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Every NCERT book that matters for UPSC — open a book, then a chapter. Learn each chapter's concepts, then how UPSC tests them — with diagrams, flowcharts and the past questions to attempt.
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← India: People and Economy — all chaptersPlanning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context
Start here: why this chapter matters
In simple wordsA family plans its month's budget so the children's fees, groceries and rent are all covered — and saves something for later. A country plans in the same way, but must also make sure no region is left behind and that tomorrow's children inherit a liveable land. That is planning and sustainable development.
The last five chapters described India's people and resources. This chapter asks how the State has tried to use them wisely and fairly — through planning — and why development must now be sustainable. It does so with two detailed case studies: a Himalayan tribal area (Bharmaur) and a desert canal (Indira Gandhi Canal).
- Builds on Chapters 3–5: irrigation, drought, minerals and energy — the resources planners allocate. The Indira Gandhi Canal and DPAP were met in Chapters 3 and 4.
- Builds on Fundamentals of Human Geography Chapter 3 (Human Development) — the widening meaning of development; that chapter covers the HDI, this one regional planning and sustainability.
- Leads into Chapter 9 (Geographical Perspective on Selected Issues and Problems) — pollution, slums, land degradation.
- UPSC: GS1 (regional disparity, tribal issues, resource distribution), GS2 (NITI Aayog, multi-level planning), GS3 (inclusive growth, sustainable development, environment). Prelims asks NITI, SDGs, Agenda 21, Brundtland and the drought and desert programmes.
| Word | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Planning | Thinking, formulating a scheme and implementing actions to reach a goal — not hit-and-miss |
| Sectoral planning | Schemes for sectors — agriculture, irrigation, manufacturing, power, transport, services |
| Regional planning | Plans drawn for areas, to reduce regional imbalance |
| Target area / target group | Programmes for backward regions / for backward sections of people |
| Tribal sub-plan, ITDP | Area plans for tribal areas; Integrated Tribal Development Projects |
| Transhumance | Seasonal movement of herders with animals between high summer and low winter pastures |
| Command area | Land that a canal or irrigation project can water |
| Warabandi | Turn-wise equal sharing of canal water among farms on an outlet |
| Sustainable development | Meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs |
| Eco-development | Development that restores ecology — afforestation, shelterbelts, pastures |
Reading the chapter-opening photograph (page 65)A wide, straight canal stretching to the horizon through a dry landscape lined with trees, with a large building in the foreground (the same scene as Fig. 6.5). It previews the chapter's second case study — the Indira Gandhi Canal — and the visible greening along a desert canal.
At a glance — the six ideas to carry away
- Sectoral planning = by sector; regional planning = by area, to cut regional imbalance.
- NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015; centralised → multi-level planning.
- Target area (CADP, DPAP, DDP, HADP) and target group (SFDA, MFDA) approaches; 8th Plan special area programmes.
- DPAP from the 4th Plan; HADP from the 5th Plan (15 districts); hill areas above 600 m treated as backward (1981).
- Bharmaur ITDP (Gaddis, Chamba, 1974): female literacy 1.88% (1971) → 65% (2011).
- Brundtland (1987): development that meets present needs without compromising future generations; Indira Gandhi Canal: greening vs waterlogging and salinity — 7 measures for sustainability.
1. Planning: approaches and institutions
In simple wordsA school can plan by subject — more science labs, better sports — or by classroom — help the section that is falling behind. The first is sectoral planning; the second is regional planning. A good school does both.
Planning means thinking, formulating a scheme and implementing actions to reach a goal — here, economic development — unlike traditional hit-and-miss reform. There are two approaches. Sectoral planning formulates schemes for sectors: agriculture, irrigation, manufacturing, power, construction, transport, communication, social infrastructure and services. Since development is never uniform over space, planners also need a spatial perspective: regional planning draws plans for areas to reduce regional imbalance.
Reading NCERT's NITI Aayog box (page 65)
- India adopted centralised planning after Independence and later moved to decentralised multi-level planning, with plan formulation by the Planning Commission and at Centre, State and district levels.
- On 1 January 2015, the Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog.
- NITI Aayog's objective: involve the States in economic policy-making and give strategic and technical advice to the Central and State governments.
