Essay on the Geography of Modern India: Top 6 Essays | Geography

Here is a compilation of essays on the ‘Geography of Modern India’ for class 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on the ‘Geography of Modern India’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on the Geography of Modern India

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Essay Contents:

1. Essay on the Introduction to the Geography of Modern India
2. Essay on the Geographical Society and Association in British India
3. Essay on the Development of Geography in Modern India
4. Essay on the Geographical Societies and Geographical Journals and Periodicals
5. Essay on the Geography and Scientific Research Institutes
6. Essay on the Perspective of Indian Geography

Essay # 1. Introduction to the Geography of Modern India:

Modern Indian Geography is a blend of different ‘schools’ of thought as of British, French, Russian (erstwhile Soviet Union) and the American. However, the influence of the British School of thought was more expressive in Indian Geography.

It has been rightly observed that- ‘Ideas similar to those developed in Britain, France, former Soviet Union, United States, and Germany were presented in many different languages and in many different national and regional settings, and these ideas had shaped the geographical scholarship of different nations around the world’. Modern geography in India, therefore, had its development ‘not independently’; rather, its development was ‘dependent in nature’, lacking in indigenous ‘inputs’.

To quote James and Martin (1972, 258-59):

‘The new geography was transmitted from Great Britain to the former British colonies and dominions. In fact, many of the universities in these areas have close administrative connection with a university in Britain. Many of the distinctive characteristics of British geography were passed on to universities throughout the Commonwealth’.

The mid-1920s is a watershed in the institutionalisation of the discipline of geography in India. It was in this time that India’s first geographical association was formed and under-graduate classes were first started in colleges affiliated to Lahore (now in Pakistan) in 1920, Aligarh in 1924 and Patna in 1927. The maiden seeds for the discipline had been planted.

To gain root in a sterile landscape, the pioneers faced enormous hardships. All these happened because of British initiatives.

The British were official couriers of the seeds of a segregated and defined discipline of geography in India. For over a hundred years, the British used the tools of this science to measure, collect, organise and document the geographical facts of India.

But the study of geography in India did not find its expression till the early twentieth century. The knowledge of geographical horizon increased successively with the inputs of geographical information provided by the institutions, found by the British for the purpose.

The establishment of these institutes by the British in the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries necessarily provided inputs for geographical studies in India, but it was not until the early twentieth century that the fruits of geographical information provided by these institutes were realised. The Survey of India was set up in 1767 with the purpose of knowing the geography of this vast subcontinent through the map-works.

The first map of Hindustan on a scale of 1:3 million was prepared in 1788 by James Rennell, the first Surveyor General. Following this success, the Great Trigonometrical Survey resulted in geodetic investigation of marked importance. By producing an interrelated triangulation series and using a theodolite, the heights of 79 major Himalayan peaks were determined, including the height of the highest peak.

The Geological Survey of India was set up in 1851 with the purpose of discovering the mineral resources, especially the strategic minerals and coal beds as fuel for the British-laid railways. By the end of the nineteenth century, most of the major geological formations were identified and located throughout the subcontinent that largely helped to map the distribution and/or locations of occurrence of different mineral resources.

The horizon of geographical knowledge witnessed an upward increase with the activities of the Survey of India and the Geological Survey of India, but the study of geography in India continued to be academically inexpressive and confined to primary- level teaching.

Geographic information and knowledge, so far collected, were used to further British colonisation and influence to the inaccessible regions of the subcontinent. Geography was used as a tool for political expansion. Surveys and maps were not only the tools for storing geographical information, but describing and compiling statistics were additional supports.

The geographer with the East India Company, John Walker, undertook the responsibility of compiling the Atlas of India, on a scale of 4 miles to one inch. The compilation work began in 1882, and the Great Atlas of India was completed only by the early twentieth century.

The gazetteer, a geographical dictionary in which names and descriptions of places were given in alphabetical order, was an important invention of Johnn G. H. Hassel, a German geographer in 1817. By 1881, nine volume sets of the Imperial Gazetteer of India were compiled by W. H. Hunter, but the number of volumes increased to 26 in 1907.

A retinue of provincial and district gazetteers followed soon. The British had left a legacy of 500 gazetteers on India when they left in 1947 August. Nevertheless, the geography teaching in the nineteenth century British India continued to confine to the primary level only, where pupils were asked to memorise names of the places, their location, etc.

The horizon of geographical knowledge about the subcontinent was politically and strategically motivated, but its academic relevance continued to remain redundant. The British neither promoted geography teaching at the college/university level nor training for the school teachers at the graduate level.

The British established a university in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857, followed by one at Lahore (now in Pakistan) in 1882 and Allahabad in 1877, but without a department of geography. Even at the college level, there was no facility for geography teaching.

The Indian Universities Act, passed in 1904, was designed to embark upon post-graduate teaching and research in both the humanities, and the physical science, but there was no mention of the discipline of geography to be introduced in the college/university curriculum.

It was after 16 years since the Indian Universities Act of 1904 was passed that the geography teaching at the undergraduate level was started and/or introduced in colleges affiliated to Lahore in 1920, Aligarh in 1924 and in Patna in 1927.

However, credit must be given to the Indian Science Congress Association, formed in 1914, for promoting the geography teaching at the under-graduate college level, particularly, where infrastructure was available for beginning teaching, although geography was not in its priorities at its initial phase. It was geology, not geography; which was earlier given an academic recognition by the Indian Science Congress Association.

Essay # 2. Geographical Society and Association in British India:

The first geographical society ever established in India was the Bombay Geographical Society, Bombay in 1832. However, it was not an indigenous society by birth or by its focus of interest; rather, it was established under the patronage of the Royal Geographical Society, London. The Bombay Geographical Society was later merged with the Royal Asiatic Society, in 1837, which was founded in 1823, with its headquarters in Calcutta.

The East India Company had showed its special interest in the establishment of the Bombay Geographical Society for the simple reason of acquiring vital geographical information of the land and people of India. The Society had no Indian members.

Since the Bombay Geographical Society was merged with the Royal Asiatic Society, Calcutta in 1837, it was not known what contribution it made with regard to India’s land and people. The Society had political ambition, rather than academic interests.

However, the geographical societies and associations that sprang up in the early twentieth century were founded where the undergraduate teaching of geography was started:

1. Curzon Geographical Society, Aligarh 1925

2. Madras Geographical Association, Madras 1926

3. Patna College Geographical Society, Patna 1929

4. Calcutta Geographical Society, Calcutta 1933

5. Bombay Geographical Association, 1935

The Bombay Geographical Association, however, was the joint effort of school teachers of geography, but all the other four societies/ associations were creation of incipient number among scholars and experts who had realised the relevance of the discipline in academic and applied fields. All the four societies and associations were founded by non-geographer British scholars.

Advocating the cause for geography within the sphere of education and research, all the societies played a key role in their own region of influence. All the four geographical societies/associations are still active in their academic pursuits, promoting geographical research and studies of international standard, except the Patna College Geographical Society that has remained dormant for the past several decades.

The discipline of geography at the time of the end of the British rule in 1947 was still in a pre- embryonic stage, because of the lack of interest shown by the indigenous scholars in the discipline. Geography was not a fascinating discipline that it would attract many people for academic purposes and works. Geology was more popular and fascinating because of its applied nature.

Those interested in the study of the Earth’s surface and features were necessarily inclined towards geology, rather than towards geography. ‘While geologists had greater recognition, they played an important role to popularize geography in the coming decades. The focus in physical geography, the development of which Calcutta was to be proud of later, is rooted in its allegiance with geology. In fact, the Calcutta Geographical Society owes its birth in 1933 to geologists who constituted a sizeable group among its founder members’.

