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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LONG TYPE QUESTION & ANSWERS (MARKS – 5)
LOCATION OF ASSAM IN NORTH EAST INDIA
Q.1. Give an account of the locational peculiarities of Assam.
Ans :- Assam is located in the tropical Latitudes (24.3°N and 28 N) and eastern longitudes (89.5E and 96.1°E) is the most populous state in Northeast India. It is surrounded by hills on 3 sides. The major river systems are Brahmaputra and Barak. The state has the Brahmaputra valley in the northern part bordering Arunachal pradesh in the north and Barak valley in the south. In between these two valley plains there lies an outwardly lilly region consisting of old pre-cambrian Karbi Plateau and the yang Tertiary folded hills of the North Cachar Hills. To the east of the plains tes the Patkai range and the hills of Nagaland and Manipur. To the south of the Barak Plain lies the hills of Mizoram.
In fact, Assam along with the rest of North East India is a transitional one between South Asia and SouthEast Asia. This fact is authenticated not only by the region’s human types and their social and cultural patterns but also by its flora and fauna.
Politically Assam is surrounded by two foreign countries i.e. Bangladesh and Bhutan and seven Indian states i.e West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh. Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. The position and location of Assam is strategically very important. It has an area of 78.438 km representing 2.39% of the total area of the country and a population of 26655528 (2001) according to 2.59% of total population of India.
Q.2. Explain why Assam occupies the most advantageous location amongst the states of Northeast India?
Ans :- Assam occupies the most advantageous location amongst the states of North East India because
(a) The state is surrounded by seven Indian states.
(b) The state is directly bounded by two foreign countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh.
(c) It is also a traditional territory between South Asia and SouthEast Asia.
(d) The state has two major river system i.e. Brahmaputra and Barak and their tributaries. The two valleys are fertile, productive and favourable for human habitation.
(e) Agriculture is the only economic activity in this state. Being a plain area among all the north-eastern states it makes life easy for the people.
PHYSIOGRAPHY, DRAINAGE AND CLIMATE OF ASSAM
Q.1. What are the physiographic divisions of Assam? Give an account on the characters of one of them.
Ans :- The relief and drainage features of Assam are the outcome of tectonic and geological activities on the one hand and climatic characters and activities on the one hand and climatic characters and activities on the other hand. All these have given rise to three district physiographic units. These are –
(a) Plateau region which has developed on the old crystalline massif of Gondwana land now called as Karbi Plateau.
(b) Tertiary folded hills of North Cachar hills including Barail Range.
(c) The alluvial plains of Brahmaputra valley and Barak Valley.
The Brahmaputra Valley : The Brahmaputra valley is the major physiographic unit of Assam. It is a narrow valley with an approximate east-west extension of about 720 km and average width of 80 km. The valley is girdled by the eastern Himalayas on the north and west, and the Naga hills, Karbi and Meghalaya plateaus on the south. It is open in the west merging with the plains of West Bengal and Bangladesh. The 640 km. the long reach of the Brahmaputra and its 32 major north and south bank tributaries drain the valley which covers about 72% of the total area of Assam.
The valley as a whole gently slopes from north-east to south-west with an average gradient of 13 cm/km. In which upper reach, near Dibrugarh the gradient is 17 cm/km while the same is about 10 cm/km near Guwahati.
Geologically the Brahmaputra is a very young river and its present configuration took shape only during the Pleistocene and recent times.
Physiographically, the brahmaputra valley may be divided into two parts near Guwahati. The western lower part and the eastern upper part.
The Brahmaputra valley in its east-west direction has four distinct physiographic units, viz the northern foothills, the north and south hank plains, the floodplains and charland and the southern foothills.
Q.2. Write the characteristics of the folded mountain ranges of Assam.
Ans :- The Barail hills of Assam covering the N.C hill district are the west and continuation of the Barail range stretching from Tuensang across Nagaland. The Barail range is a tertiary mountain range topographically bridging the Archaean Meghalaya plateau with the tertiary Naga Hills which is the South western projection of the Himalayas The Barail range divide the NC Hills into two parts The Northern part falling under the Brahmaputra basin and the Southern part of the Karbi plateau attains a maximum height of 1866m in the Theipibung peak of NC Hills district.
The other notable peaks of the Barail Range in the district are the Hemeolowa (1679 m), the Mahadeo (1739 m). The Kankala (1736m) and Tukbai (965 m) peaks. The southern range of the Barail range is steeper than the northern face due to faulting. The North flowing rivers like Kapili and Dhansiri and their headstreams have dissected the range by their headward erosion and thus have subdued the northern face to lower elevations with gentle slopes.