⤵ How Indian planning evolved
1950: Planning Commissioncentralised Five Year Plans from 1951 (Beyond NCERT dates)
Multi-level planningCentre → State → district plans; target area and target group programmes
1 January 2015: NITI Aayoga think tank that involves the States — ‘cooperative federalism’
Beyond NCERT — NITI Aayog vs Planning Commission (Mains 2018)
- NITI stands for National Institution for Transforming India. It is chaired by the Prime Minister and has a Governing Council of all Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors.
- The Planning Commission made Five Year Plans and allocated plan funds to States; NITI Aayog makes no Five Year Plans and allocates no funds — it advises, monitors (e.g. SDG India Index, from 2018) and promotes cooperative and competitive federalism. The 12th Plan (2012–17) was the last.
- Neither the Planning Commission nor NITI Aayog is a constitutional body.
2. Target area and target group planning
In simple wordsIf a teacher notices that one corner of the class always scores low, she can help that corner (target area) — or help every child who struggles with reading wherever they sit (target group). India's planners did both.
A region's development depends on resources, but also on technology and investment; even resource-rich regions can stay backward. After about one-and-a-half decades of planning, regional imbalances were found to be widening, so the Planning Commission introduced target area and target group approaches. In the 8th Five Year Plan, special area programmes were designed for hill areas, north-eastern States, tribal areas and backward areas.
Exam traps
- SFDA and MFDA are target group programmes; CADP, DPAP, DDP and HADP are target area programmes.
- SFDA arranged institutional credit and programmes for better farming and subsidiary occupations (UPSC 1981 key: ‘all of the above’).
- DPAP and the Desert Development Programme fall under the Ministry of Rural Development, not Agriculture or Environment (UPSC 2014).
- Regional disparities persist because of investment concentrated in a few places, adverse agro-climate and lack of agrarian transformation (UPSC 1999).
3. Hill areas and drought-prone areas
In simple wordsMountains and deserts are the ‘hard terrain’ of a country: farming is risky, roads are costly, and too many people on fragile land quickly damages it. So their plans must first protect soil, water and forests — and then create jobs that do not depend only on farming.
Hill Area Development Programmes began in the Fifth Five Year Plan, covering 15 districts: all hilly districts of Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand), Mikir Hills and North Cachar hills of Assam, Darjeeling (West Bengal) and Nilgiri (Tamil Nadu). In 1981, the National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas recommended that all hill areas above 600 m not covered by the tribal sub-plan be treated as backward. Plans considered topography, ecology, society and economy, and harnessed local resources through horticulture, plantation, agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry, forestry and small-scale and village industry.
The Drought Prone Area Programme began in the Fourth Five Year Plan to give employment and create productive assets. It first stressed labour-intensive civil works, later irrigation, land development, afforestation, grassland development and rural infrastructure (electricity, roads, markets, credit, services). The National Committee on Development of Backward Areas found it largely confined to agriculture and allied sectors with a focus on restoring ecological balance; it called for alternative employment and integrated watershed development at the micro-level.
⤵ How DPAP's strategy evolved (NCERT)
4th Plan startlabour-intensive civil works → jobs and productive assets
Later emphasisirrigation, land development, afforestation, grasslands, rural infrastructure
Review (backward areas committee)too confined to agriculture; population pushes farming onto marginal land → degradation
Recommendedalternative non-farm jobs + micro-level integrated watershed development; balance of water, soil, plants, people and animals
Beyond NCERT
- DPAP began in 1973–74; the Desert Development Programme in 1977–78 (for hot deserts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and cold deserts of J&K and Himachal).
- The Aspirational Districts Programme (January 2018, 112 districts) is today's target-area approach: it ranks districts on health, education, agriculture, financial inclusion and infrastructure and uses convergence, collaboration and competition (Mains 2018).
4. Case study: ITDP in the Bharmaur tribal region
In simple wordsImagine a valley village cut off by snow for months, where shepherd families walk their flocks down to the plains each winter. A road, a school and a health centre can change their lives in one generation — but the villages farthest up the valley are always the last to get them.
The Bharmaur tribal area — Bharmaur and Holi tehsils of Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh — has been a notified tribal area since 21 November 1975. It is home to the Gaddis, a tribal community with a distinct Himalayan identity who practised transhumance and speak Gaddiali. Harsh climate, a low resource base and fragile environment kept it among Himachal's most backward areas; in 2011 its population was 39,113 (about 21 persons per sq km). The economy rests on agriculture and sheep and goat rearing.
