The Plateau Region of India Extends from the South of Northern Plains to the Southern Tip of India
Little Star Hr. Sec. School Social Science Class-4
Chapter-4 - The Plateau and the Desert region Learning content material created by Miss Medosano, Teacher, LSHSS Edited by Madam Christina Neikhrienuo, Principal, LSHSS • A plateau is an area of flat land which is higher than the land around it. • The plateau region of India extends from the south of Northern plains to the southern tip of India. • The plateau region is divided into two parts-the Central Highlands and the Deccan plateau.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com • The rivers of the south are fed by rain. • The plateau region is good for the cultivation of cotton and oilseeds. It is also known as a storehouse of minerals.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com • A desert is an area that receives either very little rainfall or no rain at all. • The Great Indian Desert is also known as the Thar desert and it stretches from the Gujarat plains in the south to the borders of Punjab and Haryana in the south. • The Great Indian Desert is dry, sandy and gets very little rainfall. There is hardly any plant life.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com • The government has built the Indira Gandhi canal to solve the water problem faced by the people of the desert. • The desert covers a major part of western Rajasthan and many people here lead a nomadic life. The nomads of the Thar desert are called Banjaras. • Important towns in this region are Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, etc.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Plateau Region • Plateau is an area of flat land which is higher than the land around it.
• It is also called a tableland. • This region extends from the northern plains to the southern tip of India. • This region is rocky and uneven. • The states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and eastern part of Kerala lie here. More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Map Work: The Plateau Region
•Locate the states in the plateau region on the outline map of India.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Plateau Region
• Some hill ranges in this region are the Aravalli range in the Rajmahal
northwest, the Rajmahal hills hills in the northeast, the Eastern Ghats in the east and the Western Ghats in the west.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Plateau Region The river Narmada divides the plateau region into two parts- 1. The Central Highlands in the north and 2. The Deccan Plateau in the south
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Central Highlands ● The Central highlands include the Malwa plateau in central India and the Chota Nagpur plateau in the east. ● The rivers Chambal, Betwa and Son originates here. ● The Narmada and the Tapi rivers begin in the Vindhya hills and flow westwards into the Arabian sea.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Malwa plateau ● The Malwa plateau is bounded by the Aravalli hills in the northwest and the Vindhyas in the south. ● It has fine black soil which is ideal for growing cotton and oilseeds. Cotton
Oilseeds
Malwa plateau
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Chota Nagpur Plateau *Minerals are substances The Chota Nagpur Plateau lies to the east. that are formed naturally It has rich deposits of coal, iron ore, in the earth. manganese, bauxite, mica and other minerals.
Mica Bauxite Coal
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Deccan Plateau *Did you know? - The term Deccan comes from the ● The Deccan plateau lies to the Sanskrit word ‘Dakshin’ meaning south. south of the river Narmada and the Satpura range. ● It is the largest plateau in India. ● The plateau is bounded by the Western ghats in the west and the Eastern ghats in the east. ● They include the Nilgiris, the Anaimalai hills and the Cardamom Hills.
The Anaimalai hills The Nilgiris
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Jog Falls on river Sharavati Rivers of the Plateau Region ● The rivers of the south are fed by rain. ● They are not perennial rivers. Perennial rivers flow throughout the year. ● Most rivers like Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna and Kaveri flow into the Bay of Bengal. ● This is because the Deccan plateau slopes from west to east. Nagarjuna Sagar dam on river Krishna ● Narmada and Tapi are the only rivers which flow from west to west. ● Dams have been built on the rivers to store water and help in irrigation and provide electricity for eg- the Nagarjuna Sagar dam. ● There are a number of waterfalls in this region. More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Map of India showing rivers
