KAS SAMPLE MATERIAL

Karnataka Economy Pre- Independence

Economic Changes

Diwan Purnayya, earlier had raised a dam across the river Cauvery at Sagarakatte to improve irrigation. The laying of first railway line(Broad-gauge) between Bangalore and Jolarpet initiated during the regime of Cubbon, started functioning from 1864, when Bowring was the Commissioner. Cubbon was also responsible for the construction of new roads exceeding 2560 kms. in length, with 300 bridges. Coffee plantations, also started by him covered over 1.50 lakh acres. He also founded the Public Works and Forest Departments. District Savings Bank were started in Princely Mysore in 1870. Rangacharlu got the Bangalore-Mysore metre gauge rail line ready by 1882, (which was initiated earlier during commissioners rule in 1877-78) by spending a sum of Rs.55.48 lakhs. The work on the line was started as famine relief during the severe famine of 1876-78, which took the toll of one million lives in Mysore State alone.Sheshadri Iyer who initiated gold mining in Kolar region (K.G.F.) in 1886, created the Departments of Geology (1894), Agriculture (1898), and launched the Vanivilasa Sagara Irrigation Scheme in Chitradurga district. The Shivanasamudra Hydro-Electric Project, which supplied power to Kolar Gold Fields in 1902, later, also provided electricity to Bangalore city in 1905 (first city to obtain electrical facilities in the whole country) and for Mysore in 1907, was the first major project of its kind in India. Although it is interesting to note that in 1887, an Hydro Electric project was started at Gokak in a small scale by Gokak Spinning Mill, which then formed part of Bombay Presidency.

The Bangalore Mill was started in 1884 and it was taken over by the Binnys, Bangalore Woolen, Cotton and Silk Mills in 1886.It was about this time that elsewhere in Kamataka too, modern industrialisation started and railway and road transport facilities began to improve. HariharaPune railway line was completed in 1888. Mangalore was connected by rail with Madras in 1907. The Gokak Spinning Mill (1885) had been founded by securing power from the Gokak Falls (1887) and Mangalore had some tile factories, first initiated by the Basel Mission (1865). A spinning and weavingmill was also started at Gulbarga in 1888. Gold mining had started in the Hatti region of Raichur District after priliminary investigations in 1886. Hubli and Gadag had many ginning mills by then. Thus Industrialization gave impetus to urbanisation and modernisation. Agriculture was also receiving great filip because of better irrigation and demand for raw materials. The ‘Cotton Boom’ of the 1860s of the American Civil War days gave impetus to raising cotton crop, and though demand from Manchester fell after the 1860s, new factories founded at Bombay and Sholapur (Sollapur) did purchase cotton from North Kamataka area. But spinning, a domestic industry which provided hither-too jobs to lakhs of women by assuring a wage equal to a farm worker, was totally destroyed after the Industrial Revolution, and so was weaving. Thus pressure on land increased

Sample Material for Prelims 2012 -Envirnoment

ENVIRONMENT IN INDIA: POLICIES, PROGRAMMES AND IMPLEMENTATION

Administration

• Administered by Ministry of Environment and Forest
• Central Pollution Control Board established to assess and control water and air pollution
• Botanical Survery of India (BSI): established in 1980 for surveying and identifying plant resources
• Zoological Survey of India (ZSI): established in 1916 to survey endangered species and  undertake conservation efforts
• Forest Survey of India (FSI): established 1981, to survey forest resources

Programmes

1.     National River Conservation Plan

o        Prevent river pollution and improve water quality

o        Launched in 1985 with Ganges

o        Rivers covered: 37

o        Pollution load tackled: 3000 MLD

2.     Ecomark Scheme of India

o        Label environment-friendly products

o        Launched in 1991

o        Follows a product from raw materials to manufacturing to disposal

o        Covers multiple product categories including soaps, paper, food items, lubricating oil etc

3.     National Afforestation Programme

o        Objectives: ecological regeneration, development of water resources, employment generation

o        Implemented by Forest Development Agencies and Joint Forest Management Committees

4.     National Action Programme to Combat Desertification

o        Implements provisions of UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

o        Improve quality of life of locals

o        Drought preparadness and mitigation

o        Assessment and mapping of land degradation

o        Overseen by Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur

o        India is host country for “Agro forestry and soil conservation in arid, semi arid and dry sub humid areas

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN INDIA

Major Issues

• India supports 16% of world population in 2.4% of area
• 60% of cultivable land estimated to suffer soil erosion, waterlogging and salinity
• From 1947 to 2002, average per capita availability of water decreased 70%
• Overexploitation of groundwater in Haryana, Punjab and UP 
• Net result: rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, increased frequency of drought
• Environmental degradation is estimated to cost the equivalent of 4% of India’s GDP. After environmental corrections, India’s economic growth rate falls down to about 4.5%