Seasons of India

On the basis of the weather phenomenon, the Indian

meteorological department has conveniently divided the year into
four different types of seasons which rotate in a cycle. They are
as follows:

1. The Hot Weather Season—March to May.

2. The South-West Monsoon Season—June to September.
3. The Retreating South-West Monsoon Season—October to
November.
4. The Cold Weather Season—mid-December to February.

There are regional variations in the length of period of these

seasons in India. These differences are significant as we move
from the south towards the north.

The Northern India experiences a distinct winter season as well as

a distinct hot weather season.

1. The Hot Weather Season (March to May)

Characteristics:
 The hot weather season begins in March and continues till the
end of May.
 During this period there is a rapid increase in temperature.
Temperature:
 May is the hottest month of the season, and temperature often
rises to about 40°C.
 The highest temperature is recorded in the north-west and west.
 Condition of low pressure develops over north-west India.
 This area of low pressure is also called the monsoon trough.
 But at this period it is too weak to start the monsoon.
 Around this trough a local circulation of air sets in.
 As a result local Storms of violent type occur during April and
May.
 These are thunderstorms, accompanied with strong winds are
heavy rainfall.
 Hot and Dry wind called Loo sweeps over the Indo-Ganga Plain
which is known as Andhi in Rajasthan.

Rainfall

The South-West Monsoon Season—June to September

Characteristics:
 With the advent of summer, the heat accumulates and the
temperature rises steadily throughout India.
 Therefore an intense low pressure cell develops in Rajasthan.
 The low pressure which existed over Northern Plain is further
intensified. It is now strong enough to attract the moisture
bearing winds from the Indian Ocean.
 It pulls the south east trade wind which on crossing the equator
becomes south west monsoon winds (according to Ferrell’s Law
) and arrives all of a sudden over Cape of Comorin.
 This is known a “Burst of Monsoon”.
 The bulk of rainfall is received during this season in almost
every part of India except Tamil Nadu.
 Rainfall is mainly orographic in nature.
 Maximum rainfall occurs in the western coastal plains and in the
north east.

The Retreating South-West Monsoon Season—October to

November.
Temperature
 Is moderate and the sky remains clear
4. The Cold Weather Season—mid-December to February.
Characteristics:
 Starting in early December it continues till February.
 On 22nd December the sun lies over the Tropic of Capricorn.
 As a result of the southerly movement of the sun, during this
season, the sun’s rays do not fall vertically in any part of the
country.
 The temperature decreases from south to north.
 The decrease in temperature in north India forms high pressure.
 The wind therefore blows from the north-east as off-shore
 winds.
 Peninsular Rivers
Himalayan rivers are those which
originate in the Himalayas and flow through the Northern Plains,
e.g., the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Indus and their tributaries.
These rivers are snow fed, perennial and useful for irrigation and
navigation. The lowlands drained by them have fertile alluvial
deposits. On the other hand, the Peninsular Rivers, except
Narmada and Tapti, originate in the Western Ghats , flow
eastwards on the plateau and drains in to the Bay of Bengal. They
have a large seasonal fluctuation in volume as they are solely rainfed.
These rivers flow in valleys with steep gradients. Major rivers
of the Peninsula are Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and
Cauvery. The Narmada and Tapti flow westwards.
Fig: India , state and capital.
 The Narmada Basin

The Narmada rises in a tank at an elevation of 1057 m in the Amarkantak peak of Mahakal
range in Madhya Pradesh. It drains into the Arabian Sea through the Gulf of Khambat near
Bharuch in Gujarat, forming an estuary at its mouth.

 It flows towards the west through a rift valley in faulting zone of Vidhyan and Satpura
hills.
 It is 1312 km. long.
 The Narmada basin covers parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
 All the tributaries of the Narmada are very short.
 Most of the tributaries join the Narmada at right angles.
 It is the largest among all west flowing rivers of the peninsula and after Godavari and
Krishna, is third longest river that flows entirely in India.
 It has formed the famous Dhauladhar waterfalls on the Bheraghat marbles near
Jabalpur.
 Godavari Basin

 Godavari is 1465 km long and is the longest perennial river of

the peninsular plateau.
 The river Godavari rises in the slopes of the Western Ghats in
Trimbakeswar in Nasik district of Maharashtra.
 After flowing over the Maharashtra plateau and the Telengana
plateau it crosses the Eastern Ghats.
 Below Rajahmundry it splits into distributaries namely, Gautami
Godavari, Vasistha Godavari and Vainataya.
 These rivers form the deltas at the mouth.
 It drains into the Bay of Bengal.
 Its drainage basin is also the largest among the peninsular river basins.
 Purna, Wardha, Pranhita, Manjra, Waiganga and Penganga are the main tributaries
of Godavari.
 It is also known as the ‘Dakshin Ganga’.