Reading NCERT's geography box on Bharmaur (page 68)
- Location: 32°11′–32°41′ N, 76°22′–76°53′ E; area about 1,818 sq km; mostly 1,500–3,700 m.
- Ringed by mountains: Pir Panjal to the north, Dhaula Dhar to the south; they converge in the east near Rohtang Pass.
- Drained by the Ravi and its tributaries the Budhil and Tundahen, which cut deep gorges and divide it into Holi, Khani, Kugti and Tundah areas.
- Freezing winters with snow; mean monthly temperature 4°C in January, 26°C in July.
Reading NCERT Figure 6.2 — Bharmaur Tribal Region (page 69)
- District, tehsil, physiographic-division and village boundaries; the Ravi flows west through the region, joined by the Budhil from the east and the Tundahen from the north; Kugti lies north of the Budhil, Khani in the centre-east, Holi in the south, Tundah in the west.
- Small shaded patches mark settled or cultivated pockets along valleys; an inset shows Bharmaur's place in the south-east of Chamba district.
- NCERT slip: one latitude tick on the map reads 28°26′; the region lies between 32°11′ and 32°41′ N, so it should read 32°26′.
Reading NCERT Figure 6.1 — photographs of Bharmaur (page 68)Six photographs: terrace farming on steep slopes; the traditional method of extracting wheat (threshing with animals); people engaged in primary activity beside stone-slate-roofed houses; settlements clinging to a hillside; a village on a slope; and a woman in traditional Gaddi dress. Together they show a mountain, agro-pastoral economy with limited flat land.
Development began in the 1970s when the Gaddis were listed as a Scheduled Tribe. Under the Fifth Five Year Plan, the tribal sub-plan was introduced in 1974 and Bharmaur became one of five ITDPs in Himachal Pradesh, aiming to improve the Gaddis' quality of life and narrow the development gap with the rest of the State. Top priority went to transport and communications, agriculture and allied activities, and social and community services.
⤵ ITDP in Bharmaur: inputs, results, gaps
Inputs (5th Plan, 1974)roads, communications, schools, health care, potable water, electricity; farm and allied support
Social gainsliteracy up (female 1.88% → 65%), better sex ratio, less child marriage, smaller gender gap
Economic changemore pulses and cash crops; transhumance down to ≈ 1/10 of households; winter wage migration to Kangra
Gapsbenefits concentrated in Holi and Khani along the Ravi; remote Tundah and Kugti still under-served; farming still traditional
Exam traps
- ITDP = Integrated Tribal Development Project/Programme (exercise Q1-ii).
- The tribal sub-plan began in 1974 (Fifth Plan); the area was notified tribal in 1975.
- Transhumance is seasonal movement between high and low pastures (UPSC 1988) — the Gaddis now do it far less.
5. Sustainable development
In simple wordsA farmer who sells all his seed grain eats well this year and starves next year. A wise farmer keeps the seed. Sustainable development is ‘keeping the seed’ — enjoying today's harvest without eating tomorrow's.
Development describes both the state of a society and its process of change; it rests on human–environment interaction shaped by technology and institutions. NCERT calls it a multi-dimensional concept signifying a positive, irreversible transformation of the economy, society and environment.
Concern about industrial damage to the environment grew in the West from the late 1960s, sharpened by Ehrlich's The Population Bomb (1968) and Meadows and others' The Limits to Growth (1972). The UN set up the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Norway's Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland; its report Our Common Future (1987) defined sustainable development as development that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. It covers ecological, social and economic aspects and pleads for conserving resources for the future — for a humankind with a common future.
⤵ Three pillars, one test
Ecologicalconserve soil, water, forests, biodiversity
Socialequity, health, education, rights — within and between generations
Economicgrowth and livelihoods that last
Testdoes today's use leave future generations able to meet their needs? (Brundtland, 1987)
Beyond NCERT — the global milestones
- 1972 Stockholm UN Conference on the Human Environment; 1992 Rio Earth Summit adopted Agenda 21, a global action plan for sustainable development (UPSC 2016: it did not originate at Johannesburg); 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10) at Johannesburg (UPSC 2008); 2012 Rio+20.