Essay # 3. Development of Geography in Modern India:

Although the roots of the development of geography in India lay in the British period, but the development was ‘intermittent’, ‘discontiguous’, and ‘isolated’ in nature, because the discipline had few takers in British India.

The possible reason might be the lack of professionalism of the discipline vis-a-vis the continued relevance of geology, rather than in the studies of the earth- bound phenomena that the British encouraged and supported. The status of geography on the eve of the British departure was too low to be mentioned, given the size of the land and people of the country.

However, the departments of geography grew in number from 17 in 1947 to 48 in 1970. The post­graduate teaching was started in quite a number of universities, and the discipline in 1950s of the last century started experiencing professionalism.

Good number of geographical societies/associations came into existence in different parts of India with the intention of promoting geographical teaching, research and training. One of the significant historical aspects with the Indian geography in the 50s was its gradual recovery from the moribund waters.

As the discipline underwent conceptual and methodological changes at an unprecedented fast rate in the world as a whole, so was the case with the Indian geography in the late 1950s but the rate was not ‘unprecedently fast’, rather it was quite slow, but it did initiate changes in the status of Indian geography in general. Nevertheless, the non-geographers headed most of the important departments of geography during their formative phases. They mostly belonged to the discipline of geology and commerce.

Later on, the professionals trained in geography teaching, research and training took over the reins of these departments, and/or succeeded the non-geographers as the heads of the departments. This change-over had its impact on the contemporary Indian geography from geology/commerce-centric geography to ‘geographi-centric geography’, of course with British flavour.

Most of the people who occupied the chair of the various departments of geography of contemporary India were British-trained, and had a long tenure of more than decade(s) as the head, or chairman of the departments.

They are popularly called the ‘pioneers’ or ‘doyens’ of Indian geography. However, in 1956 a government agency, National Atlas Organisation, started work on the ‘Atlas of India and that played an important role in popularising geography teaching and research in independent India.

Geography in India in the 1950s and 1960s of the last century proliferated under the leadership of first generation geographers which included S. P. Chatterjee, P. Dayal, R. L. Singh, H. P. Das, G. S. Gosal, B. Arunachalam, N. B. K. Reddy, R. Vaidyanadhan and their role cannot be overlooked in building the department at Calcutta, Patna, Banaras, Guwahati, Chandigarh, Bombay, Tirupati and Waltair respectively. Most of them, however, had obtained their PhD degree from Great Britain, particularly from the University of London.

Similarly, I. R. Khan, the founder of the department of geography in the Aligarh Muslim University had also obtained his PhD degree from the University of London. Unique inter­disciplinary institutes like the Centre for Regional Development, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, the Institute of Development Studies at Mysore, and the Centre for Area Studies at Osmania University were the major achievements of Moonis Raza, R. P. Mishra and M. Alam.

Those who were trained in the Universities of Great Britain, particularly, in the University of London, for their higher studies, and who founded and built the departments of geography on their return to India, had introduced curriculum for geography teaching, research and training necessarily based on the British pattern. Only those branches of human geography were introduced in the geography curriculum for the under-graduate and post-graduate levels which were taught in the contemporary British universities, and to which the Indian geographers were trained.

Since political geography/geopolitics was not in the curriculum in the contemporary British Universities, this branch of human geography was not introduced in Indian universities. Though historical geography was very much a part of the tradition and heritage of British geography, but this branch of geography did not get a place and/or expression in the curriculum, prepared by the leaders of the first generation, who pioneered geography teaching in India.

Thus, at the embryonic stage of Indian geography, British geographical ideas, tradition and heritage and methods were propagated, popularised and set forth for higher studies. Despite a rich heritage of geographic knowledge, there was no attempt to revive and/or reconstruct the indigenous methods of the historic past, which could have given, if attempted, an ‘independent’ identity to Indian geography, completely free from the colonial legacy, of which the contemporary Indian geography was accused.

However, Indian geography, in the 1950s and part of the 1960s of the last century, having been influenced by the British geographers of the regional and/or chorological heritage, was drawn towards ‘regional approach’ in geographical studies as being evident by the contemporary publications.

Some Indian geographers such as G. S. Gosal, C. R. Pathak, R. P. Mishra and Mahadev, who could be put into the category of the second generation leadership, had the distinct opportunity to do their higher studies in the United States, at a time when the discipline had been undergoing theoretical methodological changes, and experiencing ‘paradigm-shift’, at the cost of the ‘regionalist’ geographer, like Richard Hartshorne.

Indian geographers, who had gone there, however, could not remain isolated from the changes that the discipline had been undergoing on account of the positivist- led quantification.

On return, they attempted to introduce, propagate, popularise the American School of Spatial Science at their respective areas and/ or departments. Indian geography was, thus, brought at the cross-roads of British heritage of regional geography and the newly developed American heritage of spatial science.

Nevertheless, there was nothing like a dichotomy in the contemporary Indian geography, but Indian geographers, by and large, showed their preference to the American School of spatial science, as being evident from the publications of that period.

In 1964, the Indian Science Congress Association, to which Indian geography was associated since 1934, published a review entitled Fifty Years of Science in India – 1910-1960, in which there was a separate discussion on the status and dimension of Indian geography, based on the available and published literature, pertaining to the nature of geographical studies conducted and/or undertaken during this period, by S. P. Chatterjee.

Three categories of studies were identified to be divided into:

(1) Physical Geography emphasising studies of the physical and geological formation of historic past, studies of different rock series, studies of deserts and arid features, studies of the Himalayas, studies of the great plain and other river-plains, studies of coastal areas, etc;

(2) Economic Geography, in which major emphasis was found to be on agriculture, irrigation, mineral and power resources, and industries, particularly, with special reference to the Bihar-Bengal-Orissa mineralised zone; and

(3) Cultural Geography, in which major emphasis was given on emerging urban scenario, rural morphology, migration, density of population and human geography.

In 1968, S. P. Chatterjee prepared a report on geography, entitled – Progress of Geography in India, (1964—1968). It was based on the review of work done in the discipline during this period. It was more of a nature of country report.

The study, however, revealed that Indian geographers had concentrated their work on geomorphology, agricultural geography, soils, urban geography and cartography. There was also a report on Geography in Indian Universities, published by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, on the eve of the 21st International Geographical Congress of the International Geographical Union, in 1968. It was held in New Delhi.

In 1972, the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, published a project-report, entitled Survey of Research in Geography, with regard to the contemporary state of geography in India. Eminent geographers, mostly belonging to the first generation leadership, like V. L. P. Rao (Delhi School of Economics), R. L. Singh (Banaras Hindu University), P. Dayal (Patna University), M. Shafi (Aligarh Muslim University), G. S. Gosal (Punjab University), S. M. Alam (Osmania University), C. D. Despande (Bombay University), S. P. Das Gupta (National Adas Organisation), Moonis Raza (Jawahar Lai Nehru University) and P. Mishra (Institute of Development Studies, Mysore) were the major contributors to the project report.

They studied and surveyed most of the publications, and researches done in geography until 1969, and divided the research into eight areas and/or categories: Economic Geography; Geography and Planning, Historical Geography, Human Geography, Political Geography, Regional Geography, Methodological Review, Research Methods.

The Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, published the Second Survey of Research in Geography in 1979 under the editorship of Moonis Raza. This survey report was concerned with the development of the discipline during 1969-1972. This period was identified as being the most important in the history of the development of modern geography in India. It ushered in an era of ‘New Geography’ in India.

The survey report attempted to identify the salient characteristics of contemporary Indian geography:

(1) Concern with regard to the problems of development and planning;

(2) Growing tendency of moving beyond the boundary of the discipline into the realm of other discipline of social sciences with result, the research frontier in geography being widened;

(3) Growing adaptability of quantitative techniques in research methodology;

(4) Lack of generalisation despite the adoption of quantitative techniques and models in geographic studies; and

(5) Growing tendency to adopt and apply western models in geographical studies under Indian context.

