley bottoms under wet conditions.

11. Write the geographical and economic conditions necessary for Jute Cultivation in Assam.

Ans: Assam now produces about 1/8 of the total jute production of the country. In 1990-2000 the state produced 657000 bales of jute over 90000 hectares of land. The latter constituted 3.02% of the total land under agriculture in the state. In 2000-01 Assam produced 6,68,000 bales of jute on 70000 hectares of land. The yield per hectares was 1730 kg.

Assam: Trend of Jute production

Year	Area(in’ 000 ha)	Production (in’ 000 bales 1 bale = 180kg)	Yield(kg/h)
1960-61 1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 2000-2001 2003-2004	125.7 128.0 112.3 95.5 70.0 64.0	885.1 928.0 912.0 865.9 668.0 665.0	– – 1304 1463 1682 1730 – –

Since jute is essentially a cash crop, its cultivation is sensitive to the demand and supply in the market. Therefore, its production varies from year to year following its demand in the national and international market. Of late, the demand of raw jute has come down because of the production of synthetic fibre for making bags, carpets, ropes etc. It is found that in 1985-86 the production rose to 1178200 bales over 129600 hectares. In 1990-91 the production of jute decreased to 367400 bales over 101600 hectares because of fall in demand in the market.

Assam is the most important producer of jute in North East India. About 81% of the total area devoted to jute in the region is in Assam. This crop contributes largely to the economy of the state along with tea, oil and timber. Assam received more attention as a jute growing state after partition. This state is now second most important jute grower in the country after West Bengal. Assam devotes 80,000 hectares to 1,00,000 hectares of land and produced about 8,00,000 bales to 9,00,000 bales of raw jute Dhubri, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup, Darang, Marigaon, and Nagaon are the districts where it is grown in large quantities. Besides these districts, each of Sontipur, Lakhimpur and Karbi Anglong also produces some quantities of it. In case of all these districts, the crop grown in the low lying flood-plains near the river Brahmaputra and its large tributaries by immigrant settlers of earthwhile East Bengal. In the Barak Valley jute is grown, to some extent, in all the three districts on the flood plains of the Barak river.

In recent years efforts have been made to improve the quality and to augment the production of jute in Assam. For this purpose, the following Development Blocks have been included under the ‘Special Jute Development Progress Programme.’

(i) Gauripur, Bilasipara and South Salmara in Dhubri district.

(ii) Gossaigaon in Kokrajhar district.

(iii) Manikpur in Bongaigaon district.

(iv) Rupasi and Gobardhan in Barpeta district.

(v) Barkhetri in Nalbari district.

(vi) Hajo in Kamrup district.

(vii) Dalgaon, Sialmari, Majbat and Kharupetia in Darrang district.

(viii) Juria, Lawkhowa and Batadraba in Nagaon district.

(ix) Bhurbandha in Morigaon district.

Very recently two new varieties of jute have been developed.

12. Write a note on the development of Numaligarh Refinery.

Ans: Numaligarh Refinery: The fourth refinery in the state was set up at Numaligarh in Golaghat district in 1993 with a refining capacity of 2 million tonnes of output per annum. Crude oil for refining is brought from the oil fields of both OII, and ONGC in Upper Assam. This is a high-tech refinery and has various processing units like crude distillation unit, vacuum distillation unit, coke calcination unit, delayed coker unit, hydrogen unit, hydrogen cracker unit, catalytic cracking unit, sulfur recovery unit, kerosene distillation unit and a captive power plant. The refinery, furthermore, produces. LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas), high speed diesel, aviation turbo-fuel, naphtha and calcined coke. This Refinery is also known as ‘Accord Refinery’, as it came as a result of the Assam Accord of 1985.

13. Write briefly the historical development of Noonmati Refinery.

Ans: Noonmati Refinery: After the discovery of Naharkatia and Moran oil fields in 1951, the output of Petroleum in Assam increased manifolds. So the then Central Government decided to set up two new refineries – one at Barauni in Bihar and the other one near Guwahati in Assam. The refinery near Guwahati was set up at Noonmati with a refining capacity of 7.5 lakh metric tonnes of output with Rumanian technological collaboration. It started commercial production in January, 1962. At present its capacity has been increased to 1 million metric tonnes. The crude for this refinery is brought through pipe line from the oil fields located 440 km away. The refinery produces petrol, diesel and kerosene. The important by-products are furnace oil, coke, wax, lubricant, etc. This refinery has also been modernised, as a result of which its production capacity has become 1.5 million metric tonne. Besides it can produced lead free petrol, crude wax, coke and paraffin. The liquified petroleum gas (LPG) produced in this refinery is used for domestic purpose.

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION OF ASSAM

1. What are the main problems of rail transport in Assam?

Ans: It is the rail transport system of the state which is instrumental in channelizing the flow of commodities and people at inter-state level. Unfortunately, this system of transport has been operating with negative net earnings since a long period of time. However the negative trend is expected to get improved after the completion of various projects currently under progress. But still there is problem. The major railway tracks of the state were constructed before independence and were oriented basically towards the growth of oil and tea industries. The creation of link between other production and consumption centres was not properly looked into. However, the recent addition of feeder lines in the state is expected to fulfill these shortcomings.

