Exam-useful questions from this chapter, grouped by marks, each with a full model answer. Try writing the answer yourself first, then check it against this one.
1 1-Mark Questions
Q. Define environmental pollution.
Answer: Environmental pollution results from the release of substances and energy from waste products of human activities.
Q. What are the four types of pollution named in the chapter?
Answer: On the basis of the medium through which pollutants are transported and diffused, pollution is classified into four types: water pollution, air pollution, land pollution and noise pollution.
Q. Which industries are the most water-polluting in India, according to the chapter?
Answer: The major water-polluting industries are leather, pulp and paper, textiles and chemicals.
Q. In what unit is the level of steady noise measured?
Answer: The level of steady noise is measured by sound level, expressed in terms of decibels (dB).
Q. Who launched the ‘Namami Gange Programme’?
Answer: The Union Government launched the ‘Namami Gange Programme’ to clean the river Ganga.
Q. What is meant by land degradation?
Answer: Land degradation means a temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land.
Q. In which state is Jhabua district located, and which tribal community is concentrated there?
Answer: Jhabua district is located in Madhya Pradesh, and it has a high concentration of the Bhil tribal population.
Q. What is the aim of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), according to the chapter?
Answer: The Swachh Bharat Mission is part of the urban renewal mission launched by the Government of India to improve the quality of life in urban slums.
Q. Name any two polluted stretches of the river Ganga, as given in Table 9.2.
Answer: According to Table 9.2, the polluted stretches of the Ganga include the downstream of Kanpur and the downstream of Varanasi (as well as the Farakka Barrage).
2 2-Mark Questions
Q. Distinguish between the natural and human sources of water pollution.
Answer: Water pollutants are also created from natural sources such as erosion, landslides, and decay and decomposition of plants and animals. However, human beings pollute water through industrial, agricultural and cultural activities, and pollutants from human activities are the real cause for concern; among human activities, industry is the most significant contributor.
Q. What is the difference between the main causes of pollution of the Ganga and the Yamuna, according to Table 9.2?
Answer: The Ganga is polluted mainly by industrial pollution and domestic waste from cities like Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Patna and Kolkata, and by the dumping of carcasses in the river. The Yamuna is polluted mainly by the extraction of water by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for irrigation, agricultural run-off carrying micro-pollutants, and domestic and industrial waste from Delhi flowing into the river.
Q. How is acid rain linked to air pollution, and what evidence does the chapter give for it?
Answer: Air pollution can also cause acid rain. The chapter’s evidence is that rainwater analysis of the urban environment has indicated that the pH value of the first rain after summer is always lower than the subsequent rains.
Q. Why is noise pollution described as ‘location specific’? Explain with an example from the chapter.
Answer: Noise pollution is location specific because its intensity declines with increase in distance from the source of pollution, such as an industrial area, transportation artery or airport. For example, in sea traffic, noise pollution is confined mainly to the harbour, due to loading and unloading activities.
Q. From which two sources is solid waste disposed of, according to the chapter, and where does each end up?
Answer: Solid waste is disposed of from two sources: (i) household or domestic establishments, whose waste is disposed of on public lands or on private contractors’ sites, and (ii) industrial or commercial establishments, whose waste is collected and disposed of through municipal facilities at low-lying public grounds (landfill areas).
Q. Name any three factors of rural-urban migration mentioned in the chapter.
Answer: Rural-urban migration is caused by factors like high demand for labour in urban areas, low job opportunities in rural areas, and an unbalanced pattern of development between urban and rural areas.
Q. What are the three reasons for urban population growth given in the chapter?
Answer: Urban population grows as a result of (1) natural increase, when the birth rate exceeds the death rate, (2) net in-migration, when more people move in than out, and (3) reclassification of urban areas, which brings formerly rural settlements into the urban count.
Q. What does the chapter say about the concept of ‘Urban or Urban Centre’?
Answer: The concept of ‘Urban or Urban Centre’ is defined in settlement geography to differentiate it from the ‘Rural’, and the chapter notes that this concept is defined differently in different countries.