The second survey report identified five areas of research during the period under review that included Economic Geography; Social Geography; Historical and Political Geography; Population and Settlement Geography; Regional Geography and Planning.

Each of the five broad areas of research was further divided into several sub-fields with academic and professional relevance. Works in the area of economic geography includes resource geography, agricultural geography, land-use review, industrial geography, and transport and commercial geography.

In social geography, the survey report revealed that the major sub-areas of research work were in the field of caste and ethnicity, tribal communities, religions, language and sub-language, geography of social change, neglected areas of social geography, and application of quantitative techniques in social geography.

Works in historical and political geography included the studies of the past historical geography, construction and mapping of historical landscape of the past, political geography and studies of political phenomena in areal/spatial context, and geography of international relations.

In population and settlement geography, the major areas of research during the period were in the fields of population geography, rural settlement geography, and urban geography. Similarly, in regional geography and planning, the research trends were towards regional geography, regional planning, regional disparities and regional hierarchies.

The Indian Council of Social Science Research published the report of the Third Survey of Research in Geography in 1984 under the editorship of S. M. Alam. The report of the survey dealt with the period of 1972-1975. The report identified six major areas/sub-areas of research in contemporary Indian Geography, that included economic and resource geography (agricultural geography, industrial geography, commercial geography, and resource geography), social, historical and political geography (social geography—tribe, community and ethnicity, caste, religion, historical geography of the ancient and medieval period, contemporary political geography), population geography, settlement geography (rural settlement geography, and urban geography), regional and theoretical geography with emphasis on regional geography) geography of development (regional planning).

In 1999, the Indian Council of Social Science Research published the report of the Fourth Survey of Research in Geography under the editorship of G. S. Gosal. It covered the period of 1976-1982. Apparently, it was a short period for identifying any long-term trends in geographic research in the country, like the previous three survey reports of the Indian Council of Social Science.

But when considered in conjunction with what was happening in this field of study before 1976, it did throw up some important clues relating to developments in concepts and methodology in this discipline. Though the period of this survey is short, it is marked by the publication of a large number of papers in the major Indian journals, and these papers necessarily, indicated the contemporary trends in the development of research methods in various branches of geography.

It was on the basis of the research publications in the various branches of geography that the following sub-fields were identified:

1. Geomorphology;

2. Economic geography (agricultural geography, resource geography, marketing and transport geography);

3. Regional and Theoretical geography;

4. Social, historical, political and medical geography;

5. Population and settlement geography;

6. Urban geography, regional planning and development;

7. Environment and ecosystem.

Along with the new approaches in methodology were also seen studies which had an applied value. Besides the usual trend, geographical research was noted to be more diversified, particularly so in agricultural, marketing and transport geography, political (including electoral geography), medical, settlement and development geography and finally the studies of environment and ecosystem.

Broadly speaking, the contemporary geographical research focused on urban geography and regional planning. The inter-disciplinary research in geography was a new methodological development/phenomenon, and it appeared that the contemporary Indian geography had a major inter-face with regional science.

The fourth survey report identified the research trends that indicated:

(1) Acceptance of quantification (statistical methods and techniques),

(2) Growing emphasis on model building,

(3) Progress in the observation and handling of data,

(4) Progress in the analysis of processing research,

(5) Emphasis on social process,

(6) Data integration process with space and cultural phenomena, and

(7) Implication of research to spatial development.

1. Quantification:

The application of statistical methods and quantitative techniques became very common in most of the on-going research in physical, human and social geography. The process of quantification is well-perceived and adopted in more than one-half of the research papers during the period under review.

Indian geographers appear to have fully realised that without the aid of statistical and quantitative techniques, it is difficult to present facts and describe phenomena precisely and scientifically. As a result of this conviction, adequate emphasis was laid on the quantitative methods in the curriculum of geography in many universities, particularly at the post-graduate level.

The application of quantitative techniques became more common in fluvial geomorphology, morphometric analysis, agricultural efficiency, crop-association, productivity, agricultural regionalisation, transport studies, hierarchy of markets, assessment of domestic market potential, identification of marketing region in marketing geography, and the study of settlement patterns.

Hardly any sub-branch of geography had remained untouched of quantification; even political geography, particularly the electoral geography, experienced quantification during the period of the review.

However, in some cases, the application of quantitative techniques has proved to be disastrous because of:

(i) lack of knowledge of statistics and mathematics, and

(ii) wrong choice of the statistical/mathematical techniques for the analysis. It cannot, however, be denied that very few of the Indian geographers possessed sound knowledge of statistics and mathematics and as a result some of the publications were found to be ill-conceived.

2. Model Building:

The growing emphasis on theoretical geography during the past decades led to work on model-building. The use of model became quite common in the field of agricultural, marketing, transport and urban geography as well as in regional planning.

But, it is true that Indian Geographers could not develop any indigenous ‘Indian’ model, and they increasingly applied the models developed by the Anglo-American geographers. The application of such ‘western-developed’ models by the contemporary Indian geographers for their studies under Indian situation did not yield much desired results.

Nevertheless, it is true that the contemporary geographical literature in India became flooded with application of various models during the period under review, and the process got diversified at a ‘reasonably’ faster rate.

It became clear that theoretical studies were no longer confined to either economic or urban and transport geography, rather, sub-branches like electoral/political, medical, education and geography of tourism seemed to have employed analytical methods using models and quantitative techniques to facilitate the appreciation of development of precise relationship between the theoretical approach.

3. Progress in the Observation and Handling of Data:

The main fields of geographic research lay partly in physical and natural sciences and partly in social sciences. The availability of right kind of data—qualitative as well as quantitative—was crucial in Indian context. For a very long time research in geography in India was confined to empirical studies though field observation was not ruled out.

But, during the period under review, besides empirical and field observation, major sources of geographical data and information had been the topographical maps of the Survey of India and administrative and thematic maps of the Census of India and National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO). The secondary sources of data were found very much in use for research in geography.

The primary survey through questionnaire, schedules, field survey and observation, however, got an impetus in the various kinds of research works, including in MPhil dissertations, doctoral theses, and in research projects as in other social sciences. However, these field-oriented research involvements were relatively fewer.

The trend of research during the period under review was found to be very much development-oriented, the quality of research was dependent on the quality of available data in all sub-branches of economic, social and cultural geography. However, the organisations of data-collecting were not found to be relevant in the context of spatial orientation. There was a need for up-to-date data at national, state, district, block and village-level for quality and predictable research work. The development- oriented research work was reflected in the fields of agriculture, land use, transport, marketing and urban and regional planning.

Studies and researches in these fields could be strengthened by improving the nature and quality of information. Some geographers and non-geographers, specialising in geographic research, have used aerial photographs and satellite imageries, particularly in the fields of geomorphology, landforms, land-use, resource evaluation and transport network studies.

Even those working in the field of regional and urban planning also used aerial photographs and satellite imageries in their studies. But this research work, involving the use of aerial photographs and satellite imageries was confined to a few specialised geography departments of the country.

4. Analysis of Processes:

The cultural processes, altering the continually changing Earth’s space contents, have attracted significant attention in fundamental geographic researches. Working within a pattern-emphasising process, research in geography expanded in several new directions since the beginning of the professional geography in India.

Many such developments were initiated due to growing interest of geographers in public policy issues, like the problems of environmental control, resource management, human relations, poverty and nutrition, housing, transportation and urban renewal and re-development.

One of the many directions was the ecological process and the ecosystem. Many of the studies have dealt with the perception of adjustment to the spatial and temporal dimension of floods and drought. Attention of the research to environmental perception and its effects on the behaviour of urban and rural inhabitants was found to be getting focused/ attracted by a section of Indian geographers.