The Mahanadi Basin

 This river originates in the Sihawa Range in the highlands of

Chhattisgarh and drains into the Bay of Bengal.
 The upper Mahanadi flows through the Chhattisgarh Plain.
 Flowing north ward it receives the Seonath on its right bank.
 Below Seorinarayan it flows east wards and turns south wards a
little below Hirakund Dam.
 Near Sonapur it turns again east wards.
 After crossing the Eastern Ghats through a gorgy it divides itself
distributaries at Cuttack.
 Seonath, Brahmani, Baitarani are the important tributaries of
the river Mahanadi.
 The combined flow of the Mahanadi, Baitarani, and Brahmani
discharged through a common mouth and formed deltas after
Cuttack.
 It is about 860 km long
 The most important distributary at the delta is Katajuri.
 The Mahanadi basin covers Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand and Orissa.
 The Krishna Basin:

 The Krishna river originates from a spring near Mahabaleshwar in eastern side of
Western Ghats in Maharashtra.
 It flows south and south east wards through Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh before
it drains into the Bay of Bengal.
 It is about 1400 km long.
 Major tributaries are Bhima, Tungabhadra, Koyana, Ghatprabha, and Musi.
 Notable distributaries are Vamsdhara and Nagawati in the
delta region.
 Krishna is the second largest east flowing river of peninsular
India. Its drainage basin is shared by the States of Maharashtra, Karnataka and
Andhra Pradesh.
 The Kaveri (Cauvery) Basin:

The Kaveri originates in the Brahmagiri range of the Western Ghats in the Coorg Districts
of Karnataka and drains into the Bay of Bengal in south of Cuddalore, in Tamil Nadu.

 It flows east wards crossing the Ghats.

 Total length of the river is about 760 km.
 Shimsha and Amravati are left bank tributaries, Bhavani, Hemavati, Lakshman Tirtha
and Kabini are other tributaries.
 The Kaveri splits into two branches in the west of Tiruchirapalli, the northern branch
known as Coleroon while the southern branch known as Kaveri.
 They again join together forming between them the island of Srirangam.
Thereafter, Coleroon take a north eastern direction and Kaveri takes a southern
direction.
 Kaveri splits into several branches like Vena, Keclanurtiyar and Asasalai forming the
deltas at its mouth in the Bay of Bengal.
 The Kavery basin covers Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
 It has several waterfalls and rapids in its course.
 Other East flowing rivers are : Pennar, Bhaigai, Tamraparni
 Other West flowing rivers are: Sabarmati, Saravati, Ullhas, Ntrabati, Sabitri etc.
 River Saravati has formed the highest waterfalls in India i.e. Jog or Gersoppa or
Mahatma Gandhi waterfalls which is 275 m high.
 The Brahmaputra River System

 The Brahmaputra River is about 2580 km long. Most of the

course of the Brahmaputra lies outside India. In India it is about
885 km long.
 The Brahmaputra rises in the Chemayungdung glacier (4900m)
located 90 km south east of Rakshas Tal and Mansarowar lake
in Tibet.
 It flows eastwards parallel to the Himalayas.
 In Tibet it is known as Tsangpo.
 After reaching Namcha Barwa peak, (7757 mts high peak in
Tibet) it takes a ‘U-turn’ to enter into India in Arunachal Pradesh
through a deep gorge.
 It is known as Dihang in this region.
 The Dihang enters Assam near Sadiya
 It is then joined by Dibang, Lohit, Kenula and many other
 tributaries’ and the combined flow forms the Brahmaputra in
 Assam. At Dhubri the Brahmaputra turns south ward turn and
 enters Bangladesh as Jamuna.
 It then finally drains into the Bay of Bengal.
 Important Tributaries are : Dibang, Luhit, Subansiri, Torsha ,
 Tista, Dhansiri, Kopili etc.
 There are innumerable river islands. Majuli (929 sq km.) the
 largest river island of the world has been formed on the bed of
 Brahmaputra.
 Brahmaputra shifts its course frequently.
The Indus River System

