Unit III, Part C: Geography of Rajasthan

What the official syllabus says

RAS Mains Paper II, Unit III - Earth Science (Geography & Geology), Part C - Rajasthan

• Physiography.
• Important Rivers and Lakes.
• Climatic Characteristics and their classification.
• Natural Vegetation, Wildlife and Biodiversity.
• Soil resources.
• Agriculture - Major Crops: Production and Distribution.
• Minerals Resources - Types, distribution and industrial uses.
• Demographic Characteristics.
• Tribes.
• Concept of UNESCO Geo-parks and Geo-heritage sites: Potential in Rajasthan.
• Tourism.

Topics in detail

Location, extent and geology

• Location in north-western India; the largest state of India by area (about 3.42 lakh sq km); the international border with Pakistan; neighbouring states.
• The Tropic of Cancer passes through the south of the state (Banswara and Dungarpur area).
• Geological base: the Banded Gneissic Complex; the Aravalli and Delhi Supergroups (Aravalli range); the Vindhyan Supergroup of the south-east, separated by the Great Boundary Fault; the Malani Igneous Suite of western Rajasthan; the Marwar Supergroup; the sedimentary basins of western Rajasthan (Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner-Nagaur), with Jurassic rocks and Tertiary lignite, petroleum and gas.

Physiography

• Four major divisions: the western sandy plains (Thar desert, about three-fifths of the state), the Aravalli range, the eastern plains and the south-eastern plateau (Hadoti).
• The Thar desert: sand dunes (barchan, longitudinal, transverse and parabolic), playas and saline depressions (rann, tat); the Bagar region, the Shekhawati region, the Luni basin and the Ghaggar plain.
• The Aravallis: one of the oldest fold mountain systems in the world; Guru Shikhar (Mount Abu, Sirohi), the highest peak; passes and plateaus; the Aravallis as a barrier to desert spread and a water divide.
• The eastern plains: the Banas basin, the Chambal basin with its ravines (badlands), the Mahi basin and the Chappan plains of the south.
• The south-eastern plateau (Hadoti): Kota, Bundi, Baran and Jhalawar; Vindhyan scarps and Deccan lava.

Important rivers and lakes

• Drainage systems: rivers of the Bay of Bengal system (Chambal and its tributaries), the Arabian Sea system (Luni, Mahi, Sabarmati, West Banas) and inland drainage (Ghaggar, Kantli, Kakni and others).
• Chambal: rises in Madhya Pradesh; the Gandhi Sagar, Rana Pratap Sagar and Jawahar Sagar dams and the Kota barrage; tributaries (Banas, Kali Sindh, Parbati); the National Chambal Sanctuary.
• Banas: rises in the Khamnor hills near Kumbhalgarh and joins the Chambal; the Bisalpur dam and drinking water for Jaipur and Ajmer.
• Luni: rises near Ajmer, turns saline downstream of Balotra and ends in the Rann of Kachchh; the Jawai dam on its tributary.
• Mahi: rises in Madhya Pradesh, enters Rajasthan in Banswara, crosses the Tropic of Cancer twice and flows into the Gulf of Khambhat; the Mahi Bajaj Sagar dam.
• Ghaggar: the main river of inland drainage in the north; often identified with the ancient Saraswati.
• Canals: the Indira Gandhi Canal (from the Harike barrage), the Gang Canal, the Bhakra and Chambal canal systems.
• Saline lakes: Sambhar (India's largest inland saline lake and a Ramsar site), Didwana, Pachpadra, Lunkaransar; salt production.
• Freshwater lakes: Jaisamand (built by Maharana Jai Singh), Rajsamand (built by Maharana Raj Singh), Pichola and Fateh Sagar (Udaipur), Ana Sagar and Pushkar (Ajmer), Nakki (Mount Abu), Siliserh (Alwar), Gadisar (Jaisalmer).
• Traditional water harvesting: johad, kund or tanka, baori (stepwell), khadin, nadi.

