A. Fundamentals of Human Geography (Periods 85)
Unit I: Human Geography: Nature and Scope (Periods 5)
Unit II: People (Periods 20)
• Population of the world – distribution, density and growth;
• Population change-spatial patterns and structure; determinants of population change;
• Age-sex ratio; rural-urban composition;
• Human development – concept; selected indicators, international comparisons.
Unit III: Human Activities (Periods 28)
• Primary activities – concept and changing trends; gathering, pastoral, mining, subsistence agriculture, modern agriculture; people engaged in agriculture and allied activities – some examples from selected countries;
• Secondary activities – concept; manufacturing: agro-processing, household, small scale, large scale; people engaged in secondary activities – some examples from selected countries;
• Tertiary activities – concept; trade, transport and communication; services; people engaged in tertiary activities – some examples from selected countries;
• Quaternary activities – concept; knowledge based industries; people engaged in quaternary activities – some examples from selected countries.
Unit IV: Transport, Communication and Trade (Periods 20)
• Land transport – roads, railways – rail network; trans-continental railways;
• Water transport- inland waterways; major ocean routes;
• Air transport – Intercontinental air routes;
• Oil and gas pipelines;
• Satellite communication and cyber space;
• International trade – Basis and changing patterns; ports as gateways of international trade, role of WTO in International trade.
Unit V: Human Settlements (Periods 12)
• Settlement types – rural and urban; morphology of cities (case study); distribution of mega cities; problems of human settlements in developing countries.
B. India: People and Economy (Periods 85)
Unit I: People (Periods 15)
• Population – distribution, density and growth; composition of population: linguistic and religious; rural-urban population change through time – regional variations; occupation;
• Migration: international, national – causes and consequences;
• Human development – selected indicators and regional patterns;
• Population, environment and development.
Unit II: Human Settlements (Periods 10)
• Rural settlements – types and distribution;
• Urban settlements – types, distribution and functional classification.
Unit III: Resources and Development (Periods 30)
• Land resources – general land use; agricultural land use – major crops; agricultural development and problems, common property resources;
• Water resources – availability and utilization – irrigation, domestic, industrial and other uses; scarcity of water and conservation methods – rain water harvesting and watershed management (one case study related with participatory watershed management to be introduced) ;
• Mineral and energy resources – metallic and non-metallic minerals and their distribution; conventional and non-conventional energy sources;
• Industries – types and distribution; industrial location and clustering; changing pattern of selected industries – iron and steel, cotton textiles, sugar, petrochemicals, and knowledge based industries; impact of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation on industrial location;
• Planning in India – target area planning (case study); idea of sustainable development (case study).
Unit IV: Transport, Communication and International Trade (Periods 15)
• Transport and communication — roads, railways, waterways and airways; oil and gas pipelines; national electric grids; communication networkings – radio, television, satellite and internet;
• International trade — changing pattern of India’s foreign trade; sea ports and their hinterland and airports.
Unit V: Geographical Perspective on Selected Issues and Problems
(One case study to be introduced for each topic) (Periods 15)
• Environmental pollution; urban-waste disposal;
• Urbanisation-rural-urban migration; problem of slums;
• Land Degradation.
C. Practical Work (Periods 50)
Unit I : Processing of Data and Thematic Mapping (Periods 25)
• Sources of data;
• Tabulating and processing of data; calculation of averages, measures of central tendency, deviation and rank correlation;
• Representation of data – construction of diagrams: bars, circles and flowchart; thematic maps; construction of dot; choropleth and isopleth maps. Use of computers in data processing and mapping.
Unit II: Field Study or Spatial Information Technology (Periods 25)
Field visit and study: map orientation, observation and preparation of sketch; survey on any one of the local concerns: pollution, ground water changes, land use and land-use changes, poverty, energy issues, soil degradation, drought and flood impacts (any one topic of local concern may be taken up for the study; observation and questionnaire survey may be adopted for the data collection; collected data may be tabulated and analysed with diagrams and maps).
OR
Spatial Information Technology
Introduction to GIS; hardware requirements and software modules; data formats: raster and vector data, data input, editing and topology building; data analysis; overlay and buffer.