 The river Indus, the westernmost of the Himalayan rivers which originates in Tibet, in
the springs of Sengee Khabab about 100 km. north of Lake Mansarowar, at an
altitude of 5,180 metres.
 Flowing westwards from its origin, it enters the Indian Territory in the Ladakh district
of Jammu & Kashmir where it receives
 Himalayan tributaries such as the Gartang, Zaskar, Dras, Shyok, Shigar, Nubra,
Gilgit and Huza.
 It forms a very picturesque gorge (3000m deep near Bunji) in this area.
 Famous city Leh also lies on banks of the Indus.
 After flowing through Baltistan and Gilgit, the Indus emerges from the mountains at
Attock. Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum join together and enter the Indus
near Mithankot in Pakistan.
 On entering Pakistan, it takes southward turn and runs hundreds of kilometres to
meet Arabian Sea east of Karachi.
 The river Indus, one of the longest rivers of the world has a total length of about
2900 km.
 About a third of Indus basin is located in India in the states of Jammu & Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
 Blue Revolution in India
Introduction

The term "Blue Revolution" refers to the remarkable emergence of aquaculture as an

important and highly productive agricultural activity. Aquaculture refers to all forms of active
culturing of aquatic animals and plants, occurring in marine, brackish, or freshwaters. It is
the adoption of a package programme to increase the production of fish and marine
products.

 The Blue Revolution in India was started in 1970 during the Fifth Five-Year Plan
when the Central Government sponsored the Fish Farmers Development Agency
(FFDA).
 Subsequently, the Brakish Water Fish Farms Development Agency was set up to
develop aquaculture. The Blue Revolution has brought improvement in aquaculture
by adopting new techniques of fish breeding, fish rearing, fish marketing, and fish
export.
 There are more than 1800 species of fish found in the sea and inland waters of India,
of which a very few are commercially important.
 The important sea fish include catfish, herring, mackerels, perches, mullets, Indian
salmon, shell fish, eels, anchovies, and dorab. Similarly, the main fresh water fish
include catfish, loaches, perches, eels, herrings, feather backs, mullets, carps,
prawns, murrels, and anchovies.
 The fish production in the country has increased from 0.75 million tonnes in 1950-51
to 68.69 million tonnes in 2006-2007.
 Fishing, aquaculture and a host of allied activities, a source of livelihood to over 14
million people as well as a major foreign exchange earner, in 2005-06 contributed
about one per cent of the total GDP and 5.3 per cent of the GDP from agriculture
sector.
 The geographic base of Indian marine fisheries has 8118 km coastline, 2.02 million
sq of Exclusive Economic Zone including 0.5 million sq km of continental shelf, and
3937 fishing villages.
 About 50 per cent of the country's total fish production comes from the inland
fisheries including the freshwater fisheries like ponds, tanks, canals, rivers,
reservoirs, and fresh water lakes.
 Marine fisheries contribute about 50 per cent of the total fish production of the
country.
 Kerala is the leading producer followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and
Goa. The Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh is known as the 'Shrimp Capital of
India'.
 The fishing season extends from September to March. The higher fish production in
the Arabian Sea is due to the broader continental shelf. The important fish varieties
include sardines, mackerel and prawn.
 The East Coast contributes about 28 per cent of the total production of marine fish in
the country. The fishing activity along the East coast is mainly carried on from
Rameswaram in the south to Ganjam in the north, with fishing season from
September to April along the Coromandal Coast.
 The National Fisheries Development Board has been set up to realise the untapped
potential of fishery sector with the application of modern tools of research and
development including biotechnology.
3.5.3. Problems and solutions of Indian Fisheries
To put things in perspective, India is world's third largest producer of fish and comes next
only to its neighbour China in terms of fish production. Current key management problems
include:
 Problems:
1. Overexploitation of the fishing resources of the territorial waters.
2. Underutilization of the deep sea resources
3. Low levels of mechanisations as dominated by unorganized sector and poor fisherman
community
4. Conflict between fishing community and foreign trawlers over loss of livelihood hindering
development.
5. Loss of biodiversity
6. Depletion of fish stocks
7. The adverse impact of climate change
8. No well-planned strategy, which has put the fishermen and the industry in some serious
problems.
9. Any change in the ocean areas along the water table is bound to affect the produce.
Consistent degradation of shorelines
and loss of coral reefs have been major problems faced by India.
10.The rise of sea surface temperature even one degree will have a devastating impact
on fisheries.
11.Lack of a reliable database relating to aquatic and fisheries resources Limited number
of species grown / cultured, mainly due to weak linkages between research and
development and fish farmers community.
12.Weak multi-disciplinary approach in fisheries and aquaculture.
13. Inadequate attention to the environmental, economical, social and gender issues
in fisheries and aquaculture.
14. Inadequate HRD and specialized manpower in different disciplines.
15.Weak marketing and extension network Decline in fish catch and depletion of natural
resources due to over exploitation of coastal fisheries.
16.Water pollution; unscientific management of aquaculture and contamination of
indigenous germ plasm resources.
17.Poor yield optimization, problems in harvest and post-harvest operations, landing and
berthing facilities for fishing vessels and issues in welfare of fishermen.
18.Security of fishermen is under stress especially who get arrested by neighbouring
countries such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan, remain a bone of contention between countries.
19.Heavy challenges faced in terms of innovation, expansion and regularisation of
aspects related to fishing and trading.
20.Prevalence of antibiotic residues in Indian fisheries stocks is a cause of worry for
those who are looking at creating infrastructure to keep fishing sustainable, safe and
healthy.