Q.3. Write the characteristics of the major river basins of Assam.
Ans :- The major river basin of Assam are –
(a) The Brahmaputra river basin
(b) The Barak river basin
(a) The Brahmaputra river basin : The Brahmaputra is one of the largest rivers in the world. From the source to the mouth, the river is 2880 km long It passes through 3 countries. Its total length within Tibet of China is about 1700 km. In India it means far 920 km and in Bangladesh its length is 260 km. The entire Basin of the Brahmaputra inside and outside India is about 580.000 km within North East India its basin covers an area of 165,000km. The river has a catchment area of 70635 km within Assam. In India the Brahmaputra basin lies in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Sikkim and West Bengal.
This Basin of the state accounts for 72% of its total geographical area: The basin shows marked variations in geology. geomorphology physiography, relief, precipitation and soils of the southern and northern region of Brahmaputra valley.
(b) The Barak Basin : The Barak basin covers the southern part of the state which includes the districts of Cachar, Karimganj. Hailakandi and the Southern portion of NC Hills. The valley has a width of 25-30 km and it covers an area of 6962 km accounting for about 9% of the total geographical area of the state.
The basin is a narrow one and gently slopes to the west. Through this basin, the river flows sluggishly for a distance of 125 km and exhibits a highly meandering pattern. The Barak creates recurring floods in the cachar plain during summer.
This basin is characterised on both the banks by depressed tracts developed between the levees along the river and the gradually rising plains merging with northern and southern foothills.
Q 4. Write the basin characteristics of the Barak river.
Ans :- The river Barak has its origin in the high hill complex east of Mao and south-east of Japvo peak. It runs westward for some distance forming the boundary of Nagaland and Manipur and then takes a sudden southward turn and flows through Manipur until it reaches Tipaimukh at the South Western corner of the state. It then takes a sharp u-turn and forms firstly the boundary between Manipur and Mizoram and then between Manipur and Cachar district of Assam.
Thus flowing northward for about 60km, it again turns sharply westward at Jirimukh and flows through the cachar plain sluggishly. In the western part of cachar plain the river gives out two branches near Bhanga. While the northern branch is known the Surma, the southern branch is called Kusiyara. The total length of the Barak within Assam is 85 km. It has a catchment area of about 50,000 km within North East India of which about 8000 km falls within Assam.
Q.5. Discuss the impact of seasonal rainfall on the atmospheric temperature condition of Assam.
Ans :- Assam experiences an average annual rainfall of 230 cm. During the winter, the average annual rainfall is 6 cm and in summer it is about 64cm. The maximum fall is experienced in June to September i.e. 146cm. The rainless months in the state generally are December, January and February.
In different districts of the state the mean annual maximum temperature *1.e. July-August ranges from 30 C to 33°C, the minimum temperature i.e. December to January ranges from 8 C to 15°C. The two valleys of the state experience the highest temperature in July. They experience lowest temperature during January. The highest temperature recorded in three different places i.e. Dibrugarh in the easternmost part, Tezpur in the central part and Dhubri from the westernmost part of Brahmaputra valley are 37 C, 36 C and 37°c respectively. The lowest temperature recorded in these three places are 6 C, 7°C and 8°C respectively.
The rainy season in Assam starts during the month of june and continues through July, August and September. This is the largest season of the year. Along with the northward march of the sun the landmass of India is heated as a result of which a low pressure system develops. Temperature in this season in Assam is quite high (20°C-29°C). Average July temperature shorts upto 27°C. So the low pressure system over Assam becomes intense. In the hill districts, because of elevation, the temperature is slightly lower.
Q.6. Write the characteristics of the Climate of Assam.
Ans :- Among all the factors of the geographical environment to which man is subjected climate is of prime importance. Climate governs not only the agricultural activities but also natural vegetation, water, supply, human settlement and industries.
In general the climate of the state of Assam characterised by –
(a) Relative coolness : The state is experienced with maximum temperature i.e. July-August ranges from 30°C to 33°C, the minimum temperature i.n. December January ranges from 8 C to 15°C. The Lowest recorded temperature is found in January.
(b) Relative Humidity : The climate of the state with mo, e hundi According the Vladimir Koppur, Assam enjoys Humic Mesothermal Gangetic type climate But local observation reveals that the man the state varies considerably from the normal CWG climate of Gangetic valley, Moreover, the winter is dry which the summer is we’re The average humidity of Assam is about 80% (summer) which slightly drops to 65% to 70% from January to April.
