Lifelines of National Economy

Why This Matters

Look around the room you are sitting in. The phone in your hand. The rice on your plate. The cloth you are wearing. The petrol in the scooter outside. Almost none of it was made where you are. It was grown, dug out or built somewhere else. Then it was brought to you. Goods and services cannot walk to where they are needed. Somebody has to move them.

This chapter is about that movement. A farmer can grow a huge pile of onions. But if there is no road to carry them to the city, the onions rot in the field. A factory can make the best phones in the world. But without ports and airports, it can never sell them to other countries. Making things and moving things are two halves of the same story. A country grows well only when both halves work well.

Three things do this moving. Transport carries goods and people from place to place (by roads, rail, pipelines, water and air). Communication carries information, like news and messages (by post, phone, radio, TV, newspapers and films). Trade is buying and selling, both inside the country and with other countries. These three are not boring side details. They are the lifelines of the economy.

A lifeline is something the whole system depends on to stay alive. Think of the blood vessels in your body that carry food and oxygen to every part. In the same way, these lifelines carry goods, people, money and information to every part of the country. When they are strong and everywhere, the whole economy stays alive and active.

But why is “lifeline” the right word, and not just a nice picture? Let us trace it step by step. Follow one onion. A farmer grows onions. Transport carries them to the city market. People buy them there. The money the buyers pay travels back to the farmer. With that money, the farmer can grow the next crop. So there is a chain: maker → transport → market → money back to the maker. Each link feeds the next, like a loop that keeps itself going.

Now cut one link. Take away transport. The onions cannot leave the field, so they rot. The market shelves stay empty, so people cannot buy. No buying means no money comes back to the farmer. With no money, the farmer cannot grow the next crop and may give up. The same thing happens to a factory: with no transport, no raw material comes in and no finished goods go out, so the factory shuts. One broken link stops the whole loop. That is exactly what happens when blood stops flowing in a body. Figure 7.1 below traces the working loop along the top row and the broken one along the bottom row.

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This is also the last chapter of your geography journey, and it ties everything together. The resources you studied earlier are not very useful until they can be moved to the people who need them.

The Big Idea

Things are made in one place but needed in another place. So a country’s growth depends not only on making goods and services. It also depends on moving them. Transport carries goods and people over land, water and air. Communication carries information from one person to another, without anyone travelling. Trade is the exchange of goods between people, states and countries. Transport, communication and trade are complementary. This means each one needs the other two to work. Together they are the lifelines that keep the national economy running.

Before we go further, it helps to know where transport, communication and trade actually sit in the work people do. They all belong to one of three “sectors”.

Let’s Break It Down

Movement happens over three parts of the earth: land, water and air. So transport is also divided into these three groups. Figure 7.2 below lays out the whole family of transport types in one tree. After this, we will look at each one by one.

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Roadways

India has the second largest road network in the world. Its total length is about 62.16 lakh km (figure for 2020–21). Here is an interesting fact. In India, roads came before railways. And roads are still ahead in some ways. Here is why roads are so useful:

• Roads are far cheaper to build than railway lines.
• Roads can be built on broken and uneven land (“dissected, undulating land” means land cut up by hills, slopes and valleys). Roads can also climb higher slopes — even big mountains like the Himalayas.
• For a few people or small loads over short distances, roads are the cheaper choice.
• Roads give door-to-door service. The vehicle goes straight from the starting door to the ending door. So the cost of loading and unloading goods is low.
• Roads act as a feeder to other transport types. A feeder is a link that brings goods and people to the main route. Roads connect railway stations, ports and airports to homes and towns.

In India, roads are put into six classes. The classes are based on how much traffic a road can carry and how big an area it serves. This is the most popular list in the chapter for exams. So learn it like a ladder. Start from the biggest highways at the top and go down to small village roads, plus the special border roads.

Roads are also divided by the material they are made of. Metalled roads are made of cement, concrete or bitumen (bitumen is the black tar-like material used on roads). These are all-weather roads, which means they can be used in every season, even in the rain. Unmetalled roads are kacha roads. They cannot be used in the rainy season because they get muddy and broken. One more idea to know: road density. Road density means the length of road in every 100 square km of area. It is not the same everywhere in India. It is high in flat plains and low in hilly areas or areas with very few people.