Climatic characteristics and classification

• Features: extremes of temperature, low and variable rainfall, high evaporation; hot summer winds (loo) and dust storms; winter rain from western disturbances (mavath).
• Rainfall: mostly from the south-west monsoon; decreases from south-east to north-west; Mount Abu the wettest place, Jaisalmer district among the driest; the 50 cm rainfall line roughly following the Aravallis.
• Seasons: summer, rainy season, retreating monsoon, winter.
• Climatic regions by rainfall: arid, semi-arid, sub-humid, humid and very humid regions.
• Koppen classification for Rajasthan: BWhw (hot desert, west), BShw (semi-arid steppe), Cwg (sub-humid, east) and Aw (tropical, south).
• Agro-climatic zones of Rajasthan (ten zones) and their use in agricultural planning.
• Droughts and famines; desertification and its control.

Natural vegetation, wildlife and biodiversity

• Forest types: tropical dry deciduous, tropical thorn forests, sub-tropical hill forests of Mount Abu; dhok, teak, salar, bamboo, khair; desert grasses (sevan, dhaman).
• State symbols: khejri (state tree), rohida (state flower), great Indian bustard or godawan (state bird), chinkara (state animal) and the camel (state animal among livestock).
• Protected areas: Ranthambore (one of the first Project Tiger reserves, 1973), Sariska, Mukundra Hills and other tiger reserves; Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur, a World Heritage Site and Ramsar site); the Desert National Park; sanctuaries such as Tal Chhapar (blackbuck), Kumbhalgarh, Mount Abu and the National Chambal Sanctuary.
• Threatened species: great Indian bustard (critically endangered), caracal, gharial, Indian wolf; conservation efforts.
• Community conservation: the Bishnoi tradition and the Khejarli sacrifice led by Amrita Devi (1730); orans (sacred groves); Khichan and its demoiselle cranes.
• Threats to biodiversity: mining, overgrazing, invasive Prosopis juliflora (vilayati babool), desertification, power lines.

Soil resources

• Soil types: desert (sandy) soils of the west, red and yellow soils, red loamy soils of the south, black soils of Hadoti, alluvial soils of the east (Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur), grey-brown soils and saline-alkaline soils.
• Soil orders in Rajasthan (Aridisols, Entisols, Inceptisols, Alfisols, Vertisols) in outline.
• Soil erosion (wind erosion in the west, gully erosion in the Chambal ravines), waterlogging and salinity in canal areas.
• Soil conservation: shelterbelts, sand-dune stabilisation, contour bunding, gypsum for alkaline soils, soil health cards.

Agriculture: major crops, production and distribution

• Features: dependence on the monsoon, rain-fed farming, irrigation by wells and tube wells and by canals.
• Kharif crops: bajra (west and north), jowar, maize (south: Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh), moth, moong, guar, groundnut, soybean (Hadoti), cotton (Ganganagar and Hanumangarh).
• Rabi crops: wheat (Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and the east), barley, gram, mustard and rapeseed (Bharatpur, Alwar and the east).
• Spices and cash crops: cumin, coriander (Hadoti, with the Ramganj Mandi market), fenugreek, isabgol, henna (Sojat), opium under licence.
• Horticulture: kinnow (Ganganagar), orange (Jhalawar), pomegranate, ber, dates.
• Rajasthan's place among states in bajra, mustard, guar and other crops; problems of low productivity and water scarcity.

Mineral resources: types, distribution and industrial uses

• Metallic minerals: lead and zinc (Zawar in Udaipur, Rampura Agucha in Bhilwara, Rajpura-Dariba in Rajsamand), copper (Khetri in Jhunjhunu, Kho-Dariba in Alwar), tungsten (Degana in Nagaur), iron ore (Morija in Jaipur).
• Non-metallic minerals: rock phosphate (Jhamarkotra in Udaipur), gypsum (Bikaner, Nagaur, Barmer), limestone for cement (Chittorgarh and others), wollastonite, mica (Bhilwara), feldspar, soapstone.
• Building stones: marble (Makrana, Rajsamand; the Kishangarh market), sandstone (Dholpur, Karauli, Jodhpur), granite (Jalore).
• Energy minerals: lignite (Palana in Bikaner, Giral and Kapurdi in Barmer), petroleum and natural gas (the Barmer basin with the Mangala field, the Jaisalmer gas fields), the HPCL Rajasthan Refinery at Pachpadra.
• Industrial uses: zinc smelting, cement, fertilisers, ceramics and glass, construction, power generation.
• Mining issues: illegal mining, silicosis among mine workers, environmental damage in the Aravallis.