5. Social Process:

During 1970s and 1980s, an increasing number of geographers recognised the need for studying the social, as well as political, economic and physical processes that affect spatial structure and interaction of human societies. This is a new field for social geography to study the relationship between social pattern and natural environment.

‘The scope of social geography is to study the spatial patterns and functional relation of social groups in the context of their social milieu/ environment, the internal structure and external relation of the nodes of social activity, and the articulation of various channels of social communication’.

The major subfields of research in social geography were found to be political, medical, education, tourism geography, economic geography as well as the geography of religions.

6. Integration of Spatial Phenomena:

The systems analysis or systems approach has provided a new dimension to the studies of integrated problems.

There are three major sub-systems in overall geo-spatial (geographical) systems which include:

(i) human sub-system,

(ii) physical sub-system, and

(iii) an activity sub­system.

The geographer’s role is to understand the spatial structure and spatial interaction of the components of the several sub-systems in a given time or through a period of time. In this context, regional geography reflects the interaction and synthesis of the three sub­systems in a given area.

However, at present, the traditional regional study was being replaced by regional planning and regional development studies which were at times methodological and at times developmental.

This aspect of research attracted the attention of the Indian geographers not only during this period, but also a decade or two decades earlier. The present trend of consciousness in this line of research in geography shows that it further expands and will intensify both methodological and developmental studies.

7. Implications of Recent Developments:

Space is the first and most important fundamental element in geographical research. The study of spatial development was emphasised in different sub-branches of economic geography along with urban and regional planning and regional development. In the present context of development processes in our country, the trend of research, as evidenced from the various geographical studies published during this period, was very much directed to match with the local, regional and national requirements. It may be noted that this was by far the most positive development in contemporary research in geography in India which had immense applied value.

In economic geography, the spatial development approach was adopted in studies related to agricultural regionalisation and development, transport and economic development, hierarchy of market centres and identification of service areas, identification of drought-prone areas and development perspectives.

Similarly, the urban and regional development perspectives went on from micro-level to macro-level studies pertaining to development problems. In urban geography, the important studies were related to functional classification of towns and hierarchy of urban centres.

All the four successive surveys of research in geography, conducted by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, reveal one significant aspect that Indian geography since independence has moved forward in multi-directional ways without any ‘expressive’ dichotomies.

But, at the same time, it is equally true that Indian geography, during the period of its formation phase (1947-1982), was heavily dependent on Anglo-American geography, particularly with regard to the philosophical and methodological bases, and the discipline progressed along the Western model of the 1950s and 1960s in the country.

Indian geography passed through a ‘positive’ phase of its development in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when law-based geography overtook the tradition-based regional geography with the discipline of geography being conceived of a spatial science, rather than a chronological science; however, the Indian geographers never quarreled over this binary issue. They continued to treat the discipline as being unified.

Essay # 4. Geographical Societies and Geographical Journals and Periodicals:

Majority of the leading departments, which were accorded special treatment, started their own geographical societies and associations, to further geographical research and training. By 2000, India had about 50 societies and associations. However, majority of them were tied up with the colleges where there were departments of geography.

No doubt, geographical societies have been playing a very significant role in promoting geographical teaching, research, training and studies in the various sub-branches of the discipline, particularly at the centres and/ or departments, where geographical societies have come into existence.

Although the societies were mostly manned by the non-geographers, they flourished over time under their dynamic guidance. These societies made significant contributions to the development of geography, especially after independence, by publishing journals and periodicals, and organising local and regional seminars, workshops and summer schools.

However, these geographical societies are more regional in character rather than national. Bulk of the papers so far published in the journals and periodicals of these societies necessarily reveal local and/or regional bias. Nevertheless, the regional bias in the research publications has nothing to do with regard to the development of professionalism in Indian geography.

As the teaching of geography spread to different universities and colleges, both at the under-graduate and post-graduate levels, so came up a few more national and state level geographical societies attached to the new centres of geographical teaching and learning. The most important among them are the Indian Institute of Geographers, Pune, Association of Punjab Geographers, the Rajasthan Geographical Association, and the Association of Geographers of Bihar and Jharkhand.

The latter three associations are not associated with any universities; rather they came into existence primarily because the local and regional geographers felt the need of such associations to express their views and talents. These associations have their own journals and periodicals. Most of the state-level geographical associations/societies, however, have caused more harm than development of the discipline in the country since they run on money and politics.

However, the theme-based associations, particularly, the Association of Population Geographers of India, Chandigarh, have done commendable work in promoting population geography in India. It is attached with the Department of Geography, Punjab University, Chandigarh, and its contributions to the field of population geography in India are in no way inferior to the international standard. The Regional Science Association of India, and the Indian Society of Social Survey and Land-Use Planning, Nagpur, are known for their achievements in their respective areas/fields.

These two associations have made significant contributions to enhancing the methodological dimension of regional science, and soil and land use planning, giving a ‘nomothetic’ character to their respective areas of specialisation. The Indian National Cartographic Association, Hyderabad, has been doing commendable work since its inception by organising periodic workshops in cartography, making it more relevant in geographic teaching and research.

All the above-mentioned societies and associations have been working individually without any interaction between them. So, the lack of togetherness among these societies and associations has badly hurt the very spirit of Indian geography and its development.

Each unit of societies/associations developed its own geography based on localism and parochialism. Realising this inherent weakness in Indian geography, a group of dedicated geographers, trained in the Anglo-American universities, laid the foundation of the National Association of Geographers, India (NAGI) in 1978.

‘Echoing the need of the time, NAGI was not created, but was born: A voice of concern for Indian geography’. ‘… To capture the voice of concern the architects of the National Association of Geographers, India wanted to reach across the country.

With a natural verve for region so that all areas are contained, it (NAGI) carved out five territorial divisions in India. Differing in size, area, population and even the number of departments of geography, the homogenous criteria for regionalization seems to be ‘common location’. Hence the names North­western, Northern, Western, Southern and East Regions…. Hailed as a learned society since its very inception, NAGI was keen to publish a biannual journal named ‘Annals’, a word that the dictionary defines as narrative of event year by year, or a historical record’.

The reach of NAGI expanded over years across the country, and the number of members, specially the life-members, has continued to swell every year since its inception. Soon it became truly ‘national’. Holding of annual meets and/or the Indian Geographical Congress at different locations across the country, since its foundation in 1978 has brightened its national identity.

The growth and development of the geographical society/association largely depends on its literacy excellence that it achieves through its publication of journal and periodical. Geography developed and flourished in classical western and Anglo-American nations through the society-journal association and combination. Each society in the West has its own journal. A society is, therefore, identified by the quality. In India, the pre-independence geographical societies which were re-named after independence have started their own journals and periodicals, except the Patna College Geographical Society.

However, the Indian Geographical Journal of the Indian Geographical Society, Madras (Chennai), and the Geographer of the Aligarh Geographical Society, Aligarh, are the only two pre-independence geographical journals in India, otherwise, the Geographical Review of India of the Geographical Society of India, Calcutta, National Geographical Journal of the National Geographical Society, Varanasi, Transaction of the Institute of Indian Geographers, Pune, are some of the earlier post-independence journals of the country which are of international repute, and are known for their valuable contributions to the development of professional geography in India.

Annals of NAGI also emerged as one of the finest geographical journals of international repute. The Indian Journal of Regional Science of the Regional Science Association of India, Kharagpur and Population Geography of the Association of Population Geographers, Chandigarh, have also made valuable contribution to the development of geography in India.

The first two journals are known for their contribution to enrich the law-abiding systematic geography in India. These are the few Indian geographical journals and periodicals which are recognised by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, and the University Grants Commission, New Delhi; hence they are called ‘referred’ journals.

