Imagine life without air, water, sunlight, forests and minerals. It would be difficult right.
Well, all these things mentioned are our natural resources. Natural resources are natural elements that form a part of the earth and are needed and valued by humans.
Types of Natural Resources
There are three types of natural resources.
1. Perennial:
Perennial resources are resources like sunlight, winds and tides that are always available to us.
2. Renewable:
Renewable resources are resources like plants, soil, oxygen, water, forests that do not get exhausted easily. They can be renewed and replenished.
3. Non – Renewable :
Non – renewable resources are resources like petroleum, natural gas and minerals that can get exhausted and cannot be replenished. This is because it takes millions of years to replenish these resources and hence we should be very careful while using them.
Natural Resources Found in India
List of major natural resources found in India.
1. Soil:
India has six types of soil namely black soil, red soil, alluvial soil, mountain soil, laterite soil and desert soil. Each soil is good for growing a particular kind of crop.
For example: black soil is good for growing cotton.
2. Water:
In India we have perennial and non-perennial rivers flowing through the country. Water is used to produce electricity.
3. Minerals:
Our country has a rich deposit of minerals such as iron, coal, natural gas especially in the plateau region.
4. Forests:
In India we have evergreen forests , deciduous forests, desert and alpine vegetation. Trees like sal, eucalyptus, babool, sandal etc are found in these forests.
We must be careful while using our resources and try and conserve them. This can be done through reducing their usage, recycling them and reusing them.