One class of roads in that ladder is easy to forget but loved by examiners — the special roads guarding our borders. Quick test:

Railways

Railways are the main mode of transport in India. They carry both freight (goods) and passengers (people). In fact, railways are more important to the economy than all the other transport types put together. Railways carry goods over long distances. They also help people travel for business, sightseeing and pilgrimage (a religious trip). For over 150 years, railways have been a great unifying force. This means they have helped join the people of India together by letting them travel and meet each other.

A few facts worth remembering:

• Indian Railways is the largest public sector undertaking in the country.
• The first train ran from Mumbai to Thane in 1853, covering 34 km.
• The network is now reorganised into 17 zones.
• Track runs on multiple gauges over about 67,956 km — Broad Gauge (1.676 m), Metre Gauge (1.000 m) and Narrow Gauge (0.762 m and 0.610 m).

Where the railways grew depended on three things: the shape of the land (physiography), the economy, and the way an area is governed (administration). The northern plains were the best place for railways. The land is flat, many people live there, and farming is rich. So it was easy to lay track and there were many goods and passengers to carry. The only problem was the many rivers, which needed bridges.

Some areas were hard to lay track in. The hilly peninsular region (the southern part of India) needed track through low hills, gaps and tunnels. The high Himalayas have very high land and very few people. Other tough areas were the sandy plains of western Rajasthan, the swamps (wetlands) of Gujarat, and the thick forests of central and eastern India. The Sahyadri mountains could only be crossed through gaps called Ghats. The newer Konkan Railway along the west coast finally opened up that region. But it faced problems such as the track sinking and landslides (when soil and rocks slide down a slope).

Pipelines

Pipelines are a newer way of transport in India. Long ago, pipelines were used only to carry water to cities. Now they carry crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas (crude oil is oil straight from the ground, before it is cleaned). They carry these from oilfields to refineries, fertiliser factories and big thermal power plants. (A refinery is a place where crude oil is cleaned and turned into useful fuels.) Even solids can travel through a pipeline as a slurry (a slurry is a mix of crushed solid material with water, so it can flow like a liquid). Some refineries are very far inland, like Barauni, Mathura and Panipat. So are some gas-based fertiliser plants. They could be built only because pipelines could bring the oil and gas to them.

Here is the simple give-and-take with pipelines. The cost of laying a pipeline at the start is high. But after that, the running cost is very low. Also, a pipeline stops trans-shipment losses and delays. Trans-shipment means moving goods from one vehicle to another along the way. Each time you load and unload, you lose some goods and waste time. In a pipeline, the oil or gas just flows. So there is no such loss or delay. There are three important pipeline networks:

1. From the oilfields of upper Assam to Kanpur (UP). It passes through Guwahati, Barauni and Prayagraj. It has branch lines to Haldia, Rajbandh, Maurigram and Siliguri.
2. From Salaya (Gujarat) to Jalandhar (Punjab). It passes through Viramgam, Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat. It has branch lines to Koyali, Chakshu and other places.
3. The Hazira–Vijaipur–Jagdishpur (HVJ) gas pipeline. At first it was 1,700 km long. It joins the Mumbai High and Bassein gas fields with fertiliser, power and industrial centres in western and northern India. India’s gas-pipeline network has since grown from 1,700 km to about 18,500 km.

Waterways

Waterways are the cheapest way of transport. They are the best choice for heavy and bulky goods (bulky means large in size and hard to carry). They are also fuel-efficient (they use less fuel) and environment-friendly (they cause less pollution). India has been a sea-going nation for a long time. There are two parts to remember. Inland waterways are the rivers and canals inside the country. Ocean routes are the sea routes that carry trade with other countries through ports.

Inland waterways are about 14,500 km long in total. Under the National Waterways Act, 2016, a total of 111 inland waterways were declared National Waterways. (A National Waterway is a river or canal route chosen by the government as important for transport.) This number of 111 includes 5 that were declared earlier. Here are the key National Waterways to know:

Some other inland waterways carry a good amount of traffic too. These include Mandavi, Zuari and Cumberjua, the Sunderbans, the Barak, and the backwaters of Kerala.

