Overview
• Transportation plays an important role to fulfill demands and to get things from supply location.
• Goods and services can be transported through three ways– land, water & air.
Roadways
• Roadways: India has second largest road network in world, almost about 62.16 lakh sq km [2020-21].
• Golden Quadrilateral super highways
(1) Delhi-Kolkata Chennai-Mumbai road linking was launched by government.
(2) North south corridors linking Srinagar and Kanyakumari.
(3) East west corridors linking Silchar and Porbandar.
(4) Made by NHAI [National highway authority of India].
• National Highways: Links extreme parts of country
(1) This is maintained by Central Public Works department [CPWD]
(2) Major national highways run in north-south and east-west directions.
(3) NH 1 is between Delhi and Amritsar.
• State Highways: These link state capital with different districts. These are Constructed and maintained by State Public Works Department PWD.
• District roads: These connect district headquarters and other places in district. These are maintained by concerned zila parishad.
• Other roads: These Link rural areas and villages with towns.
• Border roads: These are constructed and maintained by border road organization [BRO]. This organization was established in 1960. strategy is to develop north and north eastern border areas.
• Railways: Principal mode of transport in India for freight and passengers.
(1) Railways bind economic life and accelerate development of industries and agriculture sector.
(2) This is organized into 16 zones.
• Airways: Airways is very expensive service and is inaccessible for common people but UDAN scheme has made it possible for common people by making it cheaper Waterways
• This is cheapest means of transport. This is most suitable for carrying bulky goods and it is fuel efficient and environment friendly. India’s inland navigation is 14500km in length, out of that only 5685 km is navigable by mechanized vessels.
National Waterways by Government
• Ganga river between Allahabad and Haldia N.W.No.1, Brahmaputra river between sadiya and dhubri N.W.No.2, west-coast canal in Kerala N.W.No.3.Specified stretches of Godavari and Krishna rivers with Kakinada Puducherry stretch of canals N.W.No.4., Specified stretches of river Brahmani along with Matai river, delta channels of Mahanadi and Brahmani river and east coast canal N.W.No.5.
• Ports:
(1) Kandla port in Kutch: 1st port developed after Independence for replacement of Karachi port.
(2) Mumbai port: This is biggest port in terms of space and has a well-sheltered harbour.
(3) Marmagao port: This is in Goa and it is an iron ore oriented exporting port in India.
(4) New Mangalore port: This is located in Karnataka carter to export iron ore from Kundremukh mines.
(5) Cochin Port: This is located at entrance of lagoon with a natural harbour which is in south western part.
(6) Tuticorin: This is in Tamil Nadu having a natural habour and rich hinterland, thus handling trade in Cargoes in neighbouring countries such Sri Lanka and Maldives.
(7) Chennai port: This is oldest artificial port and 2nd busiest port after Mumbai.
(8) Vishakhapatnam: This is deepest landlocked and well protected port. Paradip port is in Odisha.
(9) Kolkata port: This is an inland riverine port which serves Ganga and Brahmaputra basins.
(10) Haldia port: This is in West Bengal and is developed as a subsidiary port of Kolkata port.
Pipelines
• This is a new arrival in transportation system and earlier it was used for water, but now it is used for oil, petroleum, natural gas for fertilizer and refineries. Mathura, and Panipat have gas based pipelines.
Communication
• Ever since humans appeared on earth, they have used different means of communication. But, pace of change, has been rapid in modern times.
• Personal communication and mass communication including television, radio, press, films. are major means of communication in country. Indian postal network is largest in world.
• First class mail: Cards and envelopes are considered as first class mail.
• Second class mail Book packets, registered newspapers and periodicals.
• Six mail channels: Rajdhani channel, Green channel, Metro channel, Business channel, Bulk channel and Periodical channel. India has largest telecom network in Asia
• India has one of largest telecom networks in Asia.
• More than two-thirds of villages in India have already been covered with Subscriber Trunk Dialling [STD] telephone facility.
• Mass communication provides entertainment and creates awareness among people about various national programmes and policies. It includes radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books & films.
• Doordarshan, national television channel of India, is one of largest terrestrial networks in world.
• India publishes a large number of newspapers and periodicals annually.
• Newspapers are published in about 100 languages and dialects.
• India is largest producer of feature films in world.
• Central Board of Film Certification is authority to certify both Indian and foreign films.
International Trade
• exchange of goods between two parties is called trade and trade which takes place between two countries is called international trade through sea, air & land routes. This is considered as economic barometer of a country.
• Balance of trade: This is difference between export and import of a country.
(1) China is largest importer of India following USA and UAE is at third place.
(2) USA is largest exporter of India following UAE and China.
(3) Among export: As per 2016-2017 data India has an agricultural export of 8.64%, base metals 6.91%, gems & jewels of 17.02%, and chemical and related products of 12.06%.
(4) Among imports: India has imports petroleum and crude oil 22.4%, gems & jewels 12.8%, chemical & related products 9.76%, base metals 5.95 %, electronic items 10.94%, machinery 8.9%, and agriculture and allied products 5.84% as per 2016-17 data. India is called software giant, by export of information technology India has earned a huge foreign exchange.
Tourism as Trade
• There has been seen exponential growth in tourism sector in India which rose from 4.5% in 2014 to 8.3% in 2015.
• Tourism sector has contributed to creating employment as more than 15 million people are directly engaged in tourism sector.