 Solution:
1. Adopting responsible and sustainable fishery practices:
Experts have been suggesting that the country should stop taking pride in production
capacity and look at sustainable methods to reach better commercial success with regard
to the fishing industry.
2. Future growth: Experts opine that the fisheries sector should look at future growth,
rather than just enjoying the catch with every passing year.
3. Establishing agro-aqua farms: Bringing together agriculture and aquaculture farms to
create agro-aqua farms,
4. Improving selling efforts: Improving selling efforts inland should be taken care of.
5. Spreadingfish quality literacy: Spreading fish quality literacy among fishermen for
improving quality which has been a cause for worry in the context of discovery of antibiotic
residues in Indian fisheries stock.
6. Shifting of focus: Unless focus shifts to a comprehensive method of fishery, India
stands the threat of losing its brownie points on this front.
7. Establishing Aqua shops and fishery estates for better commercial success.
8. Developing facilities: Facilities should be developed for fish landing and handling at
harvest and post-harvest stages.
White Revolution in India

Introduction:
 White Revolution in India is the package program adopted to increase the production of
milk. It made our country self sufficient in milk and this was achieved entirely through the
cooperative structure. Today around 12 million farmers in more than 22 states across the
country own around 250 dairy plants handling around 20 million litres of milk a day.
 Prof. Verghese Kuerin was the father of White Revolution in India. The White
Revolution in India occurred in 1970, when the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)
was established to organise the dairy development through the cooperative societies.
Operation Flood has been spearheaded by the National Dairy Development Board
(NDDB).
 The dairy development program through co-operative societies was first established
in the state of Gujarat. The cooperative societies were most successful in the Anand
District of Gujarat. The co-operative societies are owned and managed by the milk
producers. These co-operatives provided financial help as well as consultancy.

Objectives of the co-operative society are as follows:

1. The main objective of the co-operative society is the procurement, transportation, storage
of milk at the chilling plants.
2. To provide cattle feed.
3. The production of wide varieties of milk products and their marketing management.
4. The societies also provide superior breeds of cattle (cows and buffaloes), health service,
veterinary treatment, and artificial insemination facilities.
5. To provide extension service.

