Describe the various causes and the effects of landslides. Mention the important components of the National Landslide Risk Management Strategy.
Approach · directive: “describe / mention”
What it asks · Describe the natural and human causes and the effects of landslides, and list the important components of the National Landslide Risk Management Strategy.
It asks 3 things — answer each
- Describe the causes of landslides: natural and human
- Describe the effects of landslides
- Mention the important components of the National Landslide Risk Management Strategy (NDMA, 2019), and the way forward
Open with · The Geological Survey of India puts 12.6% of India's land area (0.42 million sq km, excluding snow cover) at landslide risk, from the Himalaya to the Western Ghats; Wayanad's Mundakkai-Chooralmala slide of 30 July 2024 showed how rain on a fragile slope becomes a disaster.
Cover
- Natural causes: steep slopes, weak rock, heavy rain, cloudbursts, earthquakes, snowmelt and river undercutting; NCERT: the Himalaya are tectonically active, largely sedimentary and unconsolidated.
- Human causes: deforestation, unplanned road-cutting and construction, mining and quarrying, blocked drainage, shifting cultivation.
- Effects: deaths and destroyed homes and farms; landslide dams and flash floods; cut-off villages, lost tourism, relief costs; repeated losses in Uttarakhand, Himachal, Sikkim, Kerala, the North-East and the Nilgiris.
- Exposure (GSI): 0.18 million sq km in the North-East Himalaya, 0.14 in the North-West Himalaya, 0.09 in the Western Ghats and Konkan; NCERT's very high vulnerability zone adds the Nilgiris and Andaman and Nicobar.
- NLRMS (NDMA, 2019): hazard mapping, monitoring and early warning, awareness, capacity building and training, regulation and policy with mountain-zone rules, stabilisation and mitigation, a proposed Centre for Landslide Management.
- Way forward: retaining walls, drainage and bio-engineering, no-construction zones, afforestation, regulated roads and hydropower; local warning, village task forces, NDRF and SDRF.
Close with · Landslides cannot be eliminated, but hazard maps that reach land-use plans and warnings that reach the last village can cut losses, the risk-reduction path the Sendai Framework 2015-2030 sets.
Add value (verified)
- The Geological Survey of India estimates that about 12.6% of India's land area, excluding snow-covered area, is prone to landslide hazard, mostly in the North-East Himalaya, North-West Himalaya and Western Ghats.Landslide Hazard, Bhusanket portal, Geological Survey of India ↗“In India, about 0.42 million sq. km or 12.6% of land area, excluding snow covered area, is prone to landslide hazard. Out of this, 0.18 million sq. km falls in North East Himalaya, including Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalaya”
- GSI's regional breakdown of landslide-prone area: 0.18 million sq km in the North-East Himalaya (including Darjeeling and Sikkim), 0.14 in the North-West Himalaya, 0.09 in the Western Ghats and Konkan hills, 0.01 in the Eastern Ghats (Araku).Geological Survey of India, Bhusanket: Landslide hazard in India ↗“0.18 million sq. km falls in North East Himalaya, including Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalaya; 0.14 million sq. km falls in North West Himalaya (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir); 0.09 million sq. km in Western Ghats and Konkan hills (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra) and 0.01 million sq. km in Eastern Ghats of Aruku area in Andhra Pradesh”
- The Wayanad landslide struck Chooralmala and Mundakkai on 30 July 2024; the Southern Naval Command sent relief teams at the Kerala SDMA's request.PIB, Ministry of Defence (31 July 2024): Southern Naval Command joins relief operations at Wayanad landslide ↗“A major landslide hit Chooralmala and Mundakkai areas of Wayanad district of Kerala on 30 Jul 24.”
- The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda.UNDRR: What is the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction? ↗“The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework) was the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2021, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 362words · Minimalist IAS
The Geological Survey of India puts 12.6% of India's land area, 0.42 million sq km excluding snow cover, at landslide risk, from the North-East and North-West Himalaya to the Western Ghats. Wayanad's Mundakkai-Chooralmala slide of 30 July 2024 showed how rain on a fragile slope becomes a disaster.
Causes of landslides
- Natural: steep slopes, weak or fractured rock, heavy and prolonged rain, cloudbursts, earthquakes, snowmelt and rivers undercutting slope toes; NCERT notes that the Himalaya are tectonically active and built largely of sedimentary and unconsolidated material.
- Human: deforestation, unplanned road-cutting and construction on slopes, mining and quarrying, blocked drainage and shifting cultivation turn a hazard into a disaster.
Effects of landslides
- Lives and assets: deaths, destroyed homes and farmland; Wayanad 2024 wiped out two villages and drew Navy relief teams at the Kerala SDMA's request.
- Cascades: landslide dams that burst into flash floods, blocked highways and rivers, silted reservoirs downstream.
- Economy: cut-off villages, lost tourism and livelihoods, heavy relief and reconstruction cost; repeated losses in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Kerala, the North-East and the Nilgiris.
✏️ Map to sketch in the exam · Landslide-prone zones of India (GSI, NCERT)
- Shade: Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand = North-West Himalaya (GSI: 0.14 million sq km)
- Shade: Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura = North-East Himalaya and hill states (GSI: 0.18 million sq km)
- districts: Wayanad (Kerala), Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu), Darjeeling (West Bengal) = Western Ghats, Nilgiris and Darjeeling hotspots
- Legend: 12.6% of India's land area is landslide-prone (GSI)
Draw on India's official outline (Survey of India boundary).
Important components of the National Landslide Risk Management Strategy (NDMA, 2019)
- Hazard mapping: landslide inventories and susceptibility maps.
- Monitoring and early warning systems.
- Awareness programmes for people on the slopes.
- Capacity building and training of stakeholders.
- Regulation and policy: mountain-zone regulations for construction and land use.
- Stabilisation and mitigation works.
Way forward
- Engineer the slope: retaining walls, drainage and bio-engineering; no-construction zones on unstable slopes; afforestation; regulated road and hydropower works.
- Prepare the village: local early-warning systems, trained village task forces and NDRF and SDRF readiness.
Landslides cannot be eliminated, but hazard maps that reach land-use plans and warnings that reach the last village can cut the losses sharply, the risk-reduction path the Sendai Framework 2015-2030 sets for every disaster-prone country.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
