Since time immemorial, India was one of the seafaring countries. Its seamen sailed far and near, thus, carrying and spreading Indian commerce and culture. Waterways in India are the cheapest means of transport. They are most suitable for carrying heavy and bulky goods. It is a fuel-efficient and environment-friendly mode of transport.

India has inland navigation waterways of 14,500 km in length. Out of these only 3,700 km are navigable by mechanized boats.

The following waterways in India have been declared as the National Waterways by the Government

• The Ganga river between Allahabad and Haldia (1620 km)-N.W. No.1.
• The Brahmaputra river between Sadiya and Dhubri (891 km)-N.W. No.2.
• The West-Coast Canal in Kerala (Kottapurma-Komman, Udyogamandal and Champakkara canals-205 km) � N.W. No.3.
• The other viable inland waterways include the Godavari, Krishna, Barak, Sunderbans, Buckingham Canal, Brahmani, East-west Canal, and Damodar Valley Corporation Canal. Apart from these, India�s trade with foreign countries is carried from the ports located along the coast. 95 percent of the country�s trade volume (68 percent in terms of value) is moved by sea.

Major Sea Ports

With a long coastline of 7,516.6 km, India is dotted with 12 major and 181 medium and minor ports. These major ports handle 95 percent of India�s foreign trade. Kandla in Kuch was the first port developed soon after Independence to ease the volume of trade on the Mumbai port, in the wake of the loss of Karachi port to Pakistan after the Partition. Kandla is a tidal port.

It caters to the convenient handling of exports and imports of highly productive granary and industrial belts stretching across the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. Mumbai is the biggest port with a spacious natural and well-sheltered harbor. The Jawaharlal Nehru port was planned with a view to decongest the Mumbai port and serve as a hub port for this region

Marmagao port (Goa) is the premier iron ore exporting port of the country. This port accounts for about fifty percent of India�s iron ore export. New Mangalore port, located in Karnataka caters to the export of iron ore concentrates from Kudremukh mines. Kachchi is the extreme south-western port, located at the entrance of a lagoon with a natural harbor.

Moving along the east coast, you would see the extreme south-eastern port of Tuticorin, in Tamil Nadu. This port has a natural harbor and rich hinterland. Thus, it has a flourishing trade handling of a large variety of cargoes to even our neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, The Maldives, etc., and the coastal regions of India. Chennai is one of the oldest artificial ports in the country. It is ranked next to Mumbai in terms of the volume of trade and cargo.

Vishakhapatnam is the deepest landlocked and well-protected port. This port was, originally, conceived as an outlet for iron ore exports. Paradwip port located in Orissa specializes in the export of iron ore. Kolkata is an inland riverine port. This port serves a very large and rich hinterland of the Ganga- Brahmaputra basin. Being a tidal port, it requires constant dredging of Hoogly. Haldia port was developed as a subsidiary port, in order to relieve growing pressure on the Kolkata port.

Airways

Air travel, today, is the fastest, most comfortable, and prestigious mode of transport. It can cover very difficult terrains like high mountains, dreary deserts, dense forests, and also long oceanic stretches with great ease. Air transport was nationalized in 1953. On the operational side, Indian Airlines, Alliance Air (a subsidiary of Indian Airlines), private scheduled airlines, and non-scheduled operators provide domestic air services. Air India provides international air services.

Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd. provides helicopter services to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in its off-shore operations, to inaccessible areas and difficult terrains like the north-eastern states and the interior parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Indian Airlines operations also extend to the neighboring countries of South and south-east Asia and the Middle east.

Air travel is not within the reach of the common people. It is only in the northeastern states that special provisions are made to extend the services to the common people.

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