NTA UGC NET/JRF Exam, June, 2025 Geography

Annual plans were formulated in India between the Third and Fourth Five-Year Plans. The Third FiveYear Plan was formulated for the period 1961 to 1966. The primary objective of the Third Five-Year Plan was to build a self-reliant and self-sustaining economy.
he abject failure of the Third Plan, due to a sharp decline in agricultural production and the wars of 1962 and 1965, necessitated the government to declare planning holidays (from 1966 to 1967, 1967-68, and 1968-69). During this period, the government formulated three annual plans instead of a five-year plan. During 1966-67, agriculture, its allied activities, and the industrial sector were given equal priority.
A new agricultural strategy was adopted in 1966. The Indian government focused on increasing exports for the first time. Industrial production also increased in 1968-69. During the three-year hiatus between the end of the Third Plan and the finalization of the Fourth Plan, national income followed an uneven pattern. The Fourth Five-Year Plan (1969-74) aimed for higher economic growth. During this period, emphasis was given to programs that promoted development while maintaining socialjustice.

The Bharatmala Pariyojana, approved in 2017, has a total planned length of 34,800 km, including 10,000 km from the National Highways Development Project (NHDP). The project aims to improve connectivity and reduce logistics costs in the country through the construction of economic corridors, inter-corridors, feeder routes, improving the efficiency of national corridors, border and international connectivity, coastal and port connectivity, and expressways, as well as residual NHDP funding. By October 2024, 26,425 km of national highways have been awarded under the scheme.

Regions such as Mato Grosso in Brazil, the Paris Basin, the Murray-Darling Basin (Australia), and the Pampas in Argentina are renowned for large-scale agricultural industrialization worldwide. Large-scale agricultural industrialization has developed in the temperate grasslands located in the mid-latitudes.
The temperate grasslands have flat terrain, allowing for the establishment of large farms and the use of large-scale modern agricultural machinery. Due to the low population in these regions, local consumption of the food produced is minimal. The countries occupying these grasslands are economically and technologically advanced, and therefore, they utilize advanced seeds, techniques, and modern agricultural machinery extensively. Almost all of the food produced is exported, generating monetary income.
The Gangetic plains in India are not known for large-scale agricultural industrialization; intensive subsistence agriculture is practiced here. Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

The Archean is the oldest Indian rock system. The word "Archean" literally means "most ancient," or relating to Earth's earliest geological period. Two orders of Archean group rocks are found: (a) Archean granite and gneiss and (b) Dharwar sedimentary. India's geological history begins with these oldest rocks. Archean rocks extend over approximately two-thirds of peninsular India, from Kanyakumari in the south to Rajasthan in the north.

The key components of a geographic information system are hardware, software, data, people, and processes, while landforms are not included within the GIS. Advanced computing systems available since the mid1970s enable the processing of georeferenced information, the location of specific information within individual files, the execution of computations, and the development of decision-making systems for the purpose of spatial data and attribute representation and their relationships. A system capable of performing all these functions is called a geographic information system (GIS).

In contrast to Mackinder's Heartland Theory, Spykman's Rimland Theory emphasizes the strategic importance of the coastal border region of Eurasia. Spykman's book, "The Geography of Peace," explains his concept of the Rimland or Periphery. Spykman firmly believed that the foundation of international strategic relations in contemporary world politics lies in maritime power, not in the future prospects of heartland development. Spykman's Rimland encompassed almost all of continental Europe west of the Baltic and Black Sea isthmuses, the mountainous southwestern and southeastern regions of Asia, and China.
Spykman dismissed Mackinder's theory of strategic dominance in the Heartland as flawed and proposed a new strategic formula: "Whoever controls the Rimland rules Eurasia; whoever rules Eurasia will decide the fate of the world."