Class 12 Geography Chapter 23 Assam Geography

Class 12 Geography Chapter 23 Assam Geography The answer to each chapter is provided in the list so that you can easily browse throughout different chapters SCERT Class 12 Geography Chapter 23 Assam Geography and select need one.

Class 12 Geography Chapter 23 Assam Geography
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Also, you can read the SCERT book online in these sections Solutions by Expert Teachers as per SCERT (CBSE) Book guidelines. These solutions are part of SCERT All Subject Solutions. Here we have given Assam Board/NCERT Class 12 Geography Chapter 23 Assam Geography Solutions for All Subject, You can practice these here…

TRANSPORTAND COMMUNICATION OF ASSAM

Q.1. What are the main problems of rail transport in Assam? 

Ans :- It is the rail transport system of the state which is instrumental in channelizing the flow of commodities and people at inter-state level. Unfortunately, this system of transport has been operating with negative net earnings since a long period of time. However the negative trend is expected to get improved after the completion of various projects currently under progress. But still there is a problem. 

The major railway tracks of the state were constructed before independence and were oriented basically towards the growth of oil and tea industries. The creation of link between and consumption centres was not properly looked into. However, the recent addition of feeder lines in the state is expected to fulfill these shortcomings.

Moreover, most of the crossings of railway lines are not maintained strictly due to which the number of accidents are more. Every year the death of wild elephants is mentionable.

Q.2. What are the causes behind the under development of the transportation system in Assam? 

Ans :- Causes behind the underdeveloped of transportation system in Assam are –

(a) Assam has about 1/2 th of its area under hills and plateaus.

(b) Assam is isolated in its location with respect to the rest of the country. 

(c) As the region has very heavy rainfall for about six months of a year, the roads and railways suffer from surface and gully erosion.

(d) The region, especially its plains annually experiences devastating floods which often breach and damage roads and railways. 

(e) The region has numerous turbulent rivers and hill streams which flow with fury during the rainy season.

(f) Apart from the tea and oil industry there is practically no large industry in the region.

(g) The state government, which administers the region, is not financially well off to afford sufficient expenditure to construct and maintain a well-knit transport system.

Q.3. Give an account of the road transport in Assam. 

Ans :- The present layout of the road transport network of the state, more or less, has developed over the framework laid down by the colonial rulers during their regime. Ahom rules contributed a lot towards the development of road transport but except for a few of them these roads became useless to the British who were only concerned with the extraction of natural resources from this territory.

Consequently, with the annexation of Assam of the British rule through the treaty of Yandaboo in 1826, the erstwhile road transport structure of the state began to change slowly.

After independence, the Government of Independent India has been emphasizing more on the development of transport and communication facilities within the state in order to expand the British laid network so that the passengers and goods can be transported even from the interior areas. To improve the transport and communication in rural areas of state., more than thousand kms of roads have been constructed by the Government of Assam each year.

There is an abnormal gap between the existing and expected length and efficiency of roads. In view of the fact that the density of roads per hundred sq.km of area and the road length per lakh of population in the state are lower than the national average. Greater emphasis is needed to expand the surfaced roads in the rural areas.

Q.4. Give an account of the road transport in Assam.

Ans :- Assam has many large and small rivers providing facilities for water transport, especially in its plain parts and in the flat river valleys of the large rivers in the hills. From the ancient period until the roads were constructed, the rivers of the Brahmaputra and Barak plains were commonly used as the medium of transport. When the Britishers came, they used the Brahmaputra and Barak-Surma rivers extensively for transport and trade between north-east India and the Kolkata port. With the growth of the tea industry, these rivers became important carriers of trade. 

The East India Company started the water route along the Brahmaputra from Kolkata to Dibrugarh in 1844 and steam ships were introduced by the Joint Steamer Company in 1847. It is about the same time that Silchar came to be linked with Kolkata along Barak-Surma Meghna navigation channel. 

However, with the partition of India in 1947, water transport received a serious blow as a foreign country was born between north-east India and the port of Kolkata. Efforts were made several times to revive the route, in consultation with the East Pakistan and Subsequently Bangladesh government, but with little success.

It is estimated that the North-Eastern region has about 1800 km of river routes that can be used by steamer and large country boats. The inland water transport departments of both the state and central government have been trying to improve the water transport system in the region. The river Brahmaputra – Disangmukh, Nemati, Biswanath, Silghat, Guwahati, Goalpara and Dhubri. now has several small river-ports like Dibrugarh, Besides, there are more than 30 pairs of ferry ghats on the Brahmaputra, transporting men and materials between its two banks. The River Barak also has small ports at Karimganj, Badarpur and Silchar and ferry services at several places across it. At present the State Tourist Department has started Luxury cruises over the Brahmaputra as a commercial proposition.

Although Assam has many rivers, its inland water navigation has not much developed, mainly because of the following reasons :

(i) The rivers in the plains are often wide, shallow and braided and large boats carrying heavy loads of freight cannot ply. 

(ii) After the great earthquake of 1950, the bed of the Brahmaputra has become shallow, and therefore, wide and braided, preventing large steamers from plying. 

(iii) The partition of India has isolated the region completely so far river routes are concerned. The two large rivers viz. Brahmaputra and Barak now cannot be used upto the sea-ports, while within the region, the trucks over roads can easily compete with inland water navigation due mainly to the latter’s quick service.

(iv) As the region is industrially backward, the quantity of goods to be transported is also less which can be handled by road and rail transport. This has also deterred the growth of inland water navigation

However, if the region is industrialised and the services of the inland navigation are improved there is still hope for its growth and development.

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