Status of Natural Resource in India

  • India is gifted with various types of natural Resources such as fertile soil, forests, minerals and water. These resources are unevenly distributed. The Indian continent covers a multitude of biotic and abiotic resource.
  • As India has rapid population growth therefore there is overconsumption of resources, such as uncontrolled logging or overfishing and many valuable natural resources are rapidly being exhausted.
  • India has huge watered fertile lands. In the sedimentary soil of the Northern Great Plains of the Sutlej-Ganga plains and Brahmaputra Valley wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane, jute, cotton, rapeseed, mustard, sesame, linseed, are grown in plentiful. India’s land area includes regions with high rainfall to dry deserts, Coast line to Alpine regions.
  • India also has a variety of natural vegetation since the country has a varied relief and climate. These forests are narrowed to the plateaus and hilly mountainous areas. India has a great variety of wildlife.
  • There are many national parks and hundreds of wild life sanctuaries. Around 24.5 percent of the total geographical area include Forests(IFSR 2019), Because India’s whether conditions are changing frequently and differences in altitude, different types of Forest are present in India including Tropical, Swamps, Mangrove and Alpine.
  • Variety of forest vegetation is large. Forests are the main source of Fire woods, Paper, Spices, Drugs, Herbs, Gums and more. Forests has great contribution to nation’s GDP.
  • India has more marine and inland water resources. Reports signify that India has an 8129 km long coastline. Inland fishery is performed in Rivers, Reservoirs and Lakes. Reports of EIA estimate indicated that in Indian rivers more than 400 species of fish are found and many species are economically important.

 

 

Indian Oil reserves

  • India holds 4,728,790,000 barrelsof proven oil reserves as of 2016, ranking 24th in the world and accounting for about 0.3% of the world’s total oil reserves of 1,650,585,140,000 barrels. India has proven reserves equivalent to 2.9 times its annual consumption.
  • The oil and gas industry in India dates back to 1889 when the first oil deposits in the country were discovered near the town of Digboi in the state of Assam. The natural gas industry in India began in the 1960s with the discovery of gas fields in Assam and Maharashtra (Bombay high). As on 31 March 2018, India had estimated crude oil reserves of 594.49 million tonnes (MT) and natural gas reserves of 1339.57 billion cubic meters (BCM).
  • India imports 82% of its oil needs and aims to bring that down to 67% by 2022 by replacing it with local exploration, renewable energy and indigenous ethanol fuel.India was the second top net crude oil (including crude oil products) importer of 205.3 Mt in 2019.
  • By March 2021, India’s domestic crude oil production output fell by 5.2% and natural gas production by 8.1% in the FY21 as producers extracted 30,491.Thousand Metric Tonnes (TMT) of crude oil and 28670.6 Million Metric Standard Cubic Metres (MMSCM) of natural gas.
  • An enormous mass of India’s natural gas production comes from the western offshore regions, particularly the Mumbai High complex. The onshore fields in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat states are also main producers of natural gas
  • Mineral Resource in India are also in large amount such as iron, coal, mineral oil, manganese, bauxite, chromite, copper, tungsten, gypsum, limestone, mica. When evaluating the Livestock Resource, it is found that Hills, mountains and less fertile lands are put under pasture.
  • Scientific methods are followed in rearing cattle. India maintains rich domestic animal diversity. India has large number of animals like goat, sheep, poultry, cattle, and buffalo. Indian livestock has imperative role in improving the socio-economic status of the rural masses.
  • In the area of Horticulture, India has various agro-climatic conditions which facilitates cultivation of a large number of horticulture crops such as vegetables, fruits, flower, medicinal and aromatic plant, mushroom, etc. and plantation corps like tea, coffee and rubber.
  • Non-renewable resources are also plentiful in different parts of India: Coal is the mainly used energy in India and occupies the leading position.
  • In India, coal is obtained mostly from Andra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir.
  • Natural gas in India is available in Tripura State, Krishna Godavari field and gas associates in petroleum products. Petroleum product has become a vital source of energy in India.
  • In India, Petroleum products can be obtained from Digbol, Assam, around the Gulf of Khambat in Gujarat, off shore in Arabian Sea, spread out from Mumbai up to 100miles.
  • India has fourth rank in producing iron ore in the world. On an average, India produces about 7 per cent of the world production. It has about 2.6 per cent iron ore reserves of the world.