- The Sustainable Development Goals — 17 goals, 169 targets — were adopted by the UN in September 2015 for 2030, succeeding the Millennium Development Goals (2000–2015). The Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth, but did not propose the SDGs (UPSC 2016).
- Limits to Growth warned that limits would be reached within about 100 years if trends continued (UPSC 1998).
- Intra-generational equity = fairness among people alive today; inter-generational = fairness to future generations (Mains 2020).
6. Case study: the Indira Gandhi Canal command area
In simple wordsGive a desert a river and it blooms — wheat, cotton, trees. But pour too much water on land that never had any, and the water table rises, salt comes up, and the green fields turn white. The Indira Gandhi Canal shows both halves of that story.
The Indira Gandhi Canal, formerly the Rajasthan Canal, is one of India's largest canal systems. Conceived by Kanwar Sain in 1948 and launched on 31 March 1958, it starts at the Harike barrage in Punjab and runs parallel to the Pakistan border, about 40 km from it, through the Thar (Marusthali). Planned length: 9,060 km; culturable command area 19.63 lakh ha, about 70% by flow and the rest by lift. Stage I (Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, northern Bikaner; gently undulating; 5.53 lakh ha) got irrigation in the early 1960s; Stage II (Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Churu; shifting dunes, up to 50°C; 14.10 lakh ha) from the mid-1980s. All lift canals leave from the left bank; all right-bank channels are flow channels.
Reading NCERT Figure 6.3 — Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area (page 71)
- The canal leaves Harike barrage at the Sutlej–Beas confluence, crosses into Rajasthan near Ganganagar (‘main canal head’) and runs south-west to the main canal tail beyond Jaisalmer.
- Stage I (dotted) lies near Ganganagar, with a lift patch around Lunkaransar–Bikaner.
- Stage II flow (light) is a long belt between the canal and the border towards Jaisalmer; Stage II lift (dark) forms patches east of the canal near Bikaner and Churu — consistent with lift canals leaving the left bank.
- What the map adds: most of the command area hugs the international border, and Barmer and Jodhpur lie at the southern fringe.
Reading NCERT Figures 6.4 and 6.5 — the canal (page 72)Fig. 6.4: the broad, straight, brimming main canal lined with rows of trees — the shelterbelts planted along it. Fig. 6.5: an aerial view of the canal running to the horizon past a large building and tree belts, with open desert beyond — greening confined to a corridor.
| Positive impacts (NCERT) | Negative impacts (NCERT) |
|---|---|
| Longer soil moisture; afforestation and pasture programmes under CAD → greening | Waterlogging from intensive irrigation and excess water |
| Less wind erosion and less siltation of canals | Soil salinity — twin problem with waterlogging |
| More cultivated area and higher cropping intensity | Long-run threat to the sustainability of agriculture |
| Gram, bajra, jowar replaced by wheat, cotton, groundnut, rice; big rise in crop and livestock productivity | Water-intensive crops in a desert |
⤵ Canal in a desert: from boom to risk
Water arrivesStage I 1960s, Stage II mid-1980s
Boomgreening, more area, higher intensity, wheat–cotton–rice, livestock gains
Over-useintensive irrigation, excess water, water-hungry crops
Riskwaterlogging + salinity → sustainability questioned
Responseseven measures, five of them ecological
| NCERT's seven measures for sustainability | Kind |
|---|---|
| (i) Strict water management policy — protective irrigation in Stage I; extensive irrigation of crops and pastures in Stage II | Ecological |
| (ii) Avoid water-intensive crops; encourage plantation crops such as citrus | Ecological |
| (iii) CAD works — lining water courses, land levelling, warabandi — to cut conveyance losses | Ecological |
| (iv) Reclaim waterlogged and saline land | Ecological |
| (v) Eco-development — afforestation, shelterbelts, pastures, especially in fragile Stage II | Ecological |
| (vi) Financial and institutional support to poor land allottees | Social |
| (vii) Diversify beyond farming and animal husbandry; link villages, agro-service centres and market centres | Economic |
Exam traps
- The most crucial factor for sustainability here is eco-development (exercise Q1-iii) — five of seven measures are ecological.
- The canal takes Sutlej (and Beas) water from Harike (UPSC 1991).
- Lift canals = left bank; flow = right bank. Flow irrigates about 70%.
- Beyond NCERT: the canal was renamed after Indira Gandhi in 1984.
