List of top Geography Questions

Read the given passage carefully and answer the five questions that follow.
Cottage industry is the smallest manufacturing unit. The artisans use local raw materials and simple tools to produce everyday goods in their homes with the help of their family members or part-time labour. Finished products may be for consumption in the same household or for sale in local (village) markets. Capital and transportation do not wield much influence as this type of manufacturing has low commercial significance and most of the tools are devised locally. Some common everyday products produced in this sector of manufacturing include foodstuff, fabrics, mats, containers, tools, furniture, shoes and figurines of wood from the forest, shoes, thongs and other articles from leather, pottery and bricks from clays and stones. Goldsmiths make jewellery of gold, silver and bronze. Some artefacts and crafts are made out of bamboo and wood obtained locally from the forests.
Small scale manufacturing is distinguished from household industries by its production techniques and place of manufacture (a workshop outside the home/cottage of the producer). This type of manufacturing uses local raw materials, simple power-driven machines and semi skilled labour. It provides employment and raises local purchasing power. Therefore, countries like India, China, Indonesia and Brazil, etc. have developed labour intensive small-scale manufacturing in order to provide employment to their population.
Large scale manufacturing involves a large market, various raw materials, enormous energy, specialised workers, advanced technology, assembly line mass production and large capital. This kind of manufacturing developed in the last 200 years, in the United Kingdom, North eastern USA and Europe. Now it has diffused almost all over the world.
Read the given passage carefully and answer the five questions that follow.
Jhabua district is located in the westernmost agro-climatic zone in Madhya Pradesh. It is, in fact, one of the five most backward districts of the country. It is characterised by a high concentration of tribal population (mostly Bhils). The people suffer due to poverty which has been accentuated by the high rate of resource degradation, both forest and land. The Watershed Management Programmes funded by both the ministries of ”Rural Development” and ”Agriculture”, Government of India, have been successfully implemented in Jhabua district which has gone a long way in preventing land degradation and improving soil quality. Watershed Management Programmes acknowledge the linkage between land, water and vegetation and attempt to improve livelihoods of people through natural resource management and com- munity participation. In the past five years, the programmes funded by the Ministry of Rural Development alone (implemented by Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Management) have treated 20 percent of the total area under Jhabua district. The Petlawad block of Jhabua is located in the northernmost part of the district and represents an interesting and successful case of Government-NGO partnership and community participation in managing watershed programmes. The Bhils in Petlawad block, for example, (Sat Rundi hamlet of Karravat village) through their own efforts, have revitalized large parts of Common Property Resources (CPR). Each household planted and maintained one tree on the common property. They also have planted fodder grass on the pasture land and adopted social-fencing of these lands for at least two years. Even after that, they say, there would be no open grazing on these lands, but stall feeding of cattle, and they are thus confident that the pastures they have developed would sustain their cattle in future. An interesting aspect of this experience is that before the community embarked upon the process of management of the pasture, there was encroachment on this land by a villager from an adjoining village. The villagers called the Tehsildar to ascertain the rights on the common land. The ensuing conflict was tackled by the villagers by offering to make the defaulter encroaching on the CPR, a member of their user group and sharing the benefits of greening the common lands/pastures.