Annals of the Association of Rajasthan Geographers, Bhilwara, and the Punjab Geographers, Patiala, are the fast-emerging state-level geographical journals in the country, while the Uttar Bharat Bhoogol Patrika used to be the only geographical journal in Hindi in the country, being published from the Department of Geography, DDU Gorakhpur University. North East Geographer, Guwahati, is another regional geographical journal, specifically dealing with the geography of the North-Eastern region of India.

Its contribution to enhance geographic research and training in the region cannot be overlooked and undermined, given the quality of research papers being published in this journal. At present, there are more than 200 geographical journals and periodicals in circulation in India, including those journals initiated by individual geographers. These journals and periodicals have caused more harm to the discipline rather than its development, by publishing sub-standard papers.

In spite of the circulation of these journals and periodicals, geography in India has moved forward in the past 60 years or more because of the scholarly efforts by some distinguished geographers of the country, belonging to the first, second and third generation of leadership.

Essay # 5. Geography and Scientific Research Institutes:

It is known that during the British period, development of geography was very much dependent on the information provided by the Survey of India, Royal Botanical Garden, Geomagnetic Observatory, Geological Survey of India, Census of India, Archeological Survey of India, Indian Meteorological Department and the Forest Research Institute.

On the basis of the information these institutes provided that the map of the sub-continent could be prepared, natural vegetation of the land together with the flora and faunal species of the land could be known, tectonics of the sub-continent could be known, the distribution of rocks and minerals were mapped and identified, demographic character of the sub-continent could be known, past cultures and cultural heritage identified through excavation, and the nature and character of the monsoon became known.

These institutes, in fact, came up with multi­dimensional geographical information, concerning South Asia, which in the later periods, particularly in the twentieth century, provided the necessary inputs for making geography a relevant discipline, at par with other disciplines of human sciences in the country.

The beginning of geography teaching at the under-graduate level at Lahore, Aligarh, Patna, Calcutta and Madras in the 1920s and 1930s of the last century was a natural outcome of the achievements of these institutes with regard to the data-base they prepared and provided to authorities for further analysis that, in turn, formed the basis for ‘academic’ geography in British India.

Independent India also established the following illustrative Research and Scientific Institutions:

Much of the growth and development of geography in India depends on the above- mentioned institutions because of their data-base, which necessarily helps in geographic research. No research in geography can be undertaken without seeking help from these institutions. Over the years, geographers have been taking help from these institutions for their studies and research. These institutions are also providing job accommodation to geographers.

One of these illustrative institutions was the Planning Commission, where geographers found their relevant expression. It was the approach towards balanced regional planning of the Planning Commission that made the role of geographers quite relevant. It became quite clear that no attempt at planning was going to be successful unless the spatial data-base and its modalities were significantly enlarged.

This created willingness to explore the role of geographical participations in regional aspects of national planning. Planning Commission invited O. H. K. Spate of the University of Canberra, Australia and A. T. A. Learmonth from the University of Liverpool to spend a couple of months to report on the possibility of geographical contribution to the national planning.

Under the Technical Cooperation Program of the Colombo Plan, Learmonth put together a team of two economists, one statistician and four geographers to undertake a regional survey for planning purposes. It was efforts like these which served to redirect the attention of geographers in India to problem-solving by using the frame of regional development. This greatly helped the geographers in India to engage themselves in efforts of initiating urban and regional planning at various centres and localities. A number of urban and regional planning organisations came in existence all over India during 1955-1975.

Geographer-planners could cut a profession in their ambit. As nutrition to grasp the complexities and problems facing development, the Government of India launched several centres for social science and policy research. They, too, served as possible havens for geographical works. The blueprint of planning and research institutions relied on a team of social scientists and the scope of involvement by geographers was an inherent part of this design.

The Planning Commission in 1959 had sanctioned many projects to various geography departments of the country, like the Damodar Valley Diagnostic Survey to the department of geography of Patna and Calcutta Universities, and the department of Regional Planning, IIT, Kharagpur, manned by a geographer. Similarly, the Terrain Analysis Cell of the Ministry of Defence had approached several departments of geography to undertake projects of terrain evaluation in areas of specific needs.

The Terrain Evaluation study in Bikaner and Jaisalmer Districts (1967-69), by the department of geography, University of Delhi, and Terrain Evaluation of Punjab Plains, Punjab Himalayas, and Shipki Tract, Rajasthan border, 1965-68, by the Department of Geography, Punjab University, Chandigarh, manifested the efforts to fulfil the defence needs of the country, and, at the same time, these studies represented the professional characteristics of Indian geography vis-a-vis the Indian geographers.

Considering the professional skill and quality of geographers, various institutes sanctioned projects to them for meaningful studies, and the projects and studies proved their applied relevance, particularly in the policy-making fields. Thus, professionalism in Indian geography got further enhancement and impetus with the successful completion of projects and that, in turn, sustained the effectiveness of geographic research in the country.

Some innovative studies by geographers in the field like regional planning with emphasis on hill areas, flood-prone areas, drought-prone and tribal and industrially backward areas and like during the past few years, have made geography ‘an applied science’ making the application of geographic concepts and skills to the study of practical economic, social, or political problems more relevant than before.

Geographers have been found to be best field surveyors, so more and more geographers are being appointed to conduct field surveys and to prepare detailed notes based on the survey, by the different institutions, government and non-government, and other private institutions. In doing so, geographers have developed new methods of study, new techniques of observation and analysis, and new cartographic methods.

Essay # 6. Perspective of Indian Geography:

To quote N. B. K. Reddy, ‘It is indeed paradoxical that although geography is a subject of great antiquity, as a modern academic discipline and applied science, it is only 150 years old. Indian geography, being hardly 50 years old, is much younger than modern geography’.

Commenting on the present status of geography in India, the report of Indian Council of Social Science Research Review Committee observed – ‘… geography, despite the late start it had in the Indian universities, has manifested considerable potential for growth in recent times. Geographers have produced volumes of research literature over a wide range. Geographical research is still dominated by traditional methods of cartographic compilation of history, archaeology and of qualitative descriptions. A noteworthy trend in geographical research today is the increasing use of quantitative methods to spatial structure, spatial organisation and spatial process’.

Moonis Raza (1979), who edited the survey report in 1979; had commented – ‘Indian geographers, by and large, have shown little interest in theoretical discussion on the nature of geography. The reasons are partly historical. When the controversy between the exponents of environmental determinism and possibilism was raging in the west, modern Indian geography had not been born. It did not get involved in the ideological turmoil through which modern geography acquired its philosophical foundation and intellectual rigour. By the time geography emerged on Indian campuses, a storm had already taken place.

Having ‘improved’ and uncritically accepted a complete system of ideas without participating in the making of it, Indian geography tended to develop at best, as a dinosaur. The tradition continues. Concern for theory is still considered futile pedantry and search for logical system is equated with esoteric cause.

This has led to a situation where new developments do not grow inside the organism as the inevitable consequence of an evolutionary process in the realm of ideas. They are just mechanically aggregated to the amorphous mass in response to the latest intellectual fashion in the west. This has given to Indian geography a highly fragmented character’.

To quote C. D. Deshpande:

‘It is not surprising that those who have been trained in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and more recently in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and East European countries have influenced our research activity. Lamentably, the influence of France and Germany, which significantly continues more rigorously in the natural aspects of geographical science, is lacking. But apart from these exposures, it is time that we review our problems through our own perspective’.

It is, no doubt, true that the quantitative and conceptual revolutions as the problem-oriented and applied approaches have elevated the status of Indian research. There has been an increase in the technological sophistication, modeling and communicative jargon. But despite these developments and large volume of output, Indian geography is yet to make impact on the international scene.

