Natural Resources of UP: Soil, Water, Air, Forests, Grasslands and Wetlands

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies VI.

Natural Resources of UP: Soil, Water, Air, Forests, Grasslands, Wetlands.

Topics in detail

The official line names six resources. For each, learn the types and distribution in UP, the problems of degradation and the steps to conserve it.

Soil

• Alluvial soils of the Ganga plain: khadar (new) and bhangar (old) soils
• Bhabar and Terai soils of the north
• Bundelkhand soils: the local types mar and kabar (black soils) and parwa and rakar (lighter and stony soils)
• Red and mixed red-black soils of the Vindhyan region
• Usar (sodic or saline-alkaline) land and the reh salt crust; their reclamation with gypsum and drainage
• Ravines along the Yamuna, Chambal and their tributaries (Agra, Etawah, Auraiya, Jalaun) and their reclamation
• Soil erosion, loss of organic matter, nutrient imbalance; soil health cards

Water

• Surface water: the Ganga, Yamuna, Ghaghara and other rivers, canals, lakes and ponds
• Groundwater: rich aquifers of the alluvial plain and poor aquifers of the hard-rock south
• Over-exploited and critical blocks for groundwater, mainly in western UP
• Water scarcity in Bundelkhand; floods and waterlogging in the east
• Conservation: rainwater harvesting, check dams, revival of ponds (Amrit Sarovar), the Atal Bhujal Yojana in parts of UP
• Water governance: the state's groundwater management law and authority, water user associations

Air

• Air as a resource: clean air and its value to health and farming
• Air quality in UP's cities and the sources of pollution
• Measures to protect air quality

Forests

• Forest and tree cover of UP and its regional spread
• Forest types: tropical moist deciduous, tropical dry deciduous, thorn
• Forest products: timber, fuelwood, fodder, tendu leaves, medicinal plants
• Threats: encroachment, illegal felling, fires, grazing

Grasslands

• Terai grasslands of Dudhwa and Pilibhit and the species that depend on them (swamp deer, Bengal florican, hispid hare)
• Grazing lands and pastures of the villages (gochar land) and their encroachment
• Fodder resources and the Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute at Jhansi
• Grassland management: controlled burning, removal of invasive weeds

Wetlands

• Types: lakes (tal and jheel), ox-bow lakes, marshes, river flood plains, reservoirs, village ponds
• Important wetlands: the Ramsar sites of UP, Bakhira Tal, Ramgarh Tal
• Values: water storage, groundwater recharge, flood control, fisheries, birds
• Threats: draining for farming, encroachment, pollution, invasive plants
• Conservation: the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, the state wetland authority, Amrit Dharohar

Overlaps

Soils, rivers and vegetation are also on the two geography pages (location, relief and climate; drainage, irrigation, minerals and vegetation); air and water pollution on Pollution and the Pollution Control Board.