The technology of White Revolution

The technology of White Revolution is based on an extensive system of co-operative

societies.
 Milk, after being collected at a village collection centre, is promptly transported to the
dairy plant at the milk chilling centre.
 Timing of collection is rigidly maintained by the village society, truck operators, and the
quick transport to the dairy plants. Milk tankers, each, normally carry 14,000 litres of milk.
 The chilling centres are managed by producers' co-operative unions to facilitate the
collection of milk from producers who live at some distance from the chilling centres and
thus, the middlemen are eliminated.
 Phases of the White Revolution
The White Revolution may be examined under the following three phases:

1. Phase I (1970-81)
 Phase I of Operation Flood was financed by the sale within India of skimmed milk powder
and butter oil gifted by the EC countries via the World Food Program.
 As founder-chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) of India, Dr
Kurien finalized the plans and negotiated the details of EEC assistance.
 During this period, the dairy development program was set up in ten states to provide
milk to the cosmopolitan cities, i.e. Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai.
 The important step in this phase was the setting up of 4 Mother Dairies in Mumbai,
Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai.

2. Phase II (1981-85)
 Milk powder production went up from 22,000 tonnes in the pre project year to 1,40,000
tonnes in 1989, thanks to dairies set up under Operation Flood.
 Direct marketing of milk by producers' cooperatives resulting in the transfer of profits from
milk contracts --increased by several million litres per day.
 During this phase, the dairy development programme was extended in the states of
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
 In this phase, within 25 contiguous milk-shed areas (in 155 districts) a cluster of milk
producers' union was established.
 The Research Institute at Hyderabad developed a vaccine called “Raksha” to control
cattle diseases. The programme also involved the improvement in milk marketing in 144
more cities of the country.
 The Dairy Co-operative societies were set up in 35,000 villages and the membership
exceeded 36 lakhs.

3. Phase III (1985-2000)

 A number of co-operative societies were set up in most of the major states of the country
and the number of co-operatives went up by 73,000 with a membership of 10 million.
 Some of the important achievements of the White Revolution are as under:
 The importance of White Revolution in the dairy development is similar to that of Green
Revolution to grain production. Today, India ranks first in milk production, accounting for
18.5 % of world production, achieving an annual output of 146.3 million tonnes during 2014-
15. Gujarat, Maharashtra, U.P., Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West
Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are the main milkproducing
states of the country.
 The import of milk and milk production has been reduced substantially.
 The per capita availability of milk in India has increased from 176 grams per day in
1990-91 to 322 grams per day by 2014-15. This represents a sustained growth in
availability of milk and milk products for the growing population.
 Dairying has become an important secondary source of income for millions of rural
households engaged in agriculture.
 To ensure the success of Operation Flood Program, research centres have been set up
at Anand, Mehsana, and Palanpur (Banaskantha). Moreover, three regional centres are
functioning at Siliguri, Jalandhar, and Erode. Presently, there are metro dairies in 10
metropolitan cities of the country, beside 40 plants with capacity to handle more than one
lakh litres of Milk.
 Livestock Insurance Scheme was approved in February 2006 and in 2006-07 on a pilot
basis in 100 selected districts across the country. The scheme aims at protecting the
farmers against losses due to untimely death of animals. In most of the villages
the cattle are kept under unhygienic conditions.
 To improve the quality of livestock, extensive cross breeding has been launched.
 For ensuring the maintenance of disease-free status, major health schemes have been
initiated.
To conclude it may be said that the success of the dairy industry has resulted from the
integrated co-operative system of milk collection, transportation, processing and distribution,
conversion of the same to milk powder and products, to minimize seasonal impact on
suppliers and buyers, retail distribution of milk and milk products, sharing of profits with the
farmer, which are ploughed back to enhance productivity and needs to be emulated by
other farm produce/producers.

 Problems and Prospects

Some of the important problems of the White Revolution are as follows:

1. Collection of milk from the remote areas is expensive, time consuming, and not viable
economically.
2. In most of the villages the cattle are kept under unhygienic conditions.
3. The marketing infrastructure needs much improvement, as there are inadequate
marketing facilities.
4. The cattle breed is generally inferior.
5. The extension service program is not effective.
 Conclusion
India now has a surplus of milk and is gearing up to export milk powder. In India, dairy
development has a great future. Many corporate sector firms like Indana (plants at Nagpur,
Hyderabad, and Bangalore), The Sheel International and Milk and Food, and
the Amrut Industries are taking advantage of the existing situation of liberalisation and
globalisation. The government has constituted Technology Mission for dairy development
and Amul Model Cooperatives are being promoted to cover about 60 per cent of the
total area of the country.