It is still weak in its conceptual, empirical, analytical and inferential aspects. There is a lack of ‘in-depth’ studies of a quantitative nature. While qualitative assessment has its own place, it is important to lay greater stress on quantitative methodology. Quantitative methodology fixes the seal of exactness on the data. It is, therefore, necessary to strengthen the classical tradition retaining the gains of the quantitative revolution.

It is necessary to understand the complex geographical problems of India with reference to the international setting.

Panikkar (1955) in his pioneering geographical study of India and the Indian Ocean brilliantly summed up the situation as follows:

‘Geography has been at all times one of the great and most regrettable gaps in Indian knowledge. Worse than our lack of interest in things historical has been our utter neglect of geography. Geography constitutes to be the permanent basis of every nation’s history. It is one of the major factors that determine the historical evolution of a people. Today, free India has to realize her position in the world where geography has placed her in relation to other countries. She has also to understand the strength and weakness arising from her geography. A nation can neglect its geography only at its peril.’

Therefore, it needs hardly be stressed that Indian geographers should take greater interest in studies on the politico- geographical and/or geopolitical aspects of the country. But this branch of geography is yet to get its expressive recognition in India.

There has been a growing tendency to apply foreign models to the Indian setting. If foreign models are uncritically accepted and applied, they become blind imitations. Such applications stifle incentives for indigenous approach towards original and creative thinking. It is needless to state that the Indian context is unique and as such the methodology and constructs have to be validated in an Indian frame of reference so that the interpretation would carry a sense of realism.

Social, cultural and historical geography are some of the neglected fields in geographical research. They are almost untouched by geographers. India with its hoary antiquity, a rich and diversified cultural tradition provides a fertile ground for research in these fields. Such studies go a long way in understanding the complete socio-cultural problems of the country.

However, particular emphasis requires to be given on awareness of humankind’s immediate environment and regional geography. The discipline has to be made more relevant to provide a broad base for an interdisciplinary superstructure at higher academic levels. Also, studies with greater bias relevant to a region and studies that are more problem- oriented need to be introduced without neglect of theoretical issues.

The modern era of scientific and technological developments has thrown up a great challenge to geography in India. The need for wider application of geographical approach to various practical problems in India is increasingly felt, especially in the field of regional planning, resource development and management, and environmental planning. With rapid growth of population and urbanisation, besides increasing regional disparities, the need for regional planning and scientific land-use planning has acquired greater urgency.

Technological developments such as remote sensing, aerial photography, and computer technology have opened up new vistas for speedy data collection, data storage, data retrieval and data analysis. The implications of these technologies in geography are far-reaching and their utility in geographical research is immense.

However, the success of our planning mainly depends on the development of agriculture and its stability. To achieve this end, research has to be carried out on various aspects of agriculture, cropping pattern, optimisation of land use, development of irrigation and supply of necessary inputs. Therefore, agricultural geography will have to play a prominent role in the economic development. Efforts should be made to develop new methods to carry on in-depth researches in agricultural geography.

Geography in India has witnessed a tremendous growth in a short span of time and the people have now realised the importance of the subject as an academic discipline and as an applied science also. There is virtually no sphere where geographer cannot play a significant role.

To quote G. S. Gosal:

‘An examination of the overall performance of geography as a major discipline in India brings one to the encouraging conclusion that it has come a long way in establishing its place among the sciences dealing with reality and that is making steady progress in various directions. Geographers have been showing concern for problems of development and regional planning. They have also responded well to collaborative work with colleagues in allied disciplines and inter-disciplinary projects on the strength of their own knowledge and ideas. What discipline is better fitted for such an integrative role than the one concerned with spatial arrangement and organisation as changing through time? Consistent with the requirement of the times and the nature of problems facing the society, they have increasingly taken to quantitative methods of analysis and synthesis, although a lot remains to be learnt and applied appropriately. Thus far they have been preoccupied with studies of specific problems in specific areas or places … now they should subject these studies of the specifics to comparative analysis and draw generalisation of wider validity. It is their distinctive function to develop theories regarding spatial relation on the face of the Earth. The theories must grow out of the facts that make India’.

In the sphere of the Geography of Development, there is a need to develop the themes- People, Resource, and Government. Whereas state plans for socio-economic development are the same within the administrative units, there are wider spatial inequalities in the achievements within the units.

The political patronage in areas and differing receptivity of the people to plan within the region, even having a similar resource base are potent factors in this regard. Geographers in India should come in a bold way in studying these problems of spatial organisation within their local areas and make prescriptive recommendations.

B. Arunachalam observed:

‘the initial impetus to Indian geography has come through the testing of the western models in the Indian context, though this exercise at times has been carried too far – it has, however, not logically led to this innovation of Indian models. The deductive Central Place Theory of Christaller, the ecological models of urban structure, studies to examine stages in the growth of a Primate City, Growth Pole Theory and the like have all found their echoes in the Indian realm. Many of the achievements of geography in India over the last three decades have resulted from its ability to address itself to range of Indian problems, especially those of urban development and industrialisation. Many of these problems are common to the developed countries of the West— the only difference is that India is passing through a phase of development that they have already gone through—and Indian studies have positively helped in building a bridge in the international forum through such comparative studies’.

Expressing his reaction to too much importance being given to urban geography, Arunachalam commented:

‘The ‘urban’ bias in Indian geography is being overdone; every university, whether located in an urban metropolis or a rural interior, deems it necessary to specialize in urban geography. In a country, predominantly rural and agricultural, why has Indian geography developed intellectual indifference to the problems of rural development? Environmental hazards like floods and droughts, and the permanent threats of food shortage also pose compelling interest to Indian geography. If the western world has no parallels to such Indian situations, the field is rich enough to provide ample ground for indigenous virgin researches through primary field investigations. There is a need for Indian geographers to work out strategies for planning rural development’.

Given the professional edge through intensive training, the geographers in India can become important and useful members of any planning cell. Look at the immense prospects for the professional utility of the geographer in a set-up where planning units are being visualised at the grass-root level in every district of the country and the market for his cartographic skills when every planning cell contemplates a local/regional/ national atlas.

The question is – can and will Indian geographers build themselves into national/regional and local grids of co-operating and interacting teams committed to these specific goals of national priority? Can geographical training in the schools, colleges and universities be restructured as to give the right orientation and consciousness of local, regional and national environmental problems of conservation and wise use of resources? Can our geographers pledge their research interests to the priorities of the National Data Bank and Resource Inventory so that the geographers too can contribute in pulling the ‘Juggernaut’ of Developing India? These were some of the queries put forward by Arunachalam. He expressed his anguish with regard to the unexplored frontier of evolution of Indian thought. The history and evolution of Indian geographical thought is an unexplored frontier inviting challenges.

C. R. Pathak, a regionalist par excellence, while elaborating the role of geographers, regional scientists and regional planners, has noted that ‘geographers have been observers of the phenomena and their interactions that characterise the landscape. Such characterisation of landscape varies from place to place and geographers throw light on the characteristics of such places and give a clear description of the phenomena and their interaction.

However, no phenomena or place to place variations can be analyzed and evaluated under some tools and techniques of analysis and developed to ascertain the relative role of different factors, and bring out relevant facts which need proper attention. Those who develop such tools and techniques for analysis are identified as regional scientists. Based on their analysis, regional planners formulate strategies and find solution for tackling such problems.

Hence, the geographers, the regional scientists and regional planners have demarcated their own domain of study and research…While it is very difficult to distinguish geographers, regional scientists and regional planners, particularly when they work on the field and contribute their might to the problem solution, nevertheless, they necessarily maintain their identity’.

