Geography Notes For UPSC: – Geography is an important topic for the main examination. Geography discipline is widely divided into physical geography and human geography. The concept of geography needs to be applied to questions related to Indian geography and world geography.
Geography is a study of life on the surface of the earth. Historically it consists of two main branches, human geography and physical geography. Human geography has three general focuses: characterizing and explaining the differences between places in the present and all the time.
UPSC प्रारंभिक और मुख्य परीक्षा के लिए भूगोल एक महत्वपूर्ण विषय है। भूगोल के अनुशासन को मोटे तौर पर भौतिक भूगोल और मानव भूगोल में विभाजित किया गया है। भूगोल की अवधारणाओं को भारतीय भूगोल के साथ-साथ विश्व भूगोल से संबंधित प्रश्नों पर लागू करने की आवश्यकता है।
भूगोल पृथ्वी की सतह पर जीवन का अध्ययन है। ऐतिहासिक रूप से इसकी दो मुख्य शाखाएँ, मानव भूगोल और भौतिक भूगोल शामिल हैं। मानव भूगोल में तीन सामान्य केंद्र होते हैं: वर्तमान और पूरे समय में स्थानों के बीच अंतर को चित्रित करना और समझाना।
UPSC Geography Mains Important Topics
Important topics for Physical Geography
1. Geomorphology:
Factors that control the development of land; Endogenetic and exogenetic strength; Origin and evolution of the earth’s crust; Fundamental geomagnetism; The physical condition of the earth’s interior; Geosynclines; Continental shift; Isstasy; Tectonic plates; The latest view of mountain buildings; Volcanisit; Earthquake and tsunami; The concept of geomorphic cycles and landscape development; Denudation chronology; Channel morphology; Erosion surface; Development of slopes; Applied Geomorphology: GeoHydrology, Economic Geology, and the Environment.
2.Climatology:
Temperature belt and world pressure; Geothermal budget; Atmospheric circulation; Stability and atmospheric instability. Planet and local wind; Monsoon and jet stream; Air and frontogenesis, medium and tropical climate cyclones; Rainfall type and distribution; Weather and climate; Koppen Koppen Classification, Thornthwaite and Trewartha; Hydrological cycle; Global climate change and human roles and response in climate change, chemical climate and urban climate.
3.Oceanography:
Bottom topography of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans; Temperature and salinity of the oceans; Heat and salt budgets, Ocean deposits; Waves, currents and tides; Marine resources: biotic, mineral and energy resources; Coral reefs, coral bleaching; sea-level changes; law of the sea and marine pollution.
4.Biogeography:
The genesis of soils; Classification and distribution of soils; Soil profile; Soil erosion, Degradation, and conservation; Factors influencing world distribution of plants and animals; Problems of deforestation and conservation measures; Social forestry; agroforestry; Wildlife; Major gene pool centers.
5.Environmental Geography:
Principle of ecology; Human ecological adaptations; Influence of man on ecology and environment; Global and regional ecological changes and imbalances; Ecosystem their management and conservation; Environmental degradation, management and conservation; Biodiversity and sustainable development; Environmental policy; Environmental hazards and remedial measures; Environmental education and legislation.
Important Topics in Human Geography
1. Perspectives in Human Geography:
Areal differentiation; regional synthesis; Dichotomy and dualism; Environmentalism; Quantitative revolution and locational analysis; radical, behavioral, human and welfare approaches; Languages, religions, and secularisation; Cultural regions of the world; Human development index.
2.Economic Geography:
World economic development: measurement and problems; World resources and their distribution; Energy crisis; the limits to growth; World agriculture: a typology of agricultural regions; agricultural inputs and productivity; Food and nutrition problems; Food security; famine: causes, effects and remedies; World industries: locational patterns and problems; patterns of world trade.
3.Population and Settlement Geography:
Growth and distribution of world population; demographic attributes; Causes and consequences of migration; concepts of the over-under-and optimum population; Population theories, world population problems and policies, Social well-being and quality of life; Population as social capital. Types and patterns of rural settlements; Environmental issues in rural settlements; Hierarchy of urban settlements; Urban morphology: Concepts of primate city and rank-size rule; Functional classification of towns; Sphere of urban influence; Rural-urban fringe; Satellite towns; Problems and remedies of urbanization; Sustainable development of cities.