Q. Which basic amenities does the chapter say are lacking in slums?
Answer: Slums lack basic amenities like drinking water, light and toilet facilities; open defecation, an unregulated drainage system and overcrowded narrow street patterns cause serious health and socio-environmental hazards.
Q. What social problems does poverty push slum-dwellers towards, according to the chapter?
Answer: Poverty makes slum-dwellers vulnerable to drug abuse, alcoholism, crime, vandalism, escapism, apathy and ultimately social exclusion.
Q. On what basis has the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) classified wastelands? Name two categories.
Answer: The NRSC has classified wastelands, delimited using remote sensing techniques, according to the processes that created them: natural and human-made. Examples include gullied/ravinous land and desertic or coastal sands (natural agents) and degraded pastures and mining/industrial wastelands (human activities).
Q. What two technical interventions solved Daurala’s drinking-water problem, according to the chapter?
Answer: The overhead water tank’s capacity in the village was enhanced, and a 900m extra pipeline was laid to supply potable water to the community. In addition, the silted village pond was desilted and recharged, and rainwater harvesting structures were built to help dilute groundwater contaminants.
Q. How does the use of fertilisers increase water pollution?
Answer: Various chemicals used in modern agriculture, such as inorganic fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, are washed down into rivers, lakes and tanks and also infiltrate the soil to reach the groundwater. Fertiliser use induces an increase in the nitrate content of surface waters.
3 4-Mark Questions
Q. Describe the major sources of water pollution in India and the health problems it causes.
Answer: The major sources of water pollution are sewage disposal, urban run-off, toxic effluents from industries, run-off from agricultural land, and discharge from nuclear power plants. The use of fertilisers increases the nitrate content of surface water, and cultural activities such as pilgrimages, religious fairs and tourism also cause water pollution. On health, the World Health Organization shows that about one-fourth of the communicable diseases in India are water-borne; diseases commonly caused by contaminated water include diarrhoea, intestinal worms and hepatitis.
Q. List all the objectives of the ‘Namami Gange Programme’ mentioned in the chapter.
Answer: The objectives of the Namami Gange Programme are: (1) developing sewerage treatment systems in towns, (2) monitoring of industrial effluents, (3) development of the river front, (4) afforestation along the bank to increase biodiversity, (5) cleaning of the river surface, (6) development of ‘Ganga Grams’ in Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, and (7) creating public awareness to avoid adding pollutants into the river, even in the form of rituals.
Q. Compare the major sources of air pollution and noise pollution and their effects on human health.
Answer: Air pollution’s main sources are combustion of fossil fuels, mining and industries, which release oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead and asbestos; it causes diseases related to the respiratory, nervous and circulatory systems, and can also cause urban smog and acid rain. Noise pollution’s main sources are various factories, mechanised construction and demolition works, automobiles and aircraft, with traffic noise being the biggest nuisance; it is measured in decibels and is location specific, its intensity declining with distance from the source.
Q. Describe the major problems associated with urban waste disposal in India.
Answer: Urban areas are marked by overcrowding, congestion and facilities inadequate for the fast-growing population, leading to poor sanitary conditions. In metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru, about 90 per cent of solid waste is collected and disposed of, but in most other cities and towns, 30 to 50 per cent of the waste generated is left uncollected, accumulating on streets, in open spaces and in wastelands, and causing serious health hazards such as typhoid, diphtheria, diarrhoea and cholera. Untreated wastes ferment slowly and release toxic biogas, including methane, into the atmosphere.
Q. Describe the major problems of slums in India.
Answer: Slums are residential areas of the least choice, with dilapidated houses, poor hygienic conditions, poor ventilation, and a lack of basic amenities like drinking water, light and toilet facilities. Open defecation, an unregulated drainage system and overcrowded narrow streets are serious health and socio-environmental hazards. Most of the slum population works in low-paid, high-risk-prone jobs in the unorganised sector, remains undernourished and prone to disease, and cannot afford proper education for their children; poverty makes them vulnerable to drug abuse, alcoholism, crime and ultimately social exclusion.
