The construction of long tunnels in the delicate Himalayan mountains to access even the remotest areas represents which type of man-nature interaction?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Possibilism
As technology grows, people depend less on nature. They use what nature offers and change it to suit their needs. Cutting long tunnels through the mountains to reach even remote places is such a change made by people.
Option (1) Determinism — Incorrect. In environmental determinism, people with very low technology adapt to the dictates of nature. Long tunnels through mountains need advanced technology.
Option (2) Neo-Determinism — Incorrect. Neo-determinism is the ‘stop and go’ middle path. People respond to nature’s red signals and go ahead only when nature permits, within limits that do not damage the environment. The tunnels show people overcoming the mountains with technology to reach every remote place, not people stopping at nature’s signals.
Option (3) Possibilism — Correct. With better technology, people move from a state of necessity to a state of freedom and create possibilities with the resources of the environment. The tunnels are an imprint of human endeavour on nature: nature gets humanised.
Option (4) Regionalism — Incorrect. Regionalism is not one of the ideas on the relationship between people and nature. These are environmental determinism, possibilism and neo-determinism.
Note: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2026 on 13-05-2026 (Slot 1).
NCERT (2026-27): “The people begin to understand their environment and the forces of nature with the passage of time. With social and cultural development, humans develop better and more efficient technology. They move from a state of necessity to a state of freedom. They create possibilities with the resources obtained from the environment. The human activities create cultural landscape. The imprints of human activities are created everywhere; health resorts on highlands, huge urban sprawls, fields, orchards and pastures in plains and rolling hills, ports on the coasts, oceanic routes on the oceanic surface and satellites in the space. The earlier scholars termed this as possibilism.” |