4.Regional Planning:
Concept of a region; Types of regions and methods of regionalization; Growth centers and growth poles; Regional imbalances; regional development strategies; environmental issues in regional planning; Planning for sustainable development.
5.Models, Theories and Laws in Human Geography:
Systems analysis in Human geography; Malthusian, Marxian and demographic transition models; Central Place theories of Christaller and Losch;Perroux and Boudeville; Von Thunen’s model of agricultural location; Weber’s model of industrial location; Ostov’s model of stages of growth. Heartland and Rimland theories; Laws of international boundaries and frontiers.
Important Topics of Geography Of India
1. Physical Setting:
Space relationship of India with neighboring countries; Structure and relief; Drainage system and watersheds; Physiographic regions; Mechanism of Indian monsoons and rainfall patterns, Tropical cyclones and western disturbances; Floods and droughts; Climatic regions; Natural vegetation; Soil types and their distributions.
2. Resources:
Land, surface and groundwater, energy, minerals, biotic and marine resources; Forest and wildlife resources and their conservation; Energy crisis.
3. Agriculture:
Infrastructure: irrigation, seeds, fertilizers, power; Institutional factors: landholdings, land tenure, and land reforms; Cropping pattern, agricultural productivity, agricultural intensity, crop combination, land capability; Agro and social-forestry; Green revolution and its socio-economic and ecological implications; Significance of dry farming; Livestock resources and white revolution; aquaculture; sericulture, apiculture and poultry; agricultural regionalization; agro-climatic zones; agroecological regions.
4. Industry:
Evolution of industries; Locational factors of cotton, jute, textile, iron and steel, aluminum, fertilizer, paper, chemical and pharmaceutical, automobile, cottage and agro-based industries; Industrial houses and complexes including public sector undertakings; Industrial regionalization; New industrial policies; Multinationals and liberalization; Special Economic Zones; Tourism including eco-tourism.
5. Transport, Communication and Trade:
Road, railway, waterway, airway and pipeline networks and their complementary roles in regional development; Growing importance of ports on national and foreign trade; Trade balance; Trade Policy; Export processing zones; Developments in communication and information technology and their impacts on economy and society; Indian space programme.
6. Cultural Setting:
Historical Perspective of Indian Society; Racial, linguistic and ethnic diversities; religious minorities; major tribes, tribal areas and their problems; cultural regions; Growth, distribution and density of population; Demographic attributes: sex-ratio, age structure, literacy rate, work-force, dependency ratio, longevity; migration (inter-regional, intra- regional and international) and associated problems; Population problems and policies; Health indicators.
7. Settlements:
Types, patterns and morphology of rural settlements; Urban developments; Morphology of Indian cities; Functional classification of Indian cities; Conurbations and metropolitan regions; urban sprawl; Slums and associated problems; town planning; Problems of urbanization and remedies.
8. Regional Development and Planning:
Experience of regional planning in India; Five Year Plans; Integrated rural development programs; Panchayati Raj and decentralized planning; Command area development; Watershed management; Planning for the backward area, desert, drought-prone, hill, tribal area development; multi-level planning; Regional planning and development of island territories.
9. Political Aspects:
Geographical basis of Indian federalism; State reorganization; Emergence of new states; Regional consciousness and inter state issues; international boundary of India and related issues; Cross border terrorism; India’s role in world affairs; Geopolitics of South Asia and Indian Ocean realm.
10. Contemporary Issues:
Ecological issues: Environmental hazards: landslides, earthquakes, Tsunamis, floods and droughts, epidemics; Issues relating to environmental pollution; Changes in patterns of land use; Principles of environmental impact assessment and environmental management; Population explosion and food security; Environmental degradation; Deforestation, desertification, and soil erosion; Problems of agrarian and industrial unrest; Regional disparities in economic development; Concept of sustainable growth and development; Environmental awareness; Linkage of rivers; Globalisation and Indian economy.
*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.
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