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Let’s recollect
1. What are perennial rivers? 2. Why are the rivers of the south different from the rivers in the north?
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Rivers Locate the following rivers of the south on the outline map of India 1. Narmada 2. Tapi 3. Mahanadi 4. Krishna 5. Godavari 6. Kaveri
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Importance of the Plateau Region
• The soil here is mostly black and red in colour. • Black soil is good for growing cotton and oilseeds. Tea plantation • Most people here are farmers. Red soil • Crops like rice, sugarcane, wheat, millets, etc are grown here. • There are large coffee, tea, pepper and rubber plantations in the Nilgiri hills.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Importance of the Plateau Region Iron ore • Many factories have come up here as it is a storehouse of minerals such as iron ore, gold, copper and mica. Iron ore • Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore, Bengaluru and Mysore are important cities in this region.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Gold Mysore Indore
Hyderabad Bengaluru
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Click here to watch a video about the Thar Desert The Great Indian Desert • A desert is an area that receives either very little rainfall or no rain at all. • The Great Indian Desert, also known as the Thar desert stretches from the Gujarat plains in the south to the borders of Punjab and Haryana in the north. • It covers a major part of western Rajasthan and extends up to Pakistan in the west. More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Life in the Thar desert • The Great Indian Desert is dry and sandy as it gets very little rainfall. • River Luni flows through this region but it has very little water all through the year. • The summer months are very hot and the winter months are very cold. • During the day it gets very hot but nights are quite cold because sand gets very hot in the day and cools down very quickly at night. A map showing river Luni
• Hot, dry winds are common here. More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Bushes in Thar desert Life in the Thar desert •There is hardly any plants here due scarcity of water. •Scattered bushes and thorny shrubs are found here. •Plants such as keekar, cactus and babul which require little water grow here. Babul tree •Water in the desert is often salty and not good for plants. •Desert plants are usually thorny and they have long roots which reach deep down to tap underground water. More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Life in the Thar desert ● In some places, oasis are found. ● An oasis is a place in a desert where underground water comes to the surface. ● Most villages are clustered around these oasis. ● Since desert has very little vegetation, when wind blows it carries sand with it causing dust storm. ● These dust storms causes sand dunes(small hills of sand) to move from one place to another.
Oasis Dust storm in Thar desert Sand dunes
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Life in the Thar desert To solve water problem faced by the people of the desert, the government has built the Indira Gandhi canal. This canal gets its water supply from the Satluj and its tributaries. This canal has eased the water problem faced by households and farms and more land has been brought under cultivation. Crops like wheat, barley,maize, jowar and bajra are grown here.
A map showing Indira Gandhi Image of the Indira Gandhi Canal Canal
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Importance of the Desert • Tourists from India and abroad visit the state of Rajasthan to see what desert life is like. • The people here are fun loving and love to wear colourful and bright clothes. • Their festivals like Tej, Gangaur, Dussehra and Diwali are lively. • Camel ride is popular here.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Importance of the Desert ● Many people in the desert lead a nomadic life. ● This means that they do not live in one place but are always on the move. The nomads of the Thar Desert are called Banjaras. ● They use camels to move from one place to another. ● The camel is called the ship of the desert. ● Camels have long legs and padded feet. ● They have humps(these are actually mounds of fat) on their backs which make it possible for them to go without food and water for a long time. Banjaras
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Importance of the Thar desert Some important towns/cities in this region are Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Udaipur. Houses have flat roofs, small windows and thick walls to keep them cool during the day and warm at night.
Jaipur Jodhpur Jaisalmer
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Can you find out the city of Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Udaipur on the map.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com The Importance of the Thar Desert This region has a number of forts and palaces built by Rajput kings who lived in this area years ago. This region also has a number of wildlife sanctuaries like Ranthambore, Bharatpur and Sariska.
Lalgarh palace Amber fort Ranthambore wildlife sanctuary
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Now look at the questions in your textbook and try to answer as many as you can. (Page 33 onwards are textbook questions and answers and the same as those in the back of the lesson)
Or you can go straight to the online quiz. Click Here.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com Q5. Answer the following questions. (Page-31) a. What is a plateau? Ans- A plateau is an area of flat land which is higher than the land around it. b. Why do the rivers of south India not have water throughout the year? Ans - The rivers of south India do not have water throughout the year because the rivers here are fed by rain and they are not perennial rivers. c. Why is the plateau region important to us? Ans - The plateau region is important to us because the soil here is mostly black and it is good for growing cotton and oilseeds. The thick forests in this region provide valuable products such as wood, fruits and medicines. This region is a storehouse of minerals such as gold, copper,coal,etc. Important cities like Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bengaluru, etc. are also located here. d. Which crops are grown in the desert? Ans- Crops like wheat, barley, maize, jowar and bajra are grown in the desert. e. Why is life in the desert difficult? Ans- Life in the desert is difficult because it is dry, sandy and gets very little rainfall. The summer months here are very hot and the winter months are very cold. Due to scarcity of water, there is hardly any plant life in this region.
More resources available at www.littlestardimapur.com