NCERT exercise — answer outlines
Try each question yourself first, then open the outline to compare. The three multiple-choice questions are in the self-check below.
What are the social benefits of ITDP in the Bharmaur tribal region? (30 words)
A big rise in literacy — female literacy from 1.88% (1971) to 65% (2011) — a narrower male–female literacy gap, an improved sex ratio and a decline in child marriage; plus schools, health care, drinking water, roads and electricity.
Define the concept of sustainable development. (30 words)
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, 1987) — balancing ecological, social and economic aims.
What are the positive impacts of irrigation on the Indira Gandhi Canal command area? (30 words)
Longer soil moisture, greening through afforestation and pastures, less wind erosion and canal siltation, more cultivated area and cropping intensity, a shift to wheat, cotton, groundnut and rice, and higher crop and livestock productivity.
Write short notes on the Drought Prone Area Programme. How does it help in the development of dryland agriculture in India? (150 words)
What: began in the 4th Plan (1973–74, Beyond NCERT) to give employment and create productive assets in drought-prone areas.
Evolution: labour-intensive civil works → irrigation, land development, afforestation, grasslands, rural infrastructure (power, roads, markets, credit).
Where: arid and semi-arid Rajasthan, Gujarat, western MP, Marathwada, Rayalaseema and Telangana, Karnataka plateau, interior Tamil Nadu; 67 districts identified (1967); 30% irrigated-area criterion (1972).
Help to dryland farming: moisture conservation and small irrigation, watershed works, soil conservation, fodder and pastures, tree cover, credit and markets — reducing crop risk.
Limits and way forward: too farm-centric; need non-farm jobs and micro-level integrated watershed development restoring the balance of water, soil, plants, people and animals.
Diagram: the DPAP flow.
Evolution: labour-intensive civil works → irrigation, land development, afforestation, grasslands, rural infrastructure (power, roads, markets, credit).
Where: arid and semi-arid Rajasthan, Gujarat, western MP, Marathwada, Rayalaseema and Telangana, Karnataka plateau, interior Tamil Nadu; 67 districts identified (1967); 30% irrigated-area criterion (1972).
Help to dryland farming: moisture conservation and small irrigation, watershed works, soil conservation, fodder and pastures, tree cover, credit and markets — reducing crop risk.
Limits and way forward: too farm-centric; need non-farm jobs and micro-level integrated watershed development restoring the balance of water, soil, plants, people and animals.
Diagram: the DPAP flow.
Suggest the measures for promotion of sustainability in the Indira Gandhi Canal command area. (150 words)
Context: canal irrigation greened the Thar but caused waterlogging and salinity.
Ecological: (1) strict water management — protective irrigation in Stage I, extensive irrigation of crops and pastures in Stage II; (2) no water-intensive crops, more citrus and plantations; (3) CAD — lining channels, levelling, warabandi; (4) reclaim waterlogged and saline land; (5) eco-development — afforestation, shelterbelts, pastures in Stage II.
Social: (6) finance and institutional support for poor allottees.
Economic: (7) diversify into non-farm sectors and link villages with agro-service and market centres.
Conclude: eco-development is the key; add drip and sprinkler, drainage and crop planning (Beyond NCERT).
Diagram: the command-area schematic.
Ecological: (1) strict water management — protective irrigation in Stage I, extensive irrigation of crops and pastures in Stage II; (2) no water-intensive crops, more citrus and plantations; (3) CAD — lining channels, levelling, warabandi; (4) reclaim waterlogged and saline land; (5) eco-development — afforestation, shelterbelts, pastures in Stage II.
Social: (6) finance and institutional support for poor allottees.
Economic: (7) diversify into non-farm sectors and link villages with agro-service and market centres.
Conclude: eco-development is the key; add drip and sprinkler, drainage and crop planning (Beyond NCERT).
Diagram: the command-area schematic.
Projects: (i) area development programmes in your region and their impact; (ii) a resource inventory and sustainability plan for a problem area.
(i) List programmes (watershed, aspirational district, tribal, hill, drought, command area); describe goals, spending, results on income, roads, schools, water; note who gained and who was missed. (ii) Inventory land, water, soil, forests, minerals, people and skills; identify problems (degradation, water scarcity, migration); propose ecological, social and economic measures on the Indira Gandhi Canal model.
