Read the given paragraph carefully and answer the following question.
The clustered rural settlement is a compact or closely built up area of houses. In this type of village the general living area is distinct and separated from the surrounding farms, barns and pastures. The closely built-up area and its intervening streets present some recognisable pattern or geometric shape, such as rectangular, radial, linear, etc. Such settlements are generally found in fertile alluvial plains and in the northeastern states. Sometimes, people live in compact village for security or defence reasons, such as in the Bundelkhand region of central India and in Nagaland. In Rajasthan, scarcity of water has necessitated compact settlement for maximum utilisation of available water resources. Fragmented settlement type may result from segregation of a large compact village or from the tendency of clustering in a restricted area of dispersed settlements.
Dispersed or isolated settlement pattern in India appears in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes. Extreme dispersion of settlement is often caused by extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and land resource base of habitable areas. Many areas of Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have this type of settlement.
Which one of the following is a factor for the establishment of dispersed settlement?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Extremely fragmented terrain
The passage states: “Extreme dispersion of settlement is often caused by extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and land resource base of habitable areas.”
Option (1) Extremely fragmented terrain — Correct. When the land is broken by hills, slopes and forests, only small patches can be used. Each family lives near its own patch, so the huts lie far apart.
Option (2) Industrialisation — Incorrect. Industries bring many people together. They lead to towns and cities, not scattered huts.
Option (3) Water resources — Incorrect. In Rajasthan, scarcity of water makes people live in compact villages to make the best use of the water there is.
Option (4) Security — Incorrect. For security, people live close together in compact villages, as in Bundelkhand and Nagaland.