On the relationship of geography and regional science, C. R. Pathak said:

‘… in treating spaces, regions and related areal and distance concepts both geography and regional science have an orientation different from that of other disciplines. If, for example, we view economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, geology, oceanography, meteorology, botany, etc. each as having a vertical orientation and alignment, then geography and regional science can be said to have a horizontal orientation and alignment, cutting across many of the fields with vertical alignments.’

If the combined scope of geography and regional science and their total ramifications and numerous procedures and methods are beyond the absorptive capacity of one person, it seems appropriate that the overall body of subjects and techniques should subdivide, much as the human cell.

Subdivision, along methodological channel, is a logical, and … a most rational procedure … that –

(a) the social science segments which are theoretical and involve model-buildings, advanced statistical techniques and comprehensive statistical frameworks oriented to general theory be viewed as one distinct field, a cell in itself, i.e. regional science,

(b) the rest of the field, traditionally designated geography, either continues as it has in the past, or subdivide into two or more parts (example social geography, including political, cultural, historical and economic and physical geography), including bio-geography and related areas; and

(c) one of the chief meeting grounds (zones) of regional science and social science geography be at the intermediate statistics level where the geographer with his feet well-rooted in the facts of reality scrutinizes and appraises the abstract concepts, operational models and theories of the regional scientists and where the regional scientist with his logical schemata and broad framework suggests to the geographers new types of data which may be usefully collected and new and more efficient ways of processing and utilising data and where together utilising both the system and vectors approaches, they make a possible greater understanding of society in its diverse spatial and related forms.

The regional scientist and geographer as general spatial practitioners over the several sciences, one at the abstract theoretical level, the other at the more empirical and grass-roots level attempts a partial (horizontal-type) integration of the social sciences, an integration involving the synthesis of spatial knowledge and techniques, but only at his own appropriate level of knowledge.

Regional science theory tries to overcome such intuitive judgement by formulating guidelines for planning in dynamic setting of reality which requires publication. The regional scientists’ kit of tools such as input-output, benefit-cost, industrial complex, programming or factor analysis will be handy first to employ criteria to determine the finite number of alternatives to be considered and second to ascertain criteria for choosing from among the alternatives.

The planners need to optimise within the system of objective functions and constraints which are intimately related to values and goals. The regional scientists have to resolve the conflicting values and goals, policies; the regional scientists should be able to make a more positive contribution to social analysis and policy formulations.

The role of regional scientists is further strengthened by their ability to develop superior tools and methods to identify the loci of decision-making in the society within which they operate.

Though Pathak makes a strong plea about the relevance of regional science, particularly, for the country like India which is confronted with the problem of regional disparities and imbalances, and requires conscious planning efforts to achieve the material and social well-being of the masses through removing regional disparities, but nowhere in the departments of geography across the country, there is a separate unit and/ or cell exclusively devoted to regional science.

He further says that social scientists often confuse between regional science and regional planning/ development. Regional science is something different from the geographer’s approach to regional planning, because of philosophical and methodological differences. Nevertheless, ‘space’ is common to both regional science and geography, and that often brings them ‘together’.

S. A. Alam makes a very critical assessment of the ‘state’ of geography in India when he says:

‘Geography is one of the most ancient disciplines, but in terms of development has lagged behind most of the social and physical sciences. These disciplines, besides possessing a strong theoretical background, have focused their studies to problems of life and society and have therefore made themselves more meaningful to the society. Geographical studies too have moved in this direction but not to the extent they ought to have. In order to stand on equal terms among the leading disciplines of knowledge we must focus our studies strongly to problems of life and society in order to establish firmly our social relevance … the key problems … such as the energy problems, environmental degradation, urban and industrial pollution, growing urban poverty and proliferation of slums, etc. have hardly attracted the attention of geographers in India…’.

He further says that – ‘In the field of urban geography, geographers have made significant contribution in explaining growth and morphology of Indian towns or in explaining city hinterland relationship. Unfortunately, we are now overdoing it. Let us grow out of this growth and morphology syndromes and pick up the key urban issues for in-depth analysis. As for instance, we can examine and analyse the problems of metropolitan India….The study of the location of industries is indeed important but more important are the consequences of industrial location on urban living – Industries have become major source of pollution of ground and surface water and therefore constitute a major health hazard. Every major metropolitan city of India is a potential Bhopal….All these developments have significant spatial consequences and should constitute major concerns of geographers….The social geographers should critically examine the social consequences of technological developments. Technological transformations are likely to influence significantly the social contours of our established social order and may lead to the emergence of a new social system which will reflect not only a new pattern of social relationship between man and man but also between man and land.’

On the trends and quality of research in geography in India, R. Vaidyanadhan observes:

‘The bane of geographic research in India seems to have been waywardness of a majority of the researchers. Hardly does one equip himself in one of the upcoming trends, whether it is urban geography, quantitative geography or environmental science, another wave from the West strikes him or gets generated from within the country by scientists in other disciplines, and he is right there so as not to be left behind; we hurriedly join the stream, to make our own limited contribution. This has perhaps not given us much time to project our discipline to the extent it deserves’.

P. Dayal while identifying the agenda for Indian geography, says – ‘One of the first tasks would appear to be re-orientation of our courses of study to include more of physical geography to take care of the growing awareness about the natural environment and its sustainability. Our courses of study at the moment are too heavily tilted in favour of human geography, and physical geography occupies rather peripheral position in our programmes of study and research. This imbalance has to be corrected and a better balance struck between physical and human geography irrespective of whether we emphasise landscape- areal differentiation approach or man-environment relation type approach’.

Enormous changes have taken place in the methodology and content of human geography providing deep analysis of the human variables in geography, aided by a highly sophisticated form of quantitative spatial analysis.

Economic, social, cultural and psychological man figures so much more prominently than ‘man on Earth’ in the conceptual framework of human geography that the ties between human and physical geography have received a severe jolt and have been loosened to such an extent that there appears to be hardly any need to relate human geographical research to the complexities and intricacies of the physical environment and the relevant environment variable.

Physical geography as it is taught in our universities is mostly geomorphology, a little of climatology and very little of bio-geography. The internal imbalance in physical geography needs correction to include the totality of the environment and the spatial element in its make-up.

He further observes – ‘An integrated physical geography has been re-discovered under the name of environmental science largely by non- geographers. The contents of environmental science are identical with physical geography and the difference, if any, is confined to approaches rather than content. Fear has been expressed in some quarters that … physical geography may cease to be an integral part of geographical studies … geographers as a group have not taken the lead in the interdisciplinary study of environment and have preferred to leave the field to be dominated by biologists, ecologists, engineers, with some interest shown in by economists, political scientists, and lawyers. Whether physical geography reappears in its new garb as environmental science is immaterial so long as the problem is considered real and significant, and geographers are adequately trained in this area to be able to make a worthwhile contribution, for only then we can expect them to play dominant role in environmental affairs’.

On the use of quantitative techniques in geographical studies, Dayal comments:

‘On the whole this has had a salutary effect and has made possible more accurate measurement of phenomena and more sophisticated explanatory mechanism, but by no means has led it to any qualitative revolution and at its worst it has been used- as mere embellishment to conceal lack of thought or judgment behind a facade of formulae and symbols at lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. This is being said not to decry the use of quantitative techniques by Indian geographers but merely to point out that quantification by itself is not geography. It is only a sophisticated tool and need to be used wisely and properly.’

A cursory review of research publications in India would show that the Indian geographers have tended to neglect certain very vital and promising areas from enquiry. These include geomorphology, hydrology, climatology, bio- geography, historical geography, and political geography.

Even though geography was guided by geologist geographers, this did not lead to a great development of geomorphology or other branches of physical geography in India, like it did in Britain and the USA, in spite of the fascinating physical diversity in India.