Moreover, most of the crossings of railways lines are not maintained strictly due to which the number of accidents are more. Every year the death of wild elephants is mentionable.

2. What are the causes behind the under development of transportation system in Assam?

Ans: Causes behind the underdeveloped of transportation system in Assam are:

(a) Assam has about s th of its area under hills and plateaus.

(b) Assam is isolated in its location with respect to the rest of the country.

(c) As the region has very heavy rainfall for about six months of a year, the roads and railways suffer from surface and gully erosion.

(d) The region, especially its plains annually experiences devasting floods which often breach and damage roads and railways.

(e) The region has numerous turbulent rivers and hill streams which flow with fury during rainy season.

(f) A part from tea and oil industry there is practically no large industry in the region.

(g) The state government, which administer the region, is not financially well off to afford sufficient expenditure to construct and maintain well-knit transport system.

3. Give an account of the road transport in Assam.

Ans: The present layout of the road transport network of the state, more or less, has developed over the framework laid down by the colonial rulers during their regime. Ahom rules contributes a lot towards the development of road transport but except for a few of them these roads became useless to the British who were only concerned with the extraction of natural resources from this territory.

Consequently, with the annexation of Assam of the British rule through the treaty of Yandaboo in 1826, the erstwhile road transport structure of the state began to change slowly.

After independence, the Government of Independent India has been emphasizing more on the development of transport and communication facilities within the state in order to expand the British laid network so that the passengers and goods can be transported even from the interio areas. To improve the transport and communication in rural areas of state, more than thousand kms of roads have been constructed by the Government of Assam each year.

There is abnormal gap between the existing and expected length and efficiency of roads. In view of the fact that the density of roads per hundred sq.km of area and the road length per lakh of population in the state are lower than the national average. Greater emphasis is needed to expand the surfaced roads in the rural areas.

4. Give an account of the road transport in Assam.

Ans: Assam has many large and small rivers providing facilities for water transport, especially in its plain parts and in the flat river valleys of the large rivers in the hills. From the ancient period until the roads were constructed, the rivers of the Brahmaputra and Barak plains were commonly used as the medium of transport. When the Britishers came, they used the Brahmaputra and Barak-Surma rivers extensively for transport and trade between north-east India and the Kolkata port. With the growth of the tea industry, these rivers became important carriers of trade. The East India Company started the water route along the Brahmaputra from Kolkata to Dibrugarh in 1844 and steam ships were introduced by the Joint Steamer Company in 1847. It is about the same time that Silchar came to be linked with Kolkata along Barak-Surma- Meghna navigation channel.

However, with the partition of India in 1947, water transport received a serious blow as a foreign country was born between north-east India and the port of Kolkata. Efforts were made several times to revive the route, in consultation with East Pakistan and Subsequently Bangladesh government, but with little success.

It is estimated that the North-Eastern region has about 1800 km of river routes that can be used by steamers and large country boats. The inland water transport departments of both the state and central governments have been trying to improve the water transport system in the region. The river Brahmaputra now has several small river-ports like Dibrugarh, Disangmukh, Nemati, Biswanath, Silghat, Guwahati, Goalpara and Dhubri. Besides, there are more than 30 pairs of ferry ghats on the Brahmaputra, transporting men and materials between its two banks. The River Barak also has small ports at Karimganj, Badarpur and Silchar and ferry services at several places across it. At present the State Tourist Department has started Luxury cruises over the Brahmaputra as a commercial proposition.

Although Assam has many rivers, its inland water navigation has not much developed.

Mainly because of the following reasons:

(i) The rivers in the plains are often wide, shallow and braided and large boats carrying heavy loads of freight cannot ply.

(ii) After the great earthquake of 1950, the bed of the Brahmaputra has become shallow, and therefore, wide and braided, preventing large steamers from plying.

(iii) The partition of India has isolated the region complete so far river routes are concerned. The two large rivers viz. Brahmaputra and Barak now cannot be used upto the sea-ports, while within the region, the trucks over roads can easily complete with inland water navigation due mainly to the later’s quick service.

(iv) As the region is industrially backward, the quantity of goods to be transported is also less which can be handled by road and rail transport. This has also deterred the growth of inland water navigation.

However, if the region is industrialised and the services of the inland navigation are improved there is still hope for its growth and development.

Notes of AHSEC Class 12 Geography Unit 23 | English Medium Class 12 Geography Notes In this post we will explain to you Class 12 Geography Chapter 23 Question Answer | AHSEC Class 12 Geography Question Answer Unit 23 If you are a Student of English Medium then it will be very helpfull for you.

Note- If you find any mistakes in this CHAPTER, please let us know or correct them yourself. Thank you.

Class 12 Geography Unit 23 Assam Geography

Class 12 Geography Chapter 23 Assam Geography

Unit 23 Assam Geography

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Class 12 Geography Chapter 23 Assam Geography

Unit 23 Assam Geography

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