P.S. Tiwari: Challenges to Geography in the 21st Century
I am very happy to participate in the sixth annual conference of the Association of Punjab Geographers and share some of my thoughts with the distinguished audience present here. I am beholden to the President and members of the Association for inviting me to the conference and providing me this opportunity.
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Abha Lakshmi Singh, Nazish Khan: Household Burden of Water and Sanitation Associated Diseases in Aligarh City
In this paper an attempt has been made to examine the household water supply and the occurrence of associated diseases. Aligarh city has been chosen as the study area. This is a medium sized city lying in the shadow of country’s capital, New Delhi. Data has been collected mainly from household surveys with the help of questionnaire interviews. For in depth survey, ten wards have been selected on the basis of population density and location. From these ten wards, 1,794 households belonging to different income groups have been sampled. The differences in the occurrence of water associated diseases in the different income households suggest that most of differences are related to water supply conditions existing in their homes (such as, water supply inside/outside the premises, duration of water supply, state of supply and quality of water) open defecation, type of latrine facility, site of disposal of excreta, place of disposal of waste water, water logging and place of disposal of household waste.
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Amir Nawaz Khan, Atta-ur-Rahman Attaullah: Extent and Causes of Earthquake Hazard: A Case Study of Quetta, Pakistan
This paper attempts to identify the major causes, effects and remedies of earthquake hazard in Quetta, Balochistan. Earthquakes, like other extreme natural events occur recurrently in certain geological formations. These are generally caused by structural deformation like folding, faulting, plate movements etc. Earthquakes have caused tremendous damages to life and property in the past. The study area is one of the vulnerable localities in Pakistan. For detailed and intensive investigation, three sample sites have been selected randomly in the Quetta valley, namely, Pashtoon Bagh, Samungli and Khair Bakhsh villages. The data for the last thirty years have been collected to look into the major causes and effects of earthquakes and suggested remedial measures to ensure safety for human lives and reduce the damages to the property.
The paper is divided into seven sections. Section one deals with the detailed introduction of the study. Section two explains the environmental background of the study area, whereas section three is about the methodology adopted for carrying out this study. Section four reveals the earthquake records in Pakistan, while section five assesses the earthquake hazard in the study area. Sections six and seven are given to summary and recommendations, respectively.
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J.C. Sharma: Normal and Deviating Voting Patterns in Assembly Elections of Punjab (1977-2002)
In some way each election is unique, therefore, spatial patterns of support for a party differ form one election to another. However, with all their idiosyncracies, electoral patterns do have common attributes which result in some correspondence between support patterns for a single party over time. This paper aims at identifying similarities and differences in spatial patterns of support for the Congress and Akali Dal parties in Assembly elections held during 1977 to 2002. For both the parties normal and deviating voting patterns have been identified. The data consist of assembly constituency wise vote percentages for the Congress and Akali Dal in 117 constituencies over six elections. The study uses the technique of factor analysis with oblique rotation. It has been observed that major political events cast their shadows on electoral politics of Punjab due to which the spatial patterns of support for both the parties undergo changes. The support patterns of the Congress Party are more volatile whereas the support patterns of the Akali Dal are more stable over time. The study predicts that the patterns of support for both the parties in ensuing 2007 election would show more correspondence with the ‘normal vote’ patterns of their parties.
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Tapeshwar Singh: Climate Variability in Indo-Gangetic Plain of India: Identifying Trends
Over 80 per cent of the annual rainfall occurs during the summer monsoon season in the Indo-Gangetic Plain Region of India. Variability is an intrinsic feature of Indian climate. Rainfall is regarded as essence of climate and, therefore, its variability is often considered as synonym of climate variability. The country’s food security is extremely vulnerable to rainfall anomalies. Food production varies from year to year in response to rainfall performance. Climate change as noticed through trends of rainfall variability in this region is of fundamental concern. In the present paper, therefore, an attempt has been made to identify the trends on different spatio-temporal scales in the IGPR. The decreasing trends are implicitly displayed at different scales impelling to adopt strategies for refashioning the cropping system by the policy-makers and farming communities for sustainable agricultural development and ensuring secured food security. The finding of this study may be further strengthened if the weekly rainfall variability is investigated in more detail. Because, deficient as well as uneven distribution of rainfall even for a shorter period say fortnight or week during the cropping season may be disastrous to both crop output and yield.