Demographic characteristics

• Census 2011: population of about 6.85 crore (about 5.7 per cent of India), decadal growth of 21.3 per cent (2001 to 2011).
• Density of 200 persons per sq km; dense eastern districts and sparse western desert districts.
• Sex ratio of 928 and child sex ratio of 888; causes of the gap.
• Literacy of 66.1 per cent, with a wide gap between male (79.2) and female (52.1) literacy.
• Urban population about a quarter of the total; major cities; urbanisation trends.
• Scheduled Castes (17.8 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (13.5 per cent) of the population; migration from the state.

Tribes

• Major tribes: Meena (the largest), Bhil (Banswara, Dungarpur, Udaipur), Garasia (Sirohi, Udaipur), Damor (Dungarpur), Kathodi (Udaipur) and Saharia (Baran, the state's particularly vulnerable tribal group).
• Distribution: the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan; Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule.
• Ways of life: settlement patterns (pal, phala), shifting cultivation (walra) in the past, forest dependence.
• Culture: dances such as Gavri (Bhil) and Valar (Garasia); the Baneshwar fair at the confluence of the Som and Mahi.
• Problems: poverty, land alienation, malnutrition, migration; tribal development programmes.

UNESCO Geoparks and geo-heritage: potential in Rajasthan

• Concepts: UNESCO Global Geoparks (single unified areas of international geological significance managed for protection, education and sustainable development); geo-heritage sites and geo-relics; National Geological Monuments declared by the Geological Survey of India; geotourism.
• Geo-heritage of Rajasthan: the Akal Wood Fossil Park (Jaisalmer), stromatolite parks at Jhamarkotra (Udaipur) and Bhojunda (Chittorgarh), the Great Boundary Fault at Satur (Bundi), the Barr conglomerate and Sendra granite (Pali), the nepheline syenite of Kishangarh (Ajmer) and the contact of the Jodhpur Group and Malani Igneous Suite at Jodhpur.
• Other sites of geological interest: the Ramgarh crater (Baran), Jurassic fossils of the Jaisalmer basin, the Aravalli rocks.
• Potential: scope for a UNESCO Global Geopark in Rajasthan; benefits for science education, local livelihoods and tourism; need for legal protection of sites.

Tourism

• World Heritage Sites: Keoladeo National Park, Jantar Mantar (Jaipur), the Hill Forts of Rajasthan (Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambore, Gagron, Amber and Jaisalmer) and the walled city of Jaipur.
• Types of tourism: heritage (forts, palaces, havelis, heritage hotels), religious (Ajmer Sharif, Pushkar, Nathdwara, Dilwara and Ranakpur temples), desert and adventure, wildlife, rural and eco-tourism.
• Tourist circuits: the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur), the desert circuit (Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner), the Mewar and Hadoti regions.
• Fairs and festivals that draw tourists: Pushkar fair, the Desert Festival (Jaisalmer), the Camel Festival (Bikaner), Teej and Gangaur.
• Palace on Wheels and other luxury and heritage trains.
• Tourism's contribution to employment and handicrafts; problems (seasonality, infrastructure, carrying capacity) and sustainable tourism.

Overlaps

The Prelims Geography of Rajasthan section has nearly the same list: see RAS Prelims. Agriculture, irrigation, petroleum and minerals are studied from the economic side in Paper I, Unit II, Part C (Economy of Rajasthan), and tribes, heritage and fairs from the cultural side in Paper I, Unit I, Part A. Tourism is also an essay theme in Paper IV.