Ocean routes and major sea ports. India’s foreign trade (trade with other countries) is carried from ports along its coast. By volume (the amount of goods), 95 per cent of trade goes by sea. By value (the worth in money), 68 per cent goes by sea. India’s coastline is about 7,517 km long. (The textbook also gives a longer figure that includes the islands.) India has 12 major ports and about 200 notified non-major ports (these are the smaller and medium ports). The 12 major ports handle 95 per cent of foreign trade. Here are the major ports and what makes each one special.

Airways

Air travel is the fastest and most comfortable mode of transport. It is also seen as the most special way to travel. But it is the most expensive as well. Its big plus point is that it can cross difficult land with ease. It can fly over high mountains, dry deserts, thick forests and long stretches of ocean. Think of the north-eastern states. They have big rivers, broken-up land, thick forests, floods very often, and borders with other countries. Reaching them by land is hard. Air travel makes it far easier.

Two schemes to remember:

• Pawanhans Helicopters Ltd. gives helicopter services. It helps ONGC with off-shore work (work out in the sea, like oil drilling). It also helps reach hard-to-reach places, like the north-eastern states and the inner parts of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
• UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) is a one-of-its-kind scheme. It is run by the Ministry of Civil Aviation under the Regional Connectivity Scheme. Its aim is to make flying cheap enough for the common person and to connect regional and far-off routes.

You have now met all five modes of transport. Figure 7.3 below sets them side by side. Notice the give-and-take. The cheapest mode is also the slowest. And the fastest mode is also the costliest. So the right mode depends on two things: what you are moving and how fast you need it.

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Communication

Humans have communicated with each other since the very beginning. But in modern times, communication has changed very fast. The best thing about communication is this: information travels, but the sender and the receiver do not have to move. For example, you can send a message to a friend in another city without going there. Communication splits into two kinds, and the tree in Figure 7.4 below shows both branches and what falls under each.

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Personal communication is one-to-one. That means one person reaches one other person. The main ways are the post and the telephone. The Indian postal network is the largest in the world. Cards and envelopes are called first-class mail. They are sent by air between stations. Book packets, registered newspapers and periodicals (magazines that come out on a regular date) are second-class mail. They are carried by surface, which means by land and water. To speed up delivery in big towns, there are six special mail channels: Rajdhani, Metro, Green, Business, Bulk Mail and Periodical channels. India also has one of the largest telecom networks in Asia (telecom means telephone and similar services). The government has worked to give 24-hour STD service to every village. (STD means Subscriber Trunk Dialling, the system for direct long-distance calls.) The STD rate is the same all over India. This became possible by joining space technology with communication technology.

Mass communication reaches many people at the same time. It gives entertainment and spreads news about national programmes and policies. It includes:

• Radio — All India Radio (Akashvani) broadcasts (sends out programmes) in national, regional and local languages.
• Television — Doordarshan is one of the largest terrestrial networks in the world (terrestrial means it sends signals through ground stations, not only through satellites). It shows everything from entertainment to education to sport.
• Press — “Press” means newspapers, magazines and books. India publishes newspapers in about 100 languages and dialects (a dialect is a local form of a language). The most are in Hindi, followed by English and Urdu.
• Films — India is the largest producer of feature films in the world (a feature film is a full-length cinema film). The Central Board of Film Certification gives certificates to Indian and foreign films before they can be shown.

International Trade and Tourism

Trade is the exchange of goods among people, states and countries. The place where this buying and selling happens is called the market. Trade between two countries is called international trade. It is carried on by sea, air or land. Trade inside cities, towns and villages is local trade. Trade between two states is state-level trade. How well a country’s international trade is doing tells us how rich the country is. So international trade is called the index of a country’s economic prosperity. Another name for it is the economic barometer of a country. (A barometer is an instrument that shows changes, like a weather barometer. Here it shows how the economy is doing.) Resources are not the same everywhere. Each place has only some of them. This is why no country can survive without international trade.

But why does “resources are not the same everywhere” force countries to trade? Think of it as a swap. India has plenty of some things and very little of others. India grows lots of tea and cotton, and it is now strong in software. But India does not have enough crude oil for all its cars, buses and factories. A Gulf country is the opposite. It has huge amounts of crude oil under its sand. But its land is mostly desert, so it cannot grow much tea, food or cotton. Each country has a spare of one thing and a shortage of another. So they swap. India sends out tea, cloth and software, and brings in crude oil. The Gulf country sends out crude oil, and brings in tea, food and cloth. After the swap, both sides get what they could never make on their own. No single country has all the resources, climate and skills it needs. So trade is the only way every country can have everything. Figure 7.5 below shows one such swap.

