Land Transport

Road Transport

• Sher Shah Suri built the Shahi (Royal) road to strengthen and consolidate his empire from the Indus Valley to the Sonar Valley in Bengal.
• This road was renamed the Grand Trunk (GT) road during the British period, connecting Calcutta and Peshawar.
• At present, it extends from Amritsar to Kolkata. It is bifurcated into 2 segments
• National Highway (NH)-1 from Delhi to Amritsar, and (b) NH- 2 from Delhi to Kolkata 20 year road plan (1961) was introduced to improve the conditions of roads in India.
• For the purpose of construction and maintenance, roads are classified as National Highways (NH), State Highways(SH), Major District Roads and Rural Roads

National Highways

• These roads are meant for inter-state transport and movement of defence men and material in strategic areas.
• The National Highways constitute only two per cent of the total road length but carry 40 per cent of the road traffic.
• The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was operationalising in 1995.
• It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Surface Transport.
• It is entrusted with the responsibility of development, maintenance and operation of National Highways.

Golden Quadrilateral

• India’s four big metro cities of Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai- Kolkata.

North-South and East-West Corridors

• North-South corridor aims at connecting Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir with Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu (including Kochchi-Salem Spur) with 4,076 km long road.
• The East-West Corridor has been planned to connect Silchar in Assam with the port town of Porbandar in Gujarat with 3, 640 km of road length.

Rail Transport

• One of the longest in the world.
• Facilitates the movement of both freight and passengers and contributes to the growth of economy.
• Mahatma Gandhi said, the Indian railways “brought people of diverse cultures together to contribute to India’s freedom struggle.”
• Indian Railway was introduced in 1853, when a line was constructed from Bombay to Thane covering a distance of 34 km.
• Thus, in India, the railway system has been divided into sixteen zones.

Other Roads

Border Roads and International Highways

• The Border Road Organisation (BRO) was established in May 1960 for accelerating economic development and strengthening defence preparedness through rapid and coordinated improvement of strategically important roads along the northern and north-eastern boundary of the country.
• It is a premier multifaceted construction agency.
• It has constructed roads in high altitude mountainous terrain joining Chandigarh with Manali (Himachal Pradesh) and Leh (Ladakh). This road runs at an average altitude of 4,270 metres above the mean sea level.
• This organization has completed over 40,450 km of roads by March 2005.
• The BRO also undertakes snow clearance in high altitude areas.
• The international highways are meant to promote the harmonious relationship with the neighbouring countries by providing effective links with India.

Water Transport

About

The water transport is of two types–(a) inland waterways, and (b) oceanic waterways.

Inland Waterways

• Faced tough competition from road and railway transport. Moreover, diversion of river water for irrigation purposes made them non navigable in large parts of their courses.
• It comprises rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc.
• Inland Waterways Authority was set up in 1986.
• backwaters (Kadal) of Kerala
• Apart from providing cheap means of transport, they are also attracting large number of tourists in Kerala.
• The famous Nehru Trophy Boat Race (VALLAMKALI) is also held in the backwaters.

Oil and Gas Pipelines

• Pipelines are the most convenient and efficient mode of transporting liquids and gases over long distances.
• Even solids can also be transported by pipelines after converting them into slurry.
• Oil India Limited (OIL) under the administrative set up of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is engaged in the exploration, production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas. It was incorporated in 1959 as a company.
• Asia’s first cross country pipeline covering a distance of 1,157 km was constructed by OIL from Naharkatiya oilfield in Assam to Barauni refinery in Bihar. It was further extended up to Kanpur in 1966.
• Another extensive network of pipelines has been constructed in the western region of India of which Ankleshwar -Koyali, Mumbai High- Koyali and Hazira-Vijaipur- Jagdishpur (HVJ) are most important.
• Recently, a 1256 km long pipeline connecting Salaya (Gujarat) with Mathura (U.P.) has been constructed.
• It supplies crude oil from Gujarat to Punjab (Jalandhar) via Mathura.

Oceanic Routes

• India’s coastline- 7,517 km
• Approximately 95 per cent of India’s foreign trade by volume and 70 per cent by value moves through ocean routes.
• Apart from international trade, these are also used for the purpose of transportation between the islands and the rest of the country.

Air Transportation

• It has reduced distances by minimising the travel time.
• It is very essential for a vast country like India, where distances are large and the terrain and climatic conditions are diverse.
• Air transport in India made a beginning in 1911 when airmail operation commenced over a little distance of 10 km between Allahabad and Naini.
• Airport Authority of India
• The air transport in India is managed by two corporations, Air India and Indian Airlines after nationalisation.

Air India

• Air India provides International Air Services for both passengers and cargo traffic.
• It connects all the continents of the world through its services.
• About 52 per cent of the total air traffic was handled only at Mumbai and Delhi airports.
• Pawan Hans is the helicopter service operating in hilly areas and is widely used by tourists in north-eastern sector.
• Pawan Hans Limited mainly provides helicopter services to petroleum sector and for tourism.

Open Sky Policy

• To help the Indian exporters and make their export more competitive, the government had introduced an Open Sky Policy for cargo in April 1992.
• Under this policy, foreign airlines or association of exporters can bring any freighters to the country.

Communication Networks

About

• Invention of post- office, telegraph, printing press, telephone, satellite, etc has made the communication much faster and easier.
• Development in the field of science and technology has significantly contributed in bringing about revolution in the field of communication.
• On the basis of scale and quality, the mode of communication can be divided into following categories-

• 1. Personal Communication
• 2. Mass Communication

Personal Communication System

• Among the entire personal communication system internet is the most effective and advanced one.
• It is widely used in urban areas. It enables the user to establish direct contact through e-mail to get access to the world of knowledge and information.
• It is increasingly used for e-commerce and carrying out money transactions.
• The internet is like a huge central warehouse of data, with detailed information on various items.
• The network through internet and e-mail provides an efficient access to information at a comparatively low cost.

Mass Communication System

1. Radio

• Radio broadcasting started in India in 1923 by the Radio Club of Bombay.
• Government took this opportunity and brought this popular mode of communication under its control in 1930 under the Indian Broadcasting System.
• It was changed to All India Radio in 1936 and to Akashvani in 1957.
• All India Radio broadcasts a variety of programmes related to information, education and entertainment.

2. Television (T.V.)

• Initially, the T.V. services were limited only to the National Capital where it began in 1959.
• After 1972, several other centres became operational.
• In 1976, TV was delinked from All India Radio (AIR) and got a separate identity as Doordarshan (DD).
• After INSAT-IA (National Television-DD1) became operational, Common National Programmes (CNP) was started for the entire network and its services were extended to the backward and remote rural areas.

3. Satellite Communication

• Satellites are mode of communication in themselves as well as they regulate the use of other means of communication.
• However, use of satellite in getting a continuous and synoptic view of larger area has made satellite communication very vital for the country due to the economic and strategic reasons.
• Satellite images can be used for the weather forecast, monitoring of natural calamities, surveillance of border areas, etc.

On the basis of configuration and purposes, satellite system in India can be grouped into two:

• Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) and
• Indian Remote Sensing Satellite System (IRS).

• The INSAT, which was established in 1983,is a multi- purpose satellite system for telecommunication, meteorological observation and for various other data and programmes.
• The IRS satellite system became operational with the launching of IRS-IA in March 1988 from Vaikanour in Russia.
• These satellites collect data in several spectral bands and transmit them to the ground stations for various uses.
• The National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) at Hyderabad provides facilities for acquisition of data and its processing.
• These are very useful in the management of natural resources.