NATURAL RESOURCES 99
The net area irrigated by major and medium projects at the end of the Second Plan is about 31 million acres.
19. The first comprehensive attempt towards assessment of the minor irrigation potential was made in 1955 by the Minor Irrigation Committee set up by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Similar studies were later initiated by the Minor Irrigation Team of the Committee on Plan Projects. Some State Governments have also initiat- ed minor irrigation surveys. A tentative appraisal of the data from these surveys indicates that the total ultimate irrigation potential of minor irrigation projects may be about 75 million acres (gross).
20. It will be seen that there is considerable scope for increas- ing the ratio of irrigated area to cultivated area. By realising the entire potential for irrigation of 175 million acres (gross) over the next 20-25 years (by which time the cultivated area may increase to about 350 million acres) the proportion of irrigated lands may perhaps rise to 50 per cent. Correspondingly, the amount of water utilised may go up to 350-400 million acre-feet or 60 per cent of the annual supply from both surface and underground sources. That will leave adequate quantities of water for meeting public supply, indus- trial needs and the requirements of thermal power generation the demand for which is likely to rise steadily.
21. Industrial uses.-The major uses of water in industry are for cooling, processing and boiler feed. Industrial needs of water are increasing rapidly. Hence the need to pay attention to methods of conservation and re-use of water in industries has become urgent. Most of the water used for industrial purposes is renewable in the sense that it becomes available for refuse if properly reconditioned.
22. One of the important problems associated with industrialisa- tion and urbanisation is the pollution of available water supplies, specially rivers, by industrial effluents and trade waste. This leads, amongst others, to mortality of fish and contamination of drinking water. Proper disposal of these wastes is difficult and costly. The problems which arise in this connection are being studied by the All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Public Health Engineering Research Institute. There is need for coordinated surveys and experimental work. These should cover analysis of effluents, data on extent of pollution caused by them, development of methods for their treatment and, preparation of standards to which they should conform, before they can be discharged into rivers.
V
FISHERIES 23. Inland fisheries.-Rivers and their tributaries, canals, takes, reservoirs, tanks and ponds with perennial water supply consti- tute a rich potential source of inland fisheries. Out of 1.4 million tons of annual catch about 300,000 tons are from inland water. In the first Plan over a million acres of inland waters were surveyed and 68,000 acres reclaimed. In the Second Plan about 340,000 acres of inland waters have been surveyed and an area of 720,000 acres stocked. The Third Plan includes proposals for the development of more than 50,000 acres of water area as demonstration fish farms, 1500 acres for estuarine fish culture and reclamation of about 1500-2000 acres of marshy and fallow lands for fish culture. An urgent need is a com- plete survey of waters which do not dry up during summer and which can be stocked with fish. An inventory of the existing waters as to type namely, ponds, reservoirs, lakes, rivers, etc. and the areas under each type should be prepared. This should be followed by a detailed inventory of the physical, chemical and biological features. When this work is completed, it will provide a sound basis for development of the inland fisheries resources
24. Marine fisheries- Out of the total fish production of 1.4 million tons annually about 1.1 million tons are marine. Of the marine fisheries, the most important are the mackerel, sardines and prawns. India's need is estimated at about 4 million tons but the production rate is only about a quarter of requirements. The sea fisheries generally exploited are confined to 6-10 miles from the coast.
India's marine fisheries resources have not been properly as- sessed and there is need for a comprehensive survey. The importance of this survey is underlined by the fact that the resources of the sea can supplement those of the land to a significant extent.
VI
MINERAL RESOURCES 25. Minerals play an important part in the industrial economy of the present day-some like coal and mineral oil are sources of energy, others are raw materials for industry, while a few are the ulti- mate source of synthetic substitutes for natural materials like rub- ber, timber cotton and others.
The country has fairly abundant reserves (in terms of volume) of coal, iron ore and mica, adequate supplies or ores of manganese, titanium and aluminium, raw materials for refractories and lime-stone, but there is deficiency in ores of copper, lead and zinc. There are no workable deposits of tin, nickel, molybdenum and elemental sulphur. Until recently, except for Digboi in Assam, mineral oil was not known to occur in other parts of the country.
25. Coal.-Coal is India's most important mineral asset and is the main source of commercial energy. Reserves of coal estimated for seams of thickness 4 feet and above are of the
100 THIRD FIVE YEAR PLAN
order of 50,000 million tons, of which coking coal accounts for 5.6 per cent, or about 2800 million tons. Inferred reserves are placed at 80,000 million tons. In addition about 2073 million tons of lignite are estimated to be available.
