Page 92 - SST Class 04
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Means of Water Transport
South India is surrounded by the sea on three sides. Besides,
our country has many navigable rivers. So, there is a large
network of waterways, both inland and overseas, in our
country. The total navigable length is 14,500 kilometres.
Inland waterways comprise rivers, canals and backwaters. The
important means of water transport are boats, steamers, ships
and oil tankers.
Ship
Ships carry passengers and cargo within and outside the
country. There are 12 major and 186 minor seaports in India. The important seaports in
India are Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, Kandla, Mormugao, Paradip, Vishakhapatnam etc.
The navigable rivers in India are the Ganga and Brahmaputra in North India. The
Narmada, Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna are navigable in their lower courses.
Know It!
v When you are going somewhere and you don’t know the way, you can take the help of the
GPS (ground positioning system), available on your mobile phone if connected to the
internet.
Means of Air Transport
The means of air transport is the fastest, though expensive. India
possesses a large network of airways. Most of the important
cities are connected by airways. There are 134 airports in India, of
which the major international airports are located at Bengaluru,
Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Jaipur, Chennai etc.; while important
domestic aerodromes are located in Agra, Amritsar, Nagpur,
Aeroplane
Varanasi, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram etc. In addition, there
are airstrips throughout the country where small aeroplanes can land.
India runs both domestic and international air Know It!
service. Both government and private airlines
v The domestic air service runs within
operate in India. The Pawan Hans operates
the country, while the international air
helicopter services within India for tourism and service connects different countries of
other purposes. the world.
roadways : roads used by vehicles.
railways : tracks with rails on which trains run.
freight : goods to be transported by train, ship, plane etc.
92 Contemporary Social Science-4