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K.S. Sohal, Shivjeet Kaur: Regional Disparities in Agricultural Modernization in Punjab: 1971 to 1999
The main objective of the present paper is to highlight the patterns of regional disparities in agricultural modernization and changes therein during 1971to1999 in Punjab. The study has observed contrasting disparities in it as the central parts of the state were highly agriculturally modernized, while the areas lying along the shiwaliks and piedmont plains in north-west remained lagging behind during the study period. It is further found that gap in agricultural modernization between highly and retarded areas has been reduced during 1971 to 1999. For calculating the composite index of agricultural modernization, the selected indicators are: extent of net sown area; extent of irrigation; number of tubewells per hundred hectares of net sown area, number of tractors per hundred hectares of net sown area, use of chemical fertilizers in kgs/hectare of net sown area, area under high yielding varieties, and number of wheat thrashers per hundred hectares of wheat cropped area. Tehsil is taken as a unit of study. Data is based on secondary sources. Statistical techniques are used for deriving the results and cartographic method is applied for mapping the results. Conclusions are drawn and suggestions are made for further reducing the gap in regional disparities in agricultural modernization in Punjab, so as to achieve sustainable agriculture.
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R.D. Doi: Soils of Morel River Sub-Catchment (Rajasthan)and Suggested Production System
This paper is an attempt to understand main soil types associated with Morel river’s sub-catchment area located in the eastern part of Rajasthan with respect to their morphological, physico-chemical and biological properties. It also deals in suggesting production systems based on main soil type associations.
Available published and unpublished informations have been utilized to interpret soils of the study area by traversing extensively in the area as per field variations. Soil types and their associations have been delineated and mapped based on their occurrence (up to 65 per cent or more), and their associations have been considered covering (about 25 to 35 per cent) in respect to spatial extent.
Coarse loamy non calcareous, calcareous loamy and fine loamy mixed are the three main soil type associations covering more than 53 per cent of the total reporting area of the study.
Information and knowledge of the inherent properties of the soils are the essential prerequisite for their proper utilization, management and conservation. Not only the soil nutrient status but also their morphological characteristics play a very important role in deciding productivity of the soils and crops as well.
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B. R. Thakur: Quantitative Analysis of Solani Watershed Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques
The present study is aimed at analyzing the morphometric characteristics of Solani watershed employing remote sensing and GIS techniques. The present study is based on remote sensing data which include ASTER FCC image (Dec. 2003) of 15m spatial resolution. The topo sheets of 1:50,000 scales were used for georeferencing the ASTER image. The field surveys have also been conducted to know the ground realities. In the present study, an endeavour has been made to study quantitatively the linear and areal morphometric characteristics of Solani watershed.
The study reveals that the Solani river is a seventh order stream. About more than three-fourth of total streams in the watershed are of first order largely due to structural weaknesses and varying topographic conditions. The weighted mean bifurcation ratio indicates that the geological structures have not distorted the drainage pattern by far in the study area. It is noted that mean stream length increases as the stream order decreases except seventh order. The highest drainage density is observed in hilly areas mainly due to the dominance of first order streams. On the basis of quantitative symbolization of shape indices viz., form factor, circularity ratio and elongation ratio it is inferred that basin configuration of Solani watershed is elongated. Hence, it does not support stronger and higher velocity floods and more discharge of run- off. As such, there is less possibility of erosion and transport capacities. Consequently, the suspended load is lesser and the evolution of such watersheds thus occurs at a slow rate.
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Md. Mustaquim Ateeque Ahmad, Md. Julfikar Ali: Regional Imbalances in the Levels of Literacy and Its Determinants in West Bengal: A Quantitative Analysis
Education is a crucial social factor that initiates the process of social, economic and cultural development. In the present paper an attempt has been made to study the regional imbalances in the levels of literacy consequent upon the various socio-economic and educational factors, which are also unequally distributed in West Bengal. To fulfill the objectives standard statistical techniques like Z-score, Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient and ‘t’ test have been applied and spatial variations of the phenomena have also been presented with choropleth technique.
In the analysis it is observed that the districts of Darjeeling and Kolkata have attained the top position in the aspects of literacy and educational factors while Uttar Dinajpur district is at the bottom. On the other hand, the districts of Hugli, Medinipur, Haora and Kolkata have attained high levels in both socio-economic and literacy rates, while Uttar Dinajpur, Murshidabad and Birbhum districts are at low level. Viewing the existing wide regional imbalances, planners and decision-makers should make comprehensive policies to reduce the gap between literacy rate as well as socio-economic development.
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H.S. Mangat, Safdar Ali Shirazi: Old Punjab: New Facts(Introductory Note)
Punjab also known as the land of five rivers, namely, the Sutluj, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, and Jhelum is a geographical region located in the northwestern part of the Indian Sub-continent. The region is broadly confined between the Yamuna river in the east, the Indus river in the west, the Thar Desert in the south and the Himalayan Mountain System in the north.
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Doctoral Abstract: Navneet Kaur: Spatial Diffusion of Orchards in Himachal Pradesh
The state of Himachal Pradesh has experienced considerable diffusion of orchards over the years. The area under various kinds of fruits has increased from 693.7 hectares in 1951 to 1.89 lakh hectares in 2004-2005 and the production increased from 1200 tones to 2.69 lakh tones during the same period.
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