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Trade has two parts: export (selling goods to other countries) and import (buying goods from other countries). The balance of trade is the difference between the two:

Picture a weighing scale. Put exports on one pan and imports on the other pan. Whichever value is heavier pushes its pan down. That tells you if the balance is favourable or unfavourable. Figure 7.6 below shows both cases side by side.

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India trades with all the major trading blocks (groups of countries that trade together) and all parts of the world.

• Exports (what India sells to other countries) include gems and jewellery, chemicals and related products, and agriculture and allied products (farm products and things linked to farming). India has also become a software giant. It earns a lot of foreign exchange by exporting information technology. (Foreign exchange is money from other countries, which a country needs to buy things from abroad.)
• Imports (what India buys from other countries) include petroleum crude and products, gems and jewellery, chemicals, base metals, electronic items, machinery, and agriculture and allied products.

Tourism as a trade. Tourism in India has grown a lot over the past twenty years. It is an important invisible trade. (It is “invisible” because you do not ship any goods. You sell a service and an experience to visitors instead.) Tourism earns foreign exchange. It also brings the people of the nation closer together. It supports local handicrafts and cultural activities. And it helps people of other countries understand our culture and heritage. Some schemes help tourism grow: Swadesh Darshan 2.0, the Vibrant Village Programme, PRASHAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive) and Paryatan Mitra. Foreign tourists come for many reasons: heritage, eco, adventure, cultural, medical and business tourism.

Common Mistakes

This chapter is full of look-alike facts — cheapest versus most important, favourable versus unfavourable, corridors versus quadrilateral. Here are the four traps students fall into most often.

Quick Check

Practice Problems

Easy

Medium

Challenge

Summary

• Goods and services are made in one place but needed in another place. So a country grows only when it can both make and move things. Transport, communication and trade are complementary (each needs the others). Together they are the lifelines of the economy.
• Roadways: India has the world’s second largest road network. There are six classes: Golden Quadrilateral super highways, National Highways, State Highways, District roads, Other (rural) roads, and Border roads (BRO, 1960). Roads are also metalled (all-weather) or unmetalled. Road density is road length per 100 sq km.
• Railways: the main and most important mode. There are 17 zones. The first train ran Mumbai–Thane (1853, 34 km). It runs on Broad, Metre and Narrow gauges. Easiest in the northern plains. Hard in hills, deserts and swamps.
• Pipelines: carry crude oil, petroleum products, gas and slurry. High starting cost but low running cost, and no trans-shipment loss. Three networks, including the HVJ gas pipeline.
• Waterways: the cheapest mode, eco-friendly, best for bulky goods. Inland National Waterways (NW 1–5 and more). Ocean trade goes through 12 major ports, which carry 95% of trade by volume.
• Airways: the fastest and costliest mode. Very useful for difficult land like the north-east. Schemes: Pawanhans helicopters and UDAN.
• Communication: personal (post — world’s largest network; telephone/STD) and mass (radio/All India Radio, TV/Doordarshan, press, films — India is the world’s largest feature-film producer).
• International trade: exports minus imports gives the balance of trade. It is favourable if exports are more than imports. It is unfavourable if imports are more than exports. Tourism is an important invisible trade.

What’s Next

This is the final chapter of your geography course. So take a moment to see the whole picture you have built. You began with the resources and development that a country has. Then you studied specific resources: forests and wildlife, water, agriculture, minerals and energy, and manufacturing industries. Each chapter answered one question: “What does India have, and how do we use it well?”

This chapter completes the loop. All those resources and products are of no use if they just sit where they are made. The lifelines — transport, communication and trade — carry them to the people who need them, both at home and across the world. They turn raw potential into a living economy. Resources, then their use, then moving goods and ideas, then trade: that is the geography of a nation’s economy in one line.

You now have the full story of how India works as a land and as an economy. Carry one habit forward. Every time you see a truck on a highway, a ship at a port, or a phone in someone’s hand, you will know it is a lifeline at work. Well done. You have reached the end of the journey.