(c) Rainfall : Assam experiences an average annual rainfall of 230 cm. During winter (December to February) the average annual rainfall is 6 cm and in Summer (March to May it is about 64 cm. The Maximum fall is experienced in June to September 1.e 146 cm and about 14 cm in October and November. The average rainfall in Assam is more than 230 cm. There is a district drought period. Number of rainy days with more than 2.5 mm is 122 days in the eastern part, 106 days in the central part and 130 days in the westernpart of the state.
Q.7. Discuss the effect of Monsoon Wind on the Climate of Assam.
Ans :- The monsoon winds enter India through two tracks – one over the Arabian Sea and the other over the Bay of Bengal. The Bay of Bengal current in its north-eastward course through the southern part of the Bay of Bengal reaches the Arakan Yoma range of Myanmar and being obstructed by the range it blows towards the north and gets obstructed again by the Meghalaya Plateau. Because of this obstruction heavy downpour takes place from this moisture laden winds. In this way Cherrapunjee (251? N and 9 44 E) and Mowsynram (25 19 N and 9136 E) on the southern slopes of Meghalaya receive the highest rainfall in the world.
The annual rainfall of these two places is 1080 cm and 1240 cm respectively After causing heavy rainfall some portions of this current cross the Khasi and Jaintia hills and move towards the Brahmaputra valley. As the wind descends to the Brahmaputra Valley along the northern slopes of the Khasi and Jaintia hills it becomes dry and yields little precipitation and creates a rain-shadow area over the Hojai, Lanka-Lumding region in Nagaon district.
which is located just on the leeward slope of the Meghalaya Plateau. In this rain shadow area the average annual rainfall is only 106 cm. This is the driest part in Assam. In this context it may be mentioned that Shillong (25 34 N and 91.56E) the capital city of Meghalaya receives an average annual rainfall of only 215 em.
Guwahati (26.11 N and 94.47 E) in the extreme west of this rain shadow area receives an annual rainfall of only 163.4 cm. Lumding receives only 131.8 cm. Another belt of low rainfall is to be found from the Champamati river of Kokrajhar district to the Panch Nai running along the border of Sonitpur and Darrang districts. This is because of the fact that the clouds of the belt gets no benefits from the clouds of the Barak valley.
Some portions of Bay of Bengal current move towards north across Myanmar and Bangladesh and get divided into two branches. One of them moves eastward after yielding rainfall in the western Assam districts. On its way, it meets the current which crosses the meghalaya Plateau, and the combined current strike against the Himalayas just north of Tezpur (26.37 N and 92.50E). As a result very heavy rainfall occurs over the Sonitpur-Lakhimpur foot hill region.
The combined current then moves northeastward towards the locally formed low pressure area over eastern Assam region. As a result of this very heavy rainfall takes place over this region. This is because of the fact that the combined current is obstructed by the hills and mountains of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Karbi Anglong.
It is seen that the characteristics of this season are cloudy weather, high humidity and light surface wind. The weather becomes sultry and unbearable because of high relative humidity but temperature is arrested by the incessant rainfall Rainfall occurs for about 18-20 days in each of June, July and August and for about 14 days in September. Usually, the number of days with thunderstorms is 10-12 in each of the above months.
Sometimes the sky remained completely overcast for days together. Rainfall is more in this season and the average rainfall in this period is 146 cm in Assam. The eastern part of the Brahmaputra Valley receives more rainfall than the western part.
A branch of the Bay of Bengal current of the monsoon wind enters the Barak Valley and is obstructed by the hills on the northern, eastern and southern sides. As a result of this there occurs heavy downpour in that valley in this rainy season.
POPULATION STRUCTURE
Q.1. Discuss the influence of the population of Assam on the social composition.
Ans :- The state of Assam exhibits a great diversity in respect of population composition. The population of Assam is composed of such diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic stocks that the state is often regarded as a living anthropological museum. Its population composition, in fact, hardly differs from that of the country as a whole.
It may be mentioned here that the constitution of India has scheduled the tribal people and certain low caste people among the Hindus and Sikhs as scheduled tribes and scheduled castes respectively for their socio-economic upliftment. Accordingly, besides religions and linguistics composition, the population of Assam as also in the country may broadly be divided into three groups – scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and non-scheduled population.
Q.2. Write an account on the district wise population growth and density.