What to remember
Numbers
NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission1 January 2015
DPAP began4th Five Year Plan
HADP began / districts5th Five Year Plan / 15
Backward hill areas (1981 committee)above 600 m
Drought-prone districts (Planning Commission, 1967)67
Irrigation Commission drought criterion (1972)30% irrigated area
Special area programmes8th Five Year Plan
Bharmaur notified tribal area21 November 1975
Tribal sub-plan; ITDPs in Himachal1974; five
Bharmaur area / altitude≈ 1,818 sq km / 1,500–3,700 m
Bharmaur population, 201139,113 (≈ 21 per sq km)
Bharmaur female literacy1.88% (1971) → 65% (2011)
Ehrlich / Meadows / Brundtland1968 / 1972 / 1987
Indira Gandhi Canal conceived / launched1948 (Kanwar Sain) / 31 March 1958
Planned length / culturable command area9,060 km / 19.63 lakh ha
Stage I / Stage II CCA5.53 / 14.10 lakh ha
Flow vs lift≈ 70% / 30%
SDGs (Beyond NCERT)17 goals, 169 targets, 2015–2030
One-liners
- Sectoral planning = by sector; regional planning = by area.
- Target area = backward regions; target group = backward people.
- DPAP must move from farm works to non-farm jobs and micro-watersheds.
- ITDP Bharmaur: infrastructure + literacy; remote Tundah and Kugti still lag.
- Development widened from GNP to equity, well-being and sustainability.
- Brundtland: present needs without compromising future generations.
- Indira Gandhi Canal: greening and boom, then waterlogging and salinity.
- Five of seven sustainability measures are ecological — eco-development is key.
Traps to avoid
- SFDA and MFDA are target group, not target area, programmes.
- NITI Aayog makes no Five Year Plans and allocates no plan funds (Beyond NCERT).
- DPAP from the 4th Plan; HADP and the tribal sub-plan from the 5th.
- Lift canals on the left bank; flow on the right.
- Agenda 21 came from Rio 1992, not Johannesburg 2002.
- The Club of Rome did not propose the SDGs.
- Fig. 6.2's ‘28°26′’ should be 32°26′.
- Brundtland was Prime Minister of Norway.
How to strategise
Prelims — what UPSC asks
- Sustainable development: the Brundtland definition (2010), Brundtland herself (1993), Limits to Growth (1998), Agenda 21 (2016), Rio+10 Johannesburg (2008), SDGs and the Club of Rome (2016). Learn the global milestones box.
- Planning institutions and programmes: NITI Aayog replacing the Planning Commission (2015), SFDA's functions (1981), DPAP and DDP ministries (2014), causes of regional disparity (1999).
- Case-study links: transhumance (1988) and the Indira Gandhi Canal's source (1991).
Mains — where it appears and how to answer
- GS1: regional disparity vs diversity (2024), planned economy and colonial regional imbalances (2026), aspirational districts (2018), restoring mountain ecosystems (2019), micro-watersheds in drought-prone areas (2016), tribal development as displacement and rehabilitation (2025), sustainable growth vs the needs of the poor (2025).
- GS2–GS3: multi-level planning (GS2 2019), tribal development policy and equity (GS2 2026), NITI Aayog vs Planning Commission (GS3 2018), carrying capacity and regional planning (2019), inclusive growth and sustainability (2019), intra- and inter-generational equity (2020), industries in backward areas isolating tribals (2015).
- Answer frame: concept (sectoral vs regional; Brundtland) → Indian approach (target area and group, NITI) → evidence (Bharmaur literacy, IGNP greening vs salinity) → problems (uneven benefits, ecological costs) → measures (eco-development, diversification, participation) → conclusion.
- Use the Bharmaur and Indira Gandhi Canal case studies as ready examples, with one number each (1.88% → 65%; 19.63 lakh ha, 70% flow).
Self-check
Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.
1. Regional planning relates to:
2. ITDP refers to which one of the following?
3. Which one of the following is the most crucial factor for sustainable development in the Indira Gandhi Canal command area?
4. Which pair is a target GROUP programme?
5. The Brundtland Report that defined sustainable development was titled and published in:
6. In the Indira Gandhi Canal system, lift canals:
7. Hill areas recommended for treatment as backward (1981) were those above:
UPSC questions from this chapter
Open any question to attempt it in the Question bank — your attempt is saved to your progress.