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Class 10 Lifelines of National Economy: cheat sheet
CBSE Social Science. Roads, railways, pipelines, waterways, ports and airways, means of communication, and international trade and the balance of trade.
Key ideas
- Transport and communication link producers, markets and consumers, so they are the lifelines of the economy.
- Roads cost less to build than railways, reach hilly areas and give door-to-door service.
- Railways carry most freight and passengers over long distances and are densest on the level, crowded northern plains.
- Pipelines have low running costs and no transshipment losses.
- Waterways are the cheapest way to carry heavy, bulky goods; air transport is the fastest but costly.
- Deendayal (Kandla) was the first port developed after Independence; Mumbai, with a natural sheltered harbour, is the biggest; Mormugao leads in iron-ore exports.
- The balance of trade is exports minus imports: favourable when exports are more, unfavourable when imports are more.
Remember
| First train | Mumbai to Thane, 1853 |
| Golden Quadrilateral | Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai |
| Corridors | North–South: Srinagar–Kanniyakumari; East–West: Silchar–Porbandar |
| National Waterway 1 | the Ganga, Prayagraj to Haldia |
| Border Roads Organisation | 1960 |
| Share of a total | part ÷ total × 100 |
Watch out
- Calling it favourable when imports are more than exports: that is unfavourable.
- Swapping the corridors’ ends: Silchar–Porbandar is East–West.
- Thinking air is the cheapest transport: waterways are.
Worked example
In 2019–20 India had 67,956 km of rail routes: broad gauge 63,950 km, metre gauge 2,402 km and narrow gauge 1,604 km. (a) What percentage was metre gauge, to one decimal place? (b) The first train ran in 1853: how many years before 2035 was that? (c) Give two problems Indian Railways faces.
Working: 2,402 ÷ 67,956 × 100; 2035 − 1853
Answer: (a) about 3.5% (b) 182 years (c) ticketless travel and damage to property (also chain-pulling)
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