Ans :- It is significant to note that the growth rate of population varies spatially within the state depending upon the nature and extent of migration, and a number of socio-cultural factors influencing natural growth. Before independence, growth rates of population have been considerably high in the districts of middle and lower Brahmaputra Valley due to obvious reactions of immigration mainly from East Bengal and Nepal.
There has been significant variation in the district wise growth of population in Assam during the last few decades. However during 1991-2001, the district of Kamrup experienced the highest rate of growth of 25.75%. Followed by N.C. Hills (23.47%), Dhubri (23.42%) Goalpara (23.07%), Karbi Anglong (22.57%), Nagaon (22.30%) and Karimganj (2135%). In all these districts, the growth rate has been higher than the National norm 21 34%). In the remaining 26 districts, the rate of growth of population during the period 1991-2001 was less than the national norm.
The plains have a high density of population. As per the census of 2001, Nagaon is most densely populated district of Assam with a density 604 person per km followed by Dhubri (584), kamrup (579), Karimganj (555), Barpeta (506), Nalbari (504), Morigaon (455), Goalpara (451) and Darrang (432). Each of these nine districts has a density of more than that of the state’s norm (340) while the remaining 14 districts have lower density of population. The least densely populated districts are Dhemaji (176), Karbi Anglong (78) and North Cachar hills (38) Dhemaji is the only plain district where density is relatively low.
Q.3. Describe the religious structure of the population of Assam.
Ans :- Assam has a substantial number of Population belonging to each of the major religions pursued in India. Besides, it has a large population pursuing side by side their own tribal religious rights and rituals. As per census of 2001, out 26.66 million people of Assam, Hindus (17.29 million) account for 64.9 percent, Muslims (8.24 m) 30.9%, Christian (0.98 m), 3.7%, Buddhists (51,029)0.2%, Sikh (22,519) 0.1%, Jains 0.1% and others 0.1%. The corresponding figures of India are 80.5%, 13.4%, 2.3%, 0.8%, 109%, 0.4% and 0.6%. Thus it is seen that Assam has higher proportions of Muslim and christians than the national norms.
The people following different religious are not evenly distributed over different districts of the state. The Hindus are in majority in 17 districts. In fact, in the case of Dhemaji, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sibsagar, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong they account for more than 80%. The Muslims predominate in the districts of Dhubri (74.29%) Barpeta (59.36%).
Hailakandi (57.62%), Karimganj (52.30%). Nagaon (50.99%) and Goalpara (50.06%). The numbers of Christian, Sikh and Buddhist populations in Assam are 986,589, 22.159 and 51,029 respectively. Kokrajhar (1.24 lakhs), Karbi Anglong (1.17 lakhs), Sonitpur (1.15 lakhs), Darrang (97,306), Goalpara (64,662). Tinsukia (32,403), Golaghat (52,277) and North Cachar Hills (50.183) have substantial Christian population.
The Largest Sikh population (47.47), in Assam is found in Kamrup (Guwahati) are largely from northern India, those of Nagaon district are mostly local in origin. The largest number of Buddhists (13,695) are found in Tinsukia district where there are some Khamtis, Khamyangs and Phakes. Tinsukia is followed by Karbi Anglong (6402) with Khamyang, and Aiton population, Dibrugarh (4152), Sibsagar (4020 and Sontinpur (3864). Members pursuing the Jain faith are practically absent among the indigenous people of Assam. However in Assam there is quite a number of Rajasthani families who pursue Jainism. Such families are mainly found in the cities and towns of Kamrup and Nagaon.
Q.4. Write briefly about the occupation pattern of Assam.
Ans :- The proportion of population engaged in economic activities and occupational structure of the workers indicate to a great extent the overall economic development scenario of the state. According to 1991 census data, the total work participation rate in the state is found to be 36.09% as against the country’s average of 37.46%. It is however satisfactory to note that the work participation rate has witnessed a significant rise during the last two decades.
As per the 1971 census data, the work participation rates in the state and the country were 27.96% and 32.93% respectively. But there is still significant gender disparity in work participation. within the site again, the work participation is considerably higher in the rural area: 66.71%) than that of the urban areas (30 02%). Farther, it is found that the gender differential in work participation in urban areas of the state noticeably higher than rural counterparts
On the whole akow work participation rate in the state as in other parts of the country. is largely associated with lack of development of the non agriculture sector Besides, the considerably high proportion of non working population in the age group 0-15 is also no less important in keeping the work participation low in the state.
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