Q. Describe the causes of land degradation and the types of wasteland it creates.
Answer: Pressure on agricultural land increases due to limited availability as well as deterioration of land quality. Soil erosion, waterlogging, salinisation and alkalinisation of land lead to land degradation, a temporary or permanent decline in the land’s productive capacity. Land degradation happens through two processes, natural and human-made. Natural-agent wastelands include gullied/ravinous land, desertic or coastal sands, barren rocky areas, steep sloping land and glacial areas; wastelands caused by both natural and human factors include waterlogged/marshy areas and land affected by salinity/alkalinity; human-made wastelands include degraded shifting-cultivation area, degraded land under plantation crops, degraded forests, degraded pastures, and mining and industrial wastelands.
4 6-Mark Questions
Q. Give a detailed account of the watershed management programme in Jhabua district, including the Petlawad example.
Answer: Jhabua district is located in the westernmost agro-climatic zone of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the five most backward districts of the country, characterised by a high concentration of tribal population, mostly Bhils. Poverty here has been accentuated by a high rate of degradation of both forest and land resources. Watershed management programmes, funded by both the Ministries of Rural Development and Agriculture, Government of India, have been successfully implemented in Jhabua, recognising the linkage between land, water and vegetation, and attempting to improve people’s livelihoods through natural resource management and community participation. In the past five years, the programme funded by the Ministry of Rural Development alone, implemented by the Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Management, has treated about 20 per cent of Jhabua district’s total area. The Petlawad block, located in the northernmost part of the district, is a successful example of government-NGO partnership and community participation: the Bhils of Sat Rundi hamlet, Karravat village, revitalised large parts of common property resources through their own efforts: each household planted and maintained one tree on the common property, planted fodder grass on pasture land, and adopted social-fencing for at least two years, with no open grazing but stall feeding of cattle instead. Before this management process began, a resident of a neighbouring village had encroached on the common land; the villagers called the tehsildar to ascertain the rights of the common land, and the ensuing conflict was resolved by making the encroacher a member of their user group and sharing with him the benefits of greening the common lands.
Q. Based on Ramesh’s case study, discuss the causes, process and social effects of rural-urban migration.
Answer: Rural-urban migration is caused by factors like high demand for labour in urban areas, low job opportunities in rural areas, and an unbalanced pattern of development between urban and rural areas. In Ramesh’s case, family poverty and debt forced him to discontinue his studies after the ninth standard; impressed by successful out-migrants from his village working in Ludhiana, he moved there with a friend and worked in a woollen factory for six months at Rs. 20 per day in 1988. He then moved to Surat, learnt welding, and now works as a contract welder with the same contractor in Talcher (the coal region of Odisha), moving between places like Surat, Mumbai, Gandhi Nagar, Bharuch and Jamnagar, and remitting Rs. 20,000 per year to his father, mainly spent on daily consumption, healthcare and children’s schooling. His family’s standard of living improved significantly, but Ramesh bears the pain of separation from his family because his job is temporary and transferable. The chapter’s ‘Comments’ box notes that because wages at the destination are very low, spouses are usually left behind in villages to look after children and the elderly, which is why the rural-urban migration stream is dominated by males, and poor, semi-illiterate and unskilled migrants like Ramesh frequently end up in menial, low-wage jobs in the informal sector.
5 Case Studies
(A) 1 mark Near which city is Daurala located?
Answer: Daurala is located near Meerut.
(B) 1 mark What is the population of Daurala?
Answer: Daurala’s population is 12,000.
(C) 2 marks What contaminated Daurala’s groundwater, and why?
Answer: Daurala’s groundwater was contaminated with heavy metals, because the untreated wastewater of Daurala industries was leaching into the groundwater table.
(A) 1 mark In which state’s coal region is Ramesh working as a welder?
Answer: Ramesh is working as a welder in Talcher, the coal region of Odisha.
(B) 1 mark How much money does Ramesh remit to his father each year?
Answer: Ramesh remits Rs. 20,000 per year to his father.
(C) 2 marks According to the passage, on what is Ramesh’s remitted money mainly spent?
Answer: The remittances are mainly used for daily consumption, healthcare and the schooling of children.