The coking coal reserves are a matter of concern in future. For every ton of steel 2.2 tons of coal are required. The rapid increase in the output of steel visualised during the next 15 years will in- crease the demand for coking coal. There is need to conserve careful- ly the limited reserves of coking coal. The position in regard to non-coking coal is not unsatisfactory, but since the bulk of the resources are of the low grade, economy in the consumption of better grade coal is essential.
The overall coal resources are highly concentrated. About 80 per cent of the present supply comes from a group of mines in a 200mile section of Bihar and West Bengal, thereby making it necessary for coal to be hauled over distances of 400-1400 miles for consumption in Southern and Western India. Efforts are being made to increase pro- duction from coal fields outside Bihar and West Bengal---their produc- tion increased from 5.7 million tons in 1951 (16 per cent of the total) to 10.2 million tons (20 per cent of the total) in 1960. By the end of the Third Plan the output of coal outside Bihar and West Bengal is expected to increase to about 28 million tons or 29 per cent of the total production in the country.
27. Mineral oil and natural gas.-Next to coal, petroleum and natural gas are major sources of commercial energy. So far India has not developed any considerable domestic petroleum supplies. However, intensive exploration for oil is under way. New oil wells in Assam are expected to produce about 2.75 million tons of oil per annum. in the initial stages which is likely to increase by the end of the Third Plan. Considerable quantities of natural gas are found associated with petroleum in Assam and in addition there is non-associated natu- ral gas also. Plans have been made for utilising the associated natural gas. Recent drilling operations in Cambay and Ankaleswar areas have given encouraging results and the production from these areas may reach about 2.0 million tons by 1965-66.
The annual increase in the demand for petroleum products which was 4.5 per cent during the last decade is expected to rise to 10-11 per cent in the current decade. The total demand which was about 7.5 million tons in 1960 is expected to rise to over 11 million tons in 1965-66 involving a foreign exchange expenditure of over Rs. 50 crores for meeting the deficit of 5 million tons by imports. Household requirements (chiefly kerosene for lighting) represent about 25 per cent of the total consumption. The demand of the transport sector (diesel oil and gasoline) is more than
30 per cent. The share of industry is about 20 per cent mainly in the form of furnace oil. There has been a significant increase in the consumption of middle distillates comprising kerosene and diesel oil.
28. Other minerals.-Though the principal mineral regions have been ascertained and a broad indication obtained of the potential mineral wealth of the country, until recently no detailed investiga- tions had been undertaken for a quantitative and qualitative assess- ment of the country's mineral resources. With the initiation of the planned development of the country attention was paid to systematic and detailed surveys and investigations by the Geological Survey of India, Indian Bureau of Mines, National Laboratories and Atomic Energy Commission with a view to a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the reserves of the more important minerals and their proper utilisa- tion and the adoption of a policy aimed at systematic exploitation of minerals with due regard to conservation. As a result of surveys carried out during the last ten years, more information is now avail- able of the extent of mineral reserves and their quality. Estimated reserves of manganese ore have now gone up from 20 million tons to 180 million tons. The assessment of sulphur-containing pyrites in Amjor area (Bihar) opens up the prospect of meeting a substantial part of demand of sulphur from internal production. Reserves of copper ore, iron ore, chromite, bauxite, magnesite, gypsum, limestone, lead and zinc, etc. have now been assessed and the gaps between requirements and availability determined.
The National Laboratories have carried out investigations with a view to improving the quality of minerals, making them usable (through investigations on the washing of coal, manganese ore, copper ore, etc.), finding uses for materials which would otherwise be wasted (as in the utilisation of scrap and waste mica) and substituting scarce metals by metals available within the country (for instance, nickel- free stainless steel and coinage alloys and aluminised steel wires).
29. The Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948 which was subsequently amended and elaborated in 1957, and the rules framed thereunder have brought a measure of uniformity in regard to leasing of mineral properties and for ensuring systematic development of the mineral resources of the country. The Coal Mines Conservation and Safety Act, 1952 provides for the adoption and enforcement of methods of conservation in regard to coal.
30. Though in the recent past a considerable amount of work has been done in the study of mineral resources and in assessing reserves in quantitative and qualitative terms in particular areas, in the context of rapid industrial development of the country and the conse- quent increasing demand for mineral raw materials, exploration for and investigation of mineral deposits
NATURAL RESOURCES 101
requires to be pursued with 'greater vigour in order to know more fully the minerals available and eventually their quality and quanti- ty. The importance that has to be attached to this will become clear from the following Table which gives against the more important miner- als the known reserves, the present production and the resent demand thereof.
Table 5 : Production and demand for minerals
mineral unit estimated present current
reserves production consumption
coal (non-coking) million tons 50000 37.0 51.8
coal (coking) million tons 2800 14.8
lignite million tons 2073 negligible negligible
mineral oil million tons not assessed 0.2 ! 6.0!
1.3 !!
manganese ore million tons 180 1.2 0.3 !
iron ore million tons 21870 10.5 8.0
chromite million tons 2.3 0.10 0.02
vanadium ore million tons 26.7 .. ..
tungsten (metal) tons not assessed 3.0 3.0
nickle (metal) tons negligible .. 1020
ilmenite (titanium ore) million tons 350 0.25 0.01
copper (ore) million tons 32.9 0.44*** 0 .07(metal)
lead ore million tons 10.7@ 3670 tons 0.03 (metal)
(metal)
bauxite (aluminium ore) milliontons 260 0.38 0.10*
zinc ore million tons 0.01** 0.06**
gypsum million tons 1117 0.98 0.98
magnesite million tons 100 1.15 0.14
limestone million tons 15740 12.5 12.5
phosphatic nodules milliontons 2.0 ... ..
apatite million tons 0.87 0.014 0.22
tin (metal) tons negligible .. 4550
graphite tons not assessed 1500 2500
sulphur (element) million tons negligible .. 0.18
pyrites (40 percent) million tons 384 .. ..
asbestos tons 580000 1683 30000
* 1959 # crude
*** concentrates. + + products
includes zinc ore also.
31. Apart from the urgent necessity of more intensive explora- tion for minerals, there is need for enforcement of measures for conservation. Measures for conservation in relation to minerals will mean mainly avoidance of waste in mining and processing and in a large sense the substitution of scarce materials by those which are abun- dantly available in the country. Avoidance of waste in mining re- quires that there should be no selective mining-the richer and the poorer grades should be worked together and then blended to obtain a marketable grade. Upgrading of low grade ores (e.g. beneficiation of manganese ore, coal, copper ore, etc.) and utilising byproducts of mining and processing, (e.g. sintering of iron ore fines and utilising washery middlings) are also measures of coservation.
VII
ENERGY 32. The demand for energy in India is growing rapidly due to industrialisation, increasing transport facilities and rising stand- ards of living. India's consumption per head is still among the lowest in the world.
33. Pattern of production and consumption The total production of energy in India during 1960-61 was roughly of the order of 165 million
102 THIRD FIVE YEAR PLAN
tons of coal equivalent. The commercial sources of energy are coal, petroleum and falling water. Wind power and solar, geothermal and tidal energy may constitute future sources subject to appropriate technological developments. Nearly 61 per cent of the energy comes presently from non-commercial sources, such as cattle dung, wood, charcoal, farm wastes, etc. as will be apparent from the following Table. Amongst the non-commercial sources of energy, that from ani- mate effort has not been taken into account. This has been estimated to be equivalent to 76 million tons of coal per year.
Table 6: Consumption of energy in 1960-61
energy as per cent as per cent
source consumed of of total
(million commercial energy
tons of energy
coal
equivalent)
coal 54.6 84.0 233.0
oil 9.5 14.6 5.8
water 0.9 1.4 0.6
total-commercial 65.0 100.0 39.4
cattle dung 46.0 27.9
fuel wood 35.0 21.2
agricultural waste 19.0 11.5
total-non commercial 100.0 60.6
total-all sources 165.0 100.0
34. Non-commercial services of energy: Dried cattle dung is the main Source of energy for cooking and heating throughout the rural area and in many urban households as well. It has been estimated that the amount of cattle dung annually available is 1200 million tons (wet weight) of which 400 million tons are used as fuel and 215 million tons as manure, the balance being wasted. On the basis of energy content, 400 million tons of dung is equivalent to 46 million tons of coal. Wood is used as fuel both for domestic purposes as well as by some industries either directly or in the form of charcoal. The fuelwood consumption of the country is estimated to be of the order of 60 million tons, which in terms of energy equivalent would be equal to roughly-35 million tons of coal.
35. Commercial sources of energy.-These include coal, mineral oil and natural gas which have been considered in the previous sec- tion, and electricity which is discussed below.
Electric power.-Large quantities of low grade coal and middlings will be available at collieries and washeries for generation of power. These locations are therefore well suited for coal-fired stations. Hydel stations take a long time to set LIP, involve relatively large outlays and are, by their very nature, located in relatively remote localities from which the power has to be transmitted over long dis- tances. These are, however, the cheapest source of power. The break- up of generating capacity among different types plants is indicated below
Table 7 : Generating capacity by source
(million kilowatts)
1951 1954 1961 1966
hydel plant 0.56 0.94 1.93 5.10
coal 1.59 2.27 3.46 7.08
oil 0.15 0.21 0.31 0.36
nuclear .. .. .. 0.15
total 2.30 3.42 5.70 12.69