India
has a large number of economically useful minerals
and they constitute one-quarter of the world's known
mineral resources. About two-thirds of its iron deposits
lies in a belt along Orissa and Bihar border. Other
haemaite deposits are found in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka,
Maharastra and Goa. Magnetite iron-ore is found in
Tamilnadu, Bihar and Himachal.
India has the world's largest deposits
of coal. Bituminous coal is found in Jharia and Bokaro
in Bihar and Ranigunj in West Bengal. Lignite coals
are found in Neyveli in Tamilnadu.
Next to Russia, India has the largest
supply of Manganese. The manganese mining areas are
Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and Bihar-Orissa area.
Chromite deposits are found in Bihar, Cuttack district
in Orissa, Krishna district in Andhra and Mysore and
Hassan in Karnataka. Bauxite deposits are found in
western Bihar, southwest Kashmir, Central Tamilnadu,
and parts of Kerala, U.P, Maharastra and Karnataka.
India also produces third quarters
of the world's mica. Belts of high quality mica are,
Bihar, Andhra and Rajasthan. Gypsum reserves are in
Tamilnadu and Rajasthan. Nickel ore is found in Cuttack
in Bihar and Mayurbanj in Orissa. Ileminite reserves
are in Kerala and along the east and the west coastal
beaches.
Silimanite reserves are in Sonapahar
of Meghalaya and in Pipra in M.P. Copper ore bearing
areas are Agnigundala in Andhra, Singhbum in Bihar,
Khetri and Dartiba in Rajasthan and parts of Sikkhim
and Karnataka.
The Ramagiri field in Andhra, Kolar
and Hutti in Karnataka are the important gold mines.
The Panna diamond belt is the only
diamond producing area in the country, which covers
the districts of Panna, Chatarpur and Satna in Madya
Pradesh, as well as some parts of Banda in Uttar Pradesh.
Petroleum deposits are found in Assam
and Gujarat. Fresh reserves were located off Bombay.
The potential oil bearing areas are, Assam, Tripura,
Manipur, west Bengal, Punjab, Himachal, Kutch and
the Andamans.
India also possesses the all-too valuable
nuclear uranium as well as some varieties of rare
earths.
SOILS
Soil-types in India can be classified
into three groups. The first group comprises of the
alluvial, black and red soils, which are basically
fertile and are arable and cultivatable.
The second group consists of the peaty
and marshy, the saline and alkaline soils which are
potentially arable.
The third group is the laterite and
forest and hill soils, which are not at all suitable
for cultivation.
The main alluvial area is found in
the Indo-Gangetic plain and the Peninsular regions.
The main crops are rice, sugarcane and wheat. Black
soil is found in the northwestern regions and in the
Deccan lava areas and Tamilnadu.
Black soil is especially suited for
cotton. Red soil is particularly rich in potash and
is found in northern and central India. The peaty
and marshy soils are found in the Bengal deltas, Saline
and alkaline soils in the semi-arid regions of Bihar,
U.P, Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan. Desert soils are
found in the minimum rain receiving areas of Gujarat,
Punjab and Rajasthan. Laterite soil is common in the
low hills of Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Orissa and Assam.
There
are two crop seasons: Kharif, Rabi. The major Kharif
crops are rice, jowar, maize, cotton, sugarcane, sesame
and groundnut. The Rabi crops are wheat, jowar, barley,
gram, rapeseed and mustard and the summer crops are
rice, maize, groundnut and some cash crops.