India provides very rich materials for the study of historical geography with its long tradition of peasant settlements, its ancient religious centres, and the routes of movements along the length and breadth of the country as well as the evolution of ancient, medieval, pre-industrial and industrial towns. Historical geography needs impetus not only for the promotion of tourism, but also for the widespread importance of a historical developmental approach in the study of human affairs.

In political geography, the geo-strategic importance of the Indian Ocean, India’s relation with its neighbours and better understanding of their mutual problems, interests and conflicts, boundary disputes external and internal, the phenomena of increasing violence and crime and their relationships with caste, politics, and unemployment, the need for national vis-a-­vis regional aspirations, state-union relation and electoral participation, the problems and perceptions of religions, ethnic and linguistic groups all present challenging subjects for scientific and perceptive enquiry and are of great practical importance.

Neglect of the industrial geography by Indian geographers is rather intriguing, as industry has been perceived to be the main catalyst in our programmes for economic development. While there is a great scope for technological and organisational changes in our agriculture leading to improved productivity and employment, it is generally recognised that there are far too many people on land than it can support, and diversification of our economy by the development of large and small scale industries is the way of providing more arenas of employment and improving their economic conditions.

The importance of changing technology, the development of new processes and new uses of raw materials for diffusion of industry have to be studied in spatial perspectives and that is lacking in contemporary Indian geographic literature. Use of alternative resource and preference for dispersal of industries also assume greater significance in locational studies. Indian geographers have, by and large, neglected the cost-benefit analysis of the large industrial units, both public and private.

Intimately connected with industrialisation is the question of adequate and sustainable power supply. Industry is the heaviest consumer of commercial energy in India and used more than half of the national commercial energy consumption. This aspect also required to be studied in locational and supply perspectives.

Energy production continues to lag behind consumption, and energy consumption is heavily dependent on imports of crude oil and production of petroleum products while domestic oil production continues to stagnate. It is going to be a challenging task to meet the growing demand for energy and will call for massive efforts towards utilisation of renewable sources of energy, with a major stress on conservation and efficiency.

Human development, employment generation, population control, literacy, education, health, drinking water and provision of adequate and basic infrastructure are listed as priority requirements. All these have powerful geographical dimension which geographers must explore and bring to light for purposeful use.

The involvement of Indian geographers in planning till today has been only marginal, although they play a vital role in planning by their active participation in the preparation of various kinds of specialised maps, and, therefore, a more determined effort is needed to make concerned agencies and the government aware of the potential of geographers in planning geography can do a lot to improve the lives of the people by its concern for better knowledge and the wise use of the Earth’s resources.

‘Man’s imprints on the surface of the Earth reflect sharp inequalities in the emerging features of the socio-cultural and economic landscape. The landscape approach as a synthesis of different but related elements that give distinct personality to it has been unique to geography.

Therefore, the subject is essentially interdisciplinary in nature’, says L. S. Bhatt. Regional geography is considered as the synthesis or the end product of geographer’s study of individual elements or structures of the region (physical structure, resource-base-physical and human, urbanisation and industrialisation, movement of goods and people and so on).

Regions thus identified are either topical (as in physical, agricultural region, resource region, etc.) or composite (integrated whole combining all the phenomena of an area, for example, economic region or region as defined in regional geography). The latter are dynamic having distinct structure and interrelationship and hence they are hierarchic.

This concept of regions through ‘man-land relationship’ is best illustrated by the statement that a formal region (e.g. agricultural region or resource region) tends to become a functional region (market centres or nodal centres of different types and their tributary areas), and the emergence of functional region is the initial stage in the formation of economic regions.

Such a process of organisation of economic activities has built-in characteristics of spatial inequalities because the impact of nodal centres decreases with increasing distance, and this has been the basis of theoretical models of development, according to Bhatt.

Progress of geography in both fundamental and applied studies is towards this aspect of the study of emergence of region and regional differentiation which seems to explain the causes of regional imbalances in development. The concept of the region has undergone changes from environmental determinism in the form and functioning of region to man-made environment for which regional differentiation and characterisation of their positive and negative factors would be only the framework of reference in the initial stage of measuring inequalities.

Towards minimising the ambiguity in the definition of the region in an inter-disciplinary context, the term ‘space’ is used as neutral, and so that introduction of spatial dimension to the sectoral-temporal development plan would be the common objective of different fields of social science which have space affinity, e.g. geography (geographic space), economics (economic space) and sociology (social or behavioural space).

The search for regional boundaries is less rigid and the regional boundaries, where necessary for analytical purpose, are made co-terminus with the nearest administrative boundary to facilitate quantification of various elements of the regional structure and to understand and evaluate the spatial processes by applying appropriate quantitative and cartographic techniques of measurement of association among different elements (correlation, regression also) and areal variations in the extent of association among different elements (regional differentiation by using factor analysis, cluster analysis, discriminate analysis).

Mapping techniques have been complimentary because the maps serve as ‘model of the real world’ and help to understand the phenomena of contiguity as in the distribution of agricultural resources or discontinuities in the formation of ‘core’ areas of economic development and point to location as spatial dimensions of industry and urban centres.

K. V. Sundaram says that:

‘The new wave of democratic decentralization in the country, i.e. the Panchayat Raj renaissance, offers an unprecedented opportunity for geographers to contribute their skills to the development of the country. The recent constitutional amendments have emphasised area planning at the local levels which have become basic and fundamental. As a discipline, geography has been traditionally identified with ‘Area Studies’.

Physical geography and regional geography are important cornerstones in this context, as they help provide the physical and cultural base for area planning. The application of geography to area studies will provide the cultural and area-specific dimension which is essential.

Geographers with their ability to recognise various development phenomena and inter-relate them in space should be able to contribute significantly to some aspects of planning at all the three levels – Village, Block and District.’

On the crisis of paradigm that modern Indian geography is faced with, P. Mishra comments – ‘… Indian geographers have not yet even begun to explore the history of Indian geography. The ecological concepts enunciated by our forefathers in regard to man-nature relationship can offer us new ideas for theory building. Symbiosism, which our ancients advocated, is now getting recognition from all over the world. It offers the base for a new paradigm. Had we explored this concept more deeply, we could have presented an alternative to determinism, possibilism, and probabilism. There are many ideas contained in our Sanskrit literature which are geographic and highly relevant to the present day world’.

Gopal Krishan identifies certain priority areas for Indian geographers to carry on their researches; and which include:

1. The regional scenes of ecologies, society and polity are going to be more complex in future. This calls for a higher level of competence on the part of geographers to comprehend, describe and explain the emerging scenario. Indian geography must sharpen its reflexes by way of immediately responding to new challenges.

2. Indian geographers must find as to why they have lost the initiatives in taking up themes or methodologies which were inherently geographical in nature. These included, in particular, ecological studies, geographic information systems and regional planning. Other disciplines and professions took the lead. We, the geographers, simply followed.

3. New millennium should be visualised as an opportune time for regimenting Indian geography. We must have a clear perspective of the spirit and purpose of our discipline. A blend of theoretical and empirical dimensions of any theme should manifest itself in our research work, and field work must be our forte.

4. Indian geography should be guided by the tenets of social relevance. It must impose its visibility and make its presence felt. It must be in a position to assert that ‘This only I can do’ and others should acknowledge that ‘Yes, this you only can do’.

5. Indian geography should concentrate more on those themes in which we have greater competence. These include eco-development, area studies, regional development, public policy and geographic education, among others. The future professional scope of our discipline lies primarily in the promotion of geographic information system. A sound base of cartography is a must for the purpose.

‘Indeed, the evolved scope of Indian geography resembles a poly-cyclic landscape. It displays a co-existence between geographies belonging to different eras. The best and the rest go together. For some, Indian geography is a saga of continuous achievements and consolidation